My Quads, They Were Hammered

Going up the steep hill, I could feel my quads tensing, even though it’s the downhills that really stress that muscle.  I felt I couldn’t move really well due to all the other closely-packed in participants, and the inability to stretch out my quads worried me, knowing the killer downhill that awaited us.

At length the group crested the top of the first hill and plunged down the impossibly steep other side.  I was carried along involuntarily and my quads tensed up almost as though they were in spasm. But there was no relief until the bottom of the hill was reached and the ascent of the next hill began.  This hill was shorter but even more steeper, with a sidehill twist to it that taxed my already-tense quads even further.

The next downhill and the ones after that along this hilly track totally fried my quads.  When we finally reached the end, my legs felt like jelly and a swayed a bit after I stopped moving.

But then we had some burgers and fries and moved on to the next roller coaster.

Literally, the next roller coaster.  For this course was not in the backcountry along some trail—it was at Hersheypark, a landmark amusement park in central PA.  We went last Wed, when the combination of 95 F temps and midweek day combined to make the crowds virtually nonexistent.  We could ride a coaster, get off, come back around and get back on with NO wait.  Except for the brand new, one-month-old Skyrush, where the line was 10 minutes.

It was easily the best amusement park day I had ever spent.

And Mister Tristan (the 4-year-old human being, not the blog) rode his first roller coaster, the fast and surprisingly agile Trailblazer.  I hope he’s hooked.

Even as I write this, several days later, I can still feel where my quads are still a bit hammered form all the tensing and bracing that comes from a day of aggressive coaster rides.