17th Avenue

From the bottom, 17th Avenue, in Boulder, at Eldora,
does the same, it climbs, at times steeply,
off camber, its horizon sustaining hope
that the climb ends around the corner, our
ragged breath will smooth to a more dignified
panting and our skis, our bikes, will not slow to a stop.
On skis today, 17th Avenue was conquered by our
arrival at Four Corners, our victory attended no less
significantly by the more than 12 stops we made along
the way, hearing the instructor calling out to us the
same thing over and over again, “Shift your weight!”,
“Move your hips”, and “Atta, Girl” upon realization that he
was wasting his breath, instructions falling on deaf ears.
So, we huffed and we puffed up 17th Avenue, although mostly
of poor form, we were of good intention, occasionally pulling
in our guts, shifting our weight and most important of all,
moving in the right direction,
sweet success.