Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades - The Delicate State of “Almost”

By David Wachtel

“Almost doesn’t count, except in horse shoes and hand grenades,” said my father an infinite amount of times when I would respond to a various plethora of queries with the token response “almost”.  Whether the topic was something laughable as hitting the waste paper basket with a soiled kleenex, or more serious, pertaining to the completion of my pre-algebra homework, the term “almost” was almost always followed by the same predictable remark... “Almost doesn’t count, except in horse shoes and hand grenades.”

Well, on April 9, 2011, after almost finishing the Mulholland Challenge Century, a cycling event in the Santa Monica mountains, I have a slightly different opinion of that word and its connotation.

The day started like most of my weekend days in training for this summer’s upcoming Ironman triathlon.  Up well before the dawn to meet up with training partners for a workout that makes me look like a crazy person to the non-triathletes in my life.  Today’s workout, however, was something slightly different, and slightly even more peculiar, in that this particular event even made some of my triathlon buddies stop and contemplate my sanity.  After all, with 112 miles, and approximately 12,500 feet of vertical gain, the Mulholland Challenge is a serious undertaking.

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