More Learning?

It seems that just when I think I know it ALL about biking...I learn yet more. Today I learned a few things on our 6am ride:
1. riding up hills sucks;
2. riding down hills sucks just as much (a different kind of suck - a sort of certain-my-life-will-end suck);
3. don't use the brakes when turning corners...someday I'll get that one;
4. pedal as fast as you can at all times...ok that one I knew but it's MUCH harder to put into practice than one would think.

I knew I was exhausted on the last hill home (it was a mountain to me but they kept calling it a small hill) bc I didn't really move out of the way of an oncoming car. I figured that if I got hit by the car I would either get picked up in an ambulance or by the county coroner's office either one means that I would get out of riding up that mountain on my bike and would mean a rest for me (a permanent rest maybe). When you are torn between death and life in a wheelchair...clearly you have hit your wall! BUT I did make it up the hill on my own, to my car and home safe and sound. My legs had trouble moving from the gas to the brake while driving home and they still feel like 2 large pieces of lead but I am alive, excited and almost ready for....something, I'm certainly ready for something. Mostly a nap.