“Man, isn’t this embarrassing?” the mountain biker said as he pushed his bike up the steep hill to where I was already leaning over my bike, sucking air. I thought he was referring to being with me this far into the race.
“I lost my water bottle,” I said, making conversation by way of commiseration. I gulped some air to continue, but before I could he reached into his second cage and grabbed a spare water bottle. “Here. Take this.”