*BRRRRRRRRRRRR*
The engine of the Cessna L-19 Bird-Dog runs up in preparation. "All Out!" you hear over your onboard radio as you feel a jolt back into your small, but cozy seat. You move along the runway, constantly keeping your stick slightly forward, you watch the towplane, the rope, your instruments; if something goes wrong, now's the time for it. Your airspeed indicator hits 65 knots, you ease the stick into neutral and watch as your glider eases off the ground. As you ascend, you see the buildings and cars in the parking lots getting smaller and smaller as you get higher and higher. You fly eerily close to the mountain, ascending, compliments of the forward thrust lent to you by your trusty towplane. You're halfway along the mountain's edge and you hit 2000 feet. You pull the red knob on your dash and watch as your towrope, your lifeline, your only source of thrust, fall away into the distance, the towplane attached to the front. The sound disappears, everything's quiet now. You fly along the mountain's edge, the tip of your 25 foot wing only several feet from the tips of the trees. You feel a slight pulling into your seat and notice your instruments telling you you're in lift. You're going up! In an aircraft without an engine, you are going up! Two thousand five hundred! Three thousand! Three thousand five hundred! Four thousand! And you keep going up! You fly back and forth, back and forth along the mountains edge, turning when your lift starts to die off. You glance out of your bubble canopy and see the most beautiful sight you've ever seen. An eagle, wings fully spread, is blazing the path you're about to take. This is something you will remember your whole life.

This, is soaring