I don’t even know where to begin blogging. I have all these drafts started with titles/subjects of things I wanted to blog about…as soon as I adjusted to work and could think again by the end of a day. I think I will start off with a fun one.
Almost 3 weeks ago now, my team lead at my new job and I were talking about things we like to do. I had sent out an email to my new team while I was in training introducing myself to them all. In this email I had included a short thing about how I am training to do a triathlon.
Tim couldn’t believe it! He of course only has one idea of triathlon. Ironman. Ummm No Tim. Not an Ironman. Not for me. Not now and since it requires running a marathon (and I am quite insistent that I won’t ever desire to do THAT), I likely will never do a full Ironman. Anyway, I digress. We were talking about my new interest in biking as that is the only leg I have not done. He is training to do a 150 mile MS bike ride next year himself and loves biking as well. All of this conversation led to an invitation to go Mountain Biking with him and his buddy, Bob. How we went from road biking to Mt. Biking, I am not sure.
Now mind you, I have NEVER Mt. biked before. I had NO IDEA if I could do it and was not sure I wanted to take the risk of thoroughly embarrassing myself in front of 2 men I don’t know. It’s not like it is any of my normal guys I do things with, who love me no matter what. These guys don’t know me to love me if I totally hold them back or screw up or can’t do it at all.
But I kind of wanted to try it. Adam has talked about his love of Mt. Biking before and I always thought it sounded kind of fun when he described it. I mean seriously…high chance of getting muddy and wet while riding a bike! What is not fun about that!
So I made it VERY clear to Tim that I had no idea what I was doing or if I could even do it or keep up with them. If I am to go, he HAS to understand that I am a beginner. His response was this.
“Kim, we are not hardcore. We do this for fun. Besides, you just rode 22 miles a couple weeks ago AND you are training for a triathlon. You will be fine.”
I chose to trust this man I don’t know. Of course I called Adam a couple of times to get all the tips I could about Mt. Biking. He checked out the trail for me online and gave me all sorts of pointers and then anxiously waited for me to give him my post ride report. (He REALLY wanted me to have a good time and to like Mt. Biking!)
So here is the post ride report.
Mt. Biking is AMAZING!!! It is biking on a mostly narrow path at higher speeds. You race through mud pits and sand pits. You fly between trees hoping you don’t hit one. You might encounter obstacles along the way like bridges to cross or log piles to go over. (no log piles for me this day)
It was like riding a roller coaster. You are nervous as you wait in line. The anticipation and anxiety building with every passing minute. Then as you get going, slowly at first it continues to build. Then you head down that first big hill and all you want to do is close your eyes AND throw your hands in the air because it is both thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. However, there are no mega magnets holding me to the course. I am driving and I MUST focus on the 3-5 feet in front of me at all times or else I am toast. Ride over. I must keep my eyes open and hands firmly on my handle bars.
As I whizzed past trees and over bridges, noises were bursting forth out of me. Squeals of delight and terror. I could not control them. They were as automatic as breathing. Tim and Bob were often just enough ahead to be out of sight but they would hear my squeals and wonder if I had fallen. Nope, not I. I did not fall once. I will most definitely do this again, much to Adam’s delight!
In the end, these guys were great to ride with. They gave me pointers, went slow enough for me to keep up and never got too far ahead that I couldn’t at least hear them ahead of me.
If I keep up with all these athletic endeavors, I will have to get a second job to support my habits and so I can get a sister for Sasha Fierce. (my road bike) I cheated on her once, and I think it could be an affair that I will continue with…next season.
No comments:
Post a Comment