Vermont – Mountain Biking – August 10 to 12 2007

I never really mountain biked before. Ya, sure, I did plenty of biking, but mountain biking is a whole different ball game! I had a really good taste of it during the weekend! My first ride on Friday was in the black diamond trails (intermediate – advanced kind of thing!). Never mind the beginner stuff, I do have some natural athletic abilities after all! (I hate starting stuff at the beginning… I’m so impatient). So, I very quickly learned lesson #1: Mountain biking is more challenging and technical then it appears to be!!! But you also get an amazing adrenaline rush, which makes it all worth wild!!! Lesson #2: When you get that first crash out of the way, most of the fear seems to dissipate! So, yes, I’ve crashed a few times. I have the scratches and bruises to prove it (nothing major… except for my pubic bone, I hit it quite hard, twice! I thought I had fractured it at some point!)… and a very stiff shoulder from crashing… wonder how it’ll be at work tomorrow… We didn’t have any major injuries… although one came quite close!! Pierre decided to try and stop himself from crashing by hitting a tree with his face (mostly mouth and jaw)!!! There was a lot of blood, and we thought he maybe lost his front teeth but luckily, no. There was enough lip cutting and gum bruising involved! Tobin got a nice long big scratch along his shoulder and back!
The night rides are even more exciting! Since you don’t see things or you see them last second, you need to react to the trail instead of planning ahead! It kind of made me think of Blair Witch Project at some point… but I tried not to think about it too long. Trying to prevent myself from crashing on roots, rocks, trees, hills, etc., in the dark, kept me busy anyway.
Obviously, I wasn’t able to follow these expert bikers in the trails. It was my first time after all! But I wasn’t all that bad, better then I expected anyway. But Pierre and Tobin were ever so kind to coach me and teach me some techniques, skills, tricks and what not!! By the end of the weekend, Pierre and Tobin (and me) were very impressed with my technical abilities, my power and how quick I caught up on things. So I did some major and fast improvement in 2 days! It sure beats my “every-day-run” routine!! Feels good to do something different. I’m so looking forward to buying a mountain bike now!! Yes, I’m hooked!! We had some amazing views from the trails! I had a blast!! The adrenaline kicked in on few occasions so all I can say is WOOHOOO!!!!
So, we camped all weekend, which is to my preference; just love camping! What’s not to like really!!? It’s relaxing… like music to the soul! Got to love those nights around the camp fire! You get to know people on a more personal basis, get a glimpse at whom they really are and where they come from. Just love it! So I learned a lot about mountain biking this weekend… ON and OFF the trails…. Did you ever spent half and hour trying to figure out the little “cartridge thing” in the Guinness beer bottle?…. yup, we did! Obviously, we had to break a bottle to figure it out! But I don’t think we did figure it out… Did we??
On Sunday morning, every one decided to go for a last bike ride before leaving. I decided to stay behind and take the time to myself. This weekend brought back many memories from Africa… Can you believe it’s been a little over a year since I left for my “around the world” trip?!!! July 26, 2006, was my departing date… Unbelievable how time just flies by so fast! Funny how the memories are so fresh, like if it were yesterday! It’s those that make life all the more worth wild! And they make great stories for a book later… Life can be a funny and strange thing. You only get one so enjoy it fully and passionately!!! But I’m one to speak! I feel like a “zombie” during the week, numb. Obviously my passions in life are traveling, training and painting/drawing… for the past while I’ve been trying to figure out a way to incorporate those in my every day life so I can live every day to the fullest… So far, the only way I found was “day-dreaming”. But then, I find myself in “my own little world” most of the time. Life is a big time clock. Every second that ticks away is a moment that passes by in your life that you can never go back too. Probably one of my biggest fear is looking back on my life and realizing I’ve missed something or didn’t take those opportunities that passed me by. It’s probably an unrealistic way of thinking but I think you should spend the most time of your life doing the things you love, the things that excite you, the things that stimulate you, and the things that flood your heart. Because once your time comes, and you never know when it does, you can’t go back. Stay “wild and untamed” as you possibly can! That’s my plan! “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions!” "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body. But rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in hand, rum in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO what a ride!"