The day I could have, almost, possibly died

This happened on the day of Outdoor Pursuits and do you know what we did?!?!?!?!?! Mountain Biking!!!! It sounded like so much fun in the beginning. We all piled into the van and drove off to the Conway Center. Along the way, Sally told us that today was going to be a challenging day, physically and mentally. We were all thinking that we were going to go gorge scrambling but when she told us that, we knew what was coming. As soon as Sally said mountain biking, everyone turned at looked at each other with scared looks on their faces. I definitely did not mentally prepare for that. We got to the center and got all the supplies we needed. Sally's husband, Steve, picked a bike for each of us depending on our height and then we practiced in the parking lot with our brakes and gears. The brakes are different here. The right hand is the brake for the front wheel and the left hand is the brake for the back wheel. You never want to squeeze one and not the other because you'll either flip over the front of your bike or skid the back tire, causing you to crash. Sally came prepared with something for two of the girls in our group that seem to fall or stumble a lot. She brought them her daughter's knee and elbow pads to put on. It was pretty funny to see the girls put the pink protector gear on. After we practiced a little, we loaded the bikes onto the trailer, piled into the van, and headed out to the trails.

It was quite a bit of a ride to get to the Conwy Valley where we were going to ride in the Gwydyr Forest on the Marin Track. We unloaded the bikes and went in a single file line following Sally. I had to remember to use the thumb to change the gears to easier when going uphill and use the pointer finger to change the gears when going downhill. I have a little fear of loose rock because it is so easy to skid on it. There was loose rock everywhere on Fire Road while we biked. So I was very tense while I followed Sally. After just a few minutes we stopped and Sally explained to us how to go downhill fairly fast. We had to stand up, straighten our legs, then bend the knees and lean our bottoms over the back end of the seat, almost over the back tire (but not sitting on the seat the entire time) and make our pedals go parallel with the ground. She biked on ahead and one by one we rode down a hill doing what she said while she observed us and told us if we were doing the correct position. While I passed her, she said I was good, so that made me feel pretty good. Sally's husband came along with us so he gave us some good pointers as well. We continued down Fire Road until we came to our first single track. Its a mountain biking trail that is very narrow with hills (very steep sometimes) and lots of rocks and tree roots stickin up everywhere. When you go down a hill, you are supposed to go down standing up and fairly fast. I don't like going downhill very fast and especially when there are things that could cause me to crash. There was one instance when I was flying down the trail and didn't get out of the way of a huge rock in time and ended up going over it. I flew in the air, landed with a jolt, and skidded like crazy until I was able to get the bike under control. That was pretty freaky for me. We did a few more of the trails and then we took a break by learning how to lift our bikes in the air. We started with trying to do a bunny hop (lifting the front wheel in the air) over a stick that Sally laid in the middle of the road. I got the hang of that fairly well. Then we went on to learning how to lift the back tire in the air. That was a lot more difficult. Sally did tell me that I was lifting the back wheel a little though. Then we went on to getting the bike completely into the air. I didn't quite master this but I plan on practicing it when I come home. But I'll be practicing it on paved roads. We then rode on to another single track (where I almost hit some rocks and crashed) and stopped to have some lunch. We sat by a very clear water pond on some rocks with the mountains all around us. It was beautiful! And I got to sit in the sun which was just wonderful.

After the lovely lunch break, we got back on the bikes (which really hurt because my bum was very sore from all of the jolting around) and followed Sally to a cross road. It was either a little hill to go on, a slight decline to the right we could go on, or a very, very high hill to ride up. We didn't even have to ask which one we were taking, we just knew. We changed the gears on our bikes (this time the gears on our left hand and not the right) and went up the hill. I did figure out that I am stronger in my arms than in my legs so unfortunately I had to get off the bike halfway up the hill and push it up. Thankfully I wasn't alone and several other people had to do that. We kept riding and then went on more single tracks. We went on one that scared the living daylights out of me. I just kept thinking when was it going to be over. Teresa did the most spectacular crash that Sally has ever seen on that trail. She ramped off several rocks before falling to the ground. Teresa was pretty shaken up by then and Sally and Steve had a few of us stay with her on Fire Road while the rest of the group went on more single tracks. Ashley Tapper (another girl who flipped over the front of the bike that day), Teresa, and I (I was definitely done with the single tracks for the day) rode down Fire Road to meet the others at the end of the single tracks. Apparently there were several other people who had some superb crashes. After a few more of those, we headed back to the van to load up and head out. Teresa and I were very happy to be sitting in the van and heading back.

Now, I want to say this. I am not a wimp. I would have enjoyed it but since it was so out of my comfort zone, all I was enjoying was when we stopped and seeing how much longer until the end. I was more of the tree climbing kind of girl, not almost killing myself on a bike girl. It's just not my cup of tea. But I'm very glad to say that I have tried it. I'm just grateful that Iowa doesn't have any mountains, just little hills that are usually paved and ready for you. Everything else that I have done in outdoor pursuits has been fun. I would definitely go outdoor and indoor rock climbing again any day. Especially outdoor rock climbing. Now the only things left are just the water activities. I guess we will just have to see how those will go.