My first mountain biking adventure

I can't believe I survived 8 miles on a mountain bike trail!

Swayback Bridge Trail in Wetumpka, AL

 

As I mentioned Monday, I went on my first mountain biking adventure on Saturday. When we left to get the bikes I was a mix of emotions. Was I going to like it? Was I going to be good? Will I fall? But mostly I was excited. Excited to be trying something new, something that Derek enjoys and something that we can hopefully begin to do together on a regular basis.

 

A little after mile 2

 

The answers to those questions, yes I did like it, no I'm not very good (yet), and yes I did fall. A lot. My first fall wasn't bad. Derek thought it was pretty funny though. I let him know that it was not okay to laugh at me. I knew that he knew he stepped in doo doo when he said "Hey, you wanna stop and take  a picture?" Boy knows the way to my heart...

 

The trail went right along the edge of Lake Jordan for a while

 

At this point Derek is in front of me yelling "Don't fall here, or you'll go in the lake!" Thanks babe, lots of help.

 

We rode for a total of approximately 8 miles. The longest trail would have been about 12 miles but we didn't finish the second loop because I was tired and both of our booties hurt like heck. Derek was surprised I even finished 8 miles, since this was a pretty tough trail. We rode through several parts of the trail with names like "Devil's Driveway," "Bastards loop," "The Elevator," and "The zipper."

 

Devil's Driveway

 

Then there were options for crazy people experienced bikers to ride on these kinds of things:

Logs that were flattened with a chain saw. No thanks.

 

 To the left of that big curve was another log that had been flattened. It was all of 8 inches wide.

 

My knees after the ride.

 

Even though my heart ended up in my stomach on most down hills, and I fell several times, aaand I think I now have some mild poison ivy, this is something I could definitely see myself getting used to and doing on a regular basis. I'm proud of myself for getting back on after falling and not getting too discouraged (there were definitely some moments of frustration) and never quitting. It's a great form of physical activity (just ask my legs) and it's fun. And this is technically the first thing I get to cross off my 101 in 1001 list which is even better, since I wasn't planning or expecting to do it so soon.

 

To view the full list of 101 goals in 1001 days, click here.



 

Linking up with Shanna and Robin.

On Mondays we write about our weekends

Hey there Blog Land and happy Monday! Per usual, the weekend started with Friday night, which consisted of getting off work, eating a sandwich, slipping into my jammies by 9 and in bed by 10. I know, I need to calm down.

Saturday started off with the usual game of "I don't know, what do you want to do?" and we finally decided to go get some lunch and do some shopping for our upcoming trip to 'dega. While at lunch, Derek got a call from a friend (who he had called earlier) giving us permission to borrow his bikes. We were going mountain biking! I wouldn't call Derek a professional but he definitely has experience (he rode BMX for years and has been mountain biking for a while too). My experience consists of riding my Academy bike to the pool and back when I was 16. Needless to say I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

In the end, I survived. Check back in later this week for a more detailed account of our 8 mile ride. After the ride, we ventured over to the Jordan Dam just because we felt like it.

They only had one turbine open, but the water was still pretty high.

 

Sunday we stayed around the house most of the day, doing yard work and some cleaning. We eventually made it back into town to get the things we needed for camping. And ended the night grilling out and being lazy. All in all, it was a pretty laid back, uninteresting weekend.

 

Linking up for:

Weekend Shenanigans

This Weekend I...

Mingle Monday