... and Insult.

I took a couple days off the bike to heal my sore behind and then hit the road again until I got an offer I couldn't refuse... Joe was meeting a group of regulars from Allaire(the cool place I had my "Lewis and Clark" expedition). He arranged for me to borrow his friend's wife's bike so I could really get a feel for MTBing with a bike that fit. After an evening of jamming with a bunch of close friends late into the night at Andrew's and a few of us camping out in the living room(cause it was more fun and it was halfway to Allaire anyway), I met Joe there. A quick fit to the bike and off we tucked into the woods. 13 guys and me. Joe said "This must be your fantasy, Sandie Reilly, all alone with 13 guys." I said, "No, my fantasy is more like keeping up with 13 guys."

We sped off into the woods and I stayed towards the front half of the pack. Swishing and swooping and crossing the road and keeping a pretty darned good pace until we stopped for the crazies to cross a log suspended more than 10 feet over a ravine... not for me today! I was searching my bag for my inhaler. I had forgotten to use it and breathing was getting tough, I was getting tired and my legs were screaming for oxygen. I couldn't find the inhaler. Apologizing, I told the guys I had to go back to my car for it. When we got to the lot, I insisted that the guys continue to ride and come back for me like 15-20min later when I'd have a better idea if I could continue or not. I'm really glad they did since 15 minutes of ripping the car apart was futile until I found it tucked in the corner of my pocket. How to feel like an ass?

Lungs opened up and back in the woods we went. More swoop and swish and lots of speed. What a blast! I was feeling my oats until I slid off the side of the path, clipped a tree and flew partly over the bars as the bike went down and in slow motion my face slammed into the dirt. Behind me I heard, "Ohhh!", "Jeez!!" and "Hold up!!" The air was suddenly heavy and silent. The thoughts they must have been thinking.... Tasting a tad of blood in my mouth and feeling a dull swelling I stood, turned to the guys and said. "Alright, I got the first fat lip, who wants the next one?"

That got a good laugh. The air was back to light and easy and we continued on for miles of twisty fun where I joked and poked at some of the guys and they at me. I had a great time!

I got to get my head around and over things I would not have thought possible. With a loaner bike that fit fairly well, I rode over a bunch of logs I never would have attempted on my soon to be replaced 1988 rigid and I felt capable... like I could really get the hang of this MTB thing.



Bryan rode behind me for a good deal of the time, encouraging and keeping me from getting lost. He was the one who saw me ride across a planked bridge that curved. As I rode across it I knew I was really, REALLY close to the edge and I didn't look down, just ahead to solid ground. When I got to the other side, it was one huge adrenaline rush!!! I said, "Man! that was close!!" Bryan said, "I didn't want to say anything, but half of your tire was off the side of that bridge." (I don't think I EVER want to be that close again) There was a log mess I cleaned towards the end, he yelled "NICE!" That was so cool! And the last run of downhill through what felt like a chute... I LOVED ripping through it and getting air every chance I could!!!
I had a great time.

This roadie went over to the dark side, and she wants to stay :-)
Now, I just gotta get a bike!

Later that week, the thick throat and chesty cough left over from not using the inhaler when I should have revealed itself as a nasty case of the flu. It caught me off guard and knocked me into bed for three days.