mountain biking!

i headed up to pittsburgh this past weekend with my friend tom to do the punk bike enduro, a fun mountain bike stage race.  seemed easy enough, right?  admittedly, i was a bit nervous, as i have never really mountain biked before and i wasn't exactly sure what i was getting myself in to. well, i certainly found out sunday.  lesson learned, mountain biking is hard!
i didn't really have the skills or knowledge on how to handle my bike.  i learned that quickly in either the first or second stage.  while attempting to go down the single track, i hit something.  i flipped over my handlebars, yelled "oh shit" and then laid there whimpering with my bike on my back.  ouch.  thankfully tom heard my whimpers and when i didn't get up right away, he grabbed the 25lb bike off my back.  hey!  thanks guy!  it was really too cold out (snow!) to feel the pain except for the wind being knocked out of me.  it wasn't until later would i realize how badly i hurt and would debate which was worse, road rash or eating dirt.  i decided then i was pretty happy that i made the decision to stick with the platform pedals and not borrow shoes and pedals from our awesome hostess eryn! 
ok, soo maybe i wasn't cut out for mountain biking.  i mean, everyone made it look soo easy!  i am used to pavement, where i don't have to contend with snow, mud, tree branches, AND rocks!!!  what the hell?  it didn't help with below freezing temperatures and mud as by stage 6, my rear derailleur was no longer shifting.  cool, i am now rocking a single speed.  i think anyone who wasn't riding a single speed encountered the same problem.  so there were 12 stages.  by stage 6, i was cold and my bones had started to hurt from my crash.  the beer a guy offered me helped to warm me up a bit.  i decided against grabbing any beer from the kegs stashed in the woods earlier, because sobriety was probably a wise decision after my fall.  all in all, i think i walked my bike more than i rode it, but i had a blast!  i really like mountain biking and the people who come with it.  they don't seemed as concern with matching kits and carbon.  i am now rocking some pretty vicious bruises, and it's hurt to laugh and cough all week thanks to bruised ribs.  maybe by next year i will have the mad skillz to actually finish!  until then, i am going to find some mountain bike bunny slopes to hit!  :)

p.s.  if you are ever in pittsburgh, check out the otb bicycle cafe.  great spot!

p.p.s. check out simon lamb's post over at la gazzetta della bici.  thanks simon!  :)