Sounds like you're able to do more mtb'ing lately, Indy. Good for you.

We did two rides this weekend. Saturday's ride was on our favorite/usual trails. I'm thrilled to say that I earned the right to rename "Ankle Breaker Hill" to "Conquered Hill". It was good to toss the "old baggage" after successfully riding up that hill for the first time ever

We did another ride today on a popular trail system about 45 minutes from home. I ended up walking quite a bit of the uphill on super skinny single track with lots of big rocks and roots in the middle of the trail to sabotage my momentum, closely spaced trees just waiting to grab my handle bar, and tree trunks jutting into the edges of the trail just for kicks. The trail difficulty was rewarded with lots of shade while were climbing and stunning views of the local mountain range when we got to the top. We were so tired by then, though, that we rode a fire road back down. I'm anxious to go back and try riding the technical parts downhill, rather that uphill, as my decending skills are better than my climbing skills.

My husband was impressed with my riding today but I felt like a bit of a failure because I had to walk so much of the uphill. I looked up the reviews of this trial system on the internet when we got home and found out that the entire system is rated "advanced" by several websites I felt a whole lot better about what I DID ride once I read the ratings.