Originally posted by gretchen
Ok, bring on those hills!
Off-topic: That's the attitude! Climb and conquer!
There's a 20-ish mile loop that I do often (mountain bike) that ends with a 20 minute climb. At the bottom you can look up this enormous hill and see this little, tiny "monopoly" size house at the top. And you know that you have to get there!!! I used to hate that climb, but now I savior the victory!

On-topic: I, too, am in the 40-plus class. I started riding when I was in my late 30's and started racing at 40. The over-40 women's beginner's class is an odd group in mountain biking. Most women start when they are younger and are sport level riders in their 40's. The starter at my first race announced our class and said that the term "granny" means something different to us than the rest of the racers...