After riding the roads exclusively for the last two months, DH and I took out the MTBs today. It was great just riding and not training. I felt spectacular and took off like a shot, leaving DH in the dust and passing lots of guys on the way up. Well, at some point, I realized I was pushing it just a bit too hard because I had to stop and it was all I could do not to throw up. Now, I'm not a ride till you puke kinda person, but I was so happy to be out after working around the clock all week that I guess I went a little crazy!

DH caught up with me and we did the rest of the ride together. At one point, I said to him, "Where did all these rocks come from?"

Riding the trails is a lot less peaceful for me than riding the road. All those switchbacks and rocks and waterbars. I'm still working on my technical skills, so I'm always thinking about what they told us at mountain bike camp, like "enter wide" when I come to a switchback and "cowgirl knees" when I'm on the downhill, etc. It was great, though! The leaves are turning. The sky was bright, bright blue.

Alex