Kickin' butt and takin' names

This week has been all about jumping in and taking the world on by storm. To add to the list of craziness, I competed in a mountain biking race league on Thursday. Now, mind you, I have been at sea level for the past 7 or so months, and have had my mountain bike out only a handful of times on some pretty mild terrain. I am also very non-competitive. So when I ventured up to Big Mountain (the ski slope in town) with my fellow coworkers and friends, I was a little anxious as to how this would go. The league is every Thursday night, and there are age divisions as well as ability divisions. I chose the beginner division this time, which means one lap around (about 4 miles). I didn't want to kill myself- literally- on my first try. I didn't bike up on the mountain last summer when I was here, so I didn't really know what to expect. But I was assured by many people that I would be able to finish fine, so I tried to be optimistic.

And guess what?? I got first place in my age category! Woo-hoo! My lungs felt like they were bleeding by the end of it, and I flipped over my handlebars once and banged up my bike a bit, but I finished and apparently significantly earlier than the other beginners. I was pretty darn proud of myself. I now have a blue ribbon to hang up somewhere (which may not be put up for a while... my apartment is still in disarray at the moment).

But now I feel like I would be copping out if I competed in the beginner division again... So I'm going to go for 2 laps next time and just take it easy. There was only one other girl my age who did the sport division last week so I might still get a ribbon even if I come in last. I'm hoping my lungs will be a little more adjusted to the altitude by then -- the race is at about 4,000 feet, give or take; enough to make it hurt on the uphills. Who knows, maybe by the end of the summer I'll have a nice little collection of ribbons. Wish me luck!