A Nice, Sunday Stroll

I must confess. This is the first time I have ridden my mountain bike since our Moab trip in April of 2007 (and, really, I didn't ride much there either). Why haven't I ridden my bike? Basically, I've just made excuses for the last year and a half. My favorite is, "There's snakes out there!" Today, though, I had no excuses. Primarily because it is not the time of year for snakes to be out on the trail, and truthfully, because I am tired of making excuses.

Had to dust off the saddle on my little Kona. This is a great bike. A little heavy but so much fun to ride. It does quite a bit of the work.


My main goal today was to get the feel of riding again and stay out of the cactus.

The Cholla is probably the scariest of all cacti. It is so brittle that a slight brush against it will break off a bizillion little pieces. When you try to brush them off, more pieces break apart. Before you know it you are covered in Cholla. The best way to remove them is to use a plastic comb (the kind you get on picture day in elementary school) and pull them away. An even better thing is to avoid them all together.

I am happy to report that I did not have any intimate encounters with cacti, phew!

My hubby took a few pictures of me riding. For one of them, he was hiding in the bushes, and I didn't even see him. He gets mad at me when I don't ride the whoop-de-doos. I ride most of them, but there is one that I just have a mental breakdown with and have to walk. On this one, he thought I was going to walk, so he waited and hid to make sure I rode it. He later told me that I rode the two most difficult ones and walked the easier one. Whatever! I'll get past it someday.

Even though I can't keep up with hubby, and he has to hide in the bushes to make sure I ride the tough stuff. He is a pretty good riding buddy. He encourages me to push harder and he waits for me from time to time.