Biking Is...Fun...?

I just got back from a little Christmas vacation.  I stayed at my parents' house for a week before Christmas, and then Andrew came over Christmas eve.  I think it's pretty funny that just a week or two before I went home for Christmas, I was blubbering about how much I loved my family and missed them and regret not spending time with them.  By the end of that week at home, though, I was so bored out of my mind that I can do without them for a good few months.  I think I'm old enough now that I don't want them telling me what I can or can't/should or shouldn't do with my life anymore (....but I still need their money). 

The day after Christmas, Andrew and I met his parents in Savannah.  It was a fun trip, but I couldn't make it a whole trip without getting bent out of shape about something.  I was mad at Andrew for something or another for an entire morning, but after a few diet cokes and some lunch, I eventually had to let go of it.  It was stupid anyway, and not worth ruining anymore time.  My parents came up Monday to have lunch with us, so the parents met!  Yikes!  I was kind of dreading it, but ended up getting pretty drunk so I don't even remember it much.  I often drink to ease my anxiety. That doesn't make me an alcoholic, right?

Oh geez - this whole bike present idea for Andrew was killer!  Now that we both have bikes, he wants to ride all the time.  Tuesday we went on our first ride together and he took me through some woods trail.  We had to jump over all these roots and go over little wooden bridges.  I was scared to death.  So then Wednesday he wanted to go twice the distance through woodsy trails.  I said "can we just stay on pavement? I thought we were going to start out slow on paved trails."  He hmmed and hawwed for a while and said we should just continue the trail we were on the day before until it ends.  Okkkkk.  So we got going again through the woods.  I have never biked off road before, so I quickly got all out of control.  The path started getting more and more complicated with like whole trees down across it that we are supposed to jump over or something.  I kept getting off and walking over all these obstacles, but then we started going downhill and had to make a sharp turn with rocks bordering one side of the trail, and bushes on the other.  Of course, I didn't make the turn fast enough, flew off my bike, and landed on my ass.  I was secretly praying that my chain was broken or something so that I wouldn't have to continue.  Andrew was ahead of me, so it took him a few minutes to realize I wasn't behind him anymore.  He turned around and I was still on the ground, stunned.  He came back and I stood up, trying not to cry.  He said we could head back, and I couldn't help but say "I told you.  I told you I wasn't ready for this.  I wanted to stay on pavement."  He apologized, and tried to explain some of the technique of mountain biking.  I never knew there was so much shit.  I just thought you got on and rode around.  Apparently you have to change gears a million times and stand up the whole time and shift your weight back and forward and use rear brakes and... do wheelies... and all kinds of stuff.  So anyway, on our way back, he started trying to explain some of these things to me (thanks for waiting until AFTER I fall to teach me) and we got to a tree that went across the trail that we had to jump over.  I got scared as I got closer and closer to it, and at the last second I tried to stop and get off my bike.  Well, you can't do that ("commit or quit!" as stated by debbie on some mountain biking instructional website).  So I fell again!  Splat into a pile of leaves - which actually turned out a lot better than the first fall onto rocks and dirt.  We took it slow the rest of the way back and he gave me more guidance.  It turns out, it's a lot easier if you use technique.  In fact, it's a lot like skiing if you ask me: it takes a lot more work to be out of control than to do it right, and you can only be out of control for so long before you wipe out.  So, that was my second mountain biking experience.  I'm praying for rain tonight so we can take a break - my ass is so sore!