Battered and bruised but grinning ear to ear

So my friends husband invited me out to go biking with him today. He said it was fairly easy riding, wooded trails leading to a nice waterfall and he said we would go at a nice pace. I was a little bit leary of off road biking but figured since he said it was an easy route I would take a crack at it.

We headed out with another of his friends and I knew I was in a bit of trouble when the very first hill was covered in rocks and tree branches and was pretty darn steep. I pushed my bike up this hill but lookin up ahead, into the forest the path looked pretty clear so I pedalled on. Everything was going great until we hit the first hill, there were quite a few rockes jutting out but I managed to climb up onto the grassy side and manuever my bike down..... phew. Then we came to the next hill, Dave and Dan were just out of site as my back tire hit a rock and my bike skidded to the right. Bam, I went down hard and the pain seared through my right hand as my thumb came down hard on a rock. I looked down and noticed a big scrape below my right knee. Welcome to mountain biking is what I thought. Anyway not to be defeated so soon into our ride, I got back up and continued. I slowly got a handle on how to navigate through the rocks and branches and started to quite enjoy the challenge. We hit a nice meadow with a grassy patch and just two ruts in the middle of the path. I was going through the rut when my pedal hit on side and BAM, I was thrown from my bike into the long grass. I landed hard on my right shoulder and totally got the wind knocked out of me, but I got back up and soldiered on.

All in all we rode for about 1.5 hrs up and down lots of hills and even with the spills I absolutely loved it. I felt alive, and fit and capable and I cannot wait to get out there and do it again. I am now back home, healing my wounds and thinking that I am really getting close to finding the real me that I always talk about. This is what I want to be doing on a Sunday afternoon, and for the first time in a very long time, I know that I am capable of doing it.

On another note, this week I pulled out my body bugg again, and have been tracking my food and exercise. I don't think it is coincidence that I am down 3lbs this week. My short term goal is to lose 25 lbs in 10 weeks which will take be down to about 218 lbs. I think I am off to a great start.