Mountain Biking in Stowe

Last night after work I went mountain biking in Stowe. The trails were awesome! Swoopy, swervy, sweet trails that were just hard enough to make me work. I rode through stands of conifers and deciduous trees, boggy areas with narrow wooden bridges, and rocky, rooted trails that bounced me around. At one point I came to a "T" in the trail and, after reading the map, couldn't figure out which way to go. I knew where I was by the "You are Here" star on the map, but wasn't sure where that was in relation to where I came from. As I was standing there, eyes glazing over starring at the map, but trying to focus on where to go, a gal road up behind me. I asked her if she knew the trails; she did. I told her how much time I had and asked which way to go. Rather than trying to orient me and send me on my merry way, she offered to show me around!

Man, was she good! She flew ahead of me and dropped over this huge slab of rock that jutted up like a rotten stump on the trail. I had to stop, get off my bike, and sally my way around. She flew ahead and I panted, trying to keep up. I was grinning from ear to ear to finally be riding with a girl that was a damn good mountain biker! I thought of my friend, Chrissy, who taught me how to mountain bike and how she was so patient with me; how she constantly yelled at me to keep my feet on the pedals as my legs flew out like wings whenever I was scared.

After riding a loop together, we stopped and she pointed out Bear Run, a trail that would lead me to Mountain Road, where I could pop out and bike back to my car. So it's down that way, I asked, pointing in the direction of the trail. Here, I'll show you, she said. Bear Run is a super fast snake that zips you faster and faster on a bed of pine needles, downhill all the way. Woo hoo! I hollered as we met back up at Mountain Road (of course, she was way ahead of me on Bear Run).

Back at the cars we exchanged emails and phone numbers and talked about getting together again. I told her it was the highlight of my day to see her drop over that rock and thanked her for showing me around. As I pedaled away I was so happy and thankful for my ride and felt a bit like a geek because of my unchecked enthusiasm. I hope I didn't scare her away!

Today and tomorrow are taper days before Sunday's Burlington Marathon. I know I haven't talked much about the race but I have been training for quite some time now, not for anything in particular, and pondering the idea of running the marathon because of its location close to my home. I decided to go for it and signed up a couple of weeks ago. It's not my typical race due to the size--4000 marathoners and 8000 competitors total (the race also has a relay portion)--and the terrain (all on pavement), but the course is pretty, running along Lake Champlain, and not far from my house. Plus it will show me sections of Burlington that I have never seen before.

Tapering is always tough but after such a great mountain bike ride yesterday, I think I will manage to suffer from little exercise until Sunday, keeping my mountain bike adventure in mind!