"This is no time for ease and comfort. It is the time to dare and endure." - Winston Churchill

This particular training had been a long time coming...and NOW I understand why. Anything less than the perfect conditions could result in disaster and Thursday was anything but a disaster. Mother Nature totally had her game face on and gave us the go ahead with our mountain bike training at Lions Valley. CRAZY! We pulled into the parking lot where the team was meeting and it became all too obvious that this was so not Kansas anymore...I forgot my ruby slippers, my DRY ruby slippers, so clicking my heels 3 times and going home was out of the question. I was delighted to see Susie. I find strength and composure just being in her presence. And, she was the only one who I let know how truly intimidated I was of the bike training...and...guess what she did...she laughed...in my face (in a good way)...AND YOU KNOW WHAT? Just seeing her laugh (even at me) made me laugh, and shake, and then I barfed in my mouth a little. We had a lesson on the basics of shifting gears, suspension and handling curbs, then a warm up and away we went. We were on our bikes for maybe " 50 meters" when sweet Szerenka bravely attempted to jump her first curb and was thrown right over her handle bars...I laugh now, because I know she is okay but at the time I was just beside myself...I have NEVER been mountain biking and in the first 3 minutes I see Szerenka go flying past me WITHOUT her bike...Ok. Really? I am so outside of my comfort zone at this point that I just stood their for a brief moment thinking to myself..."and this is supposed to be the easy stuff!?! Oh I am SO screwed" The next challenge was learning how to handle a steep incline...but to get up the hill you must first go down. I managed to get down the hill and 3/4 of the way up the first time, and then it was Keri's turn. OMG! Again, I laugh because she survived, but seriously!? I have never seen a wipe out like that...she was like the ball in the pinball machine, and yet, she got up and laughed...BRAVO KERI! We were then escorted safely down the valley and onto some relay racing- which was amazing. This gave me a little glimpse into what AR actually feels like...Sorry Sharon. We then followed a trail along the river- and...I fell. And that's okay! I totally expected to completely buff out at some point and to land on thick grass and mud was just fine by me! At the end of this trail was a bend in the river...it was actually a really beautiful sight...we were challenged to cross the river carrying our bikes to win a SUUNTO heart monitor. I applaud both SHARON and NEIL for getting more than their shoes wet during this challenge and I hope you are both feeling okay today. Riding back up the valley was a trick. SHANNON was able to do it not only once, but twice. I look forward to seeing your new sneaks Shan! The ride home was awesome! It was just reaching dusk and I felt really thankful for having been given the chance to be so far outside of my comfort zone I couldn't even see it...I think it was about "50 meters"away...