The Day My Husband Tried to Kill Me, or ...

I am Woman Hear Me Roar, or … Help! I’m Having a Midlife Crisis. I’ll let you decide.

I’m relatively athletic and like to try new things. Last summer I knee-boarded behind a ski boat, and this past winter I snowboarded for the first time, and I enjoyed both experiences. My husband’s been trying to get me to mountain bike with him for years. It’s not literally “mountain” biking, we have no mountains in Minnesota, but it’s off-road, dirt track stuff. Like this picture on the left. He bought me this great bike and put shocks on both the seat post and the front frame, so why I’d been avoiding it, I wasn’t sure.

This past weekend, my husband got smart and put my son on it. “Mom, you want to go mountain biking today?” It was 88 degrees in the shade. I should have passed.

We went to Lebanon Hills in Eagan that has bike trails specifically designed for off-road bikers of varying skill levels, but all of it’s tough. We’re talking 6 miles of tight turns, log rolls, and rock gardens. Turns out I’ve got pretty good intuition about this whole mountain biking business.

When I came to this first group of rocks, I managed the first part, but after taking that right turn, I “took a header” over a boulder in the middle and smashed my knee up nicely.



This is me after finishing the trail. You can't see it, but I'm dirty as heck, my shoulders, my legs. And yep, that’s blood on my left knee. After 6.1 miles of that stuff, my bruises are sporting bruises.

But I’m stubborn. For anyone who doesn’t know me, really stubborn. I hadn’t broken anything yet, so if my twelve year old son could do it, I could do it. I successfully navigated my first log roll and gained some confidence, tried a couple beginner challenging things, and walked over some of it, but by the time I finished, I felt like queen of the world. Well, at least a princess.

At my son’s urging, and feeling the drag of my upcoming 45th birthday, I went out again the next day. This time to Theodore Wirth park and a trail so narrow there literally wasn’t room for handlebars between the tree trunks at several spots. But I did it. I actually stayed on my bike, fitting my right handlebar past one tree trunk, my left through the next, while moving forward slowly. I wouldn’t have been able to do this trail if not for the experience the day before. I only walked through two spots.

So today’s my birthday, and I’ve got a big scab on my left knee and too many bruises on my arms and legs to count. To be honest, I’m getting too old for this crap. Help!

Does anyone have any great-safe-ideas for keeping those youthful vibes alive? For staying vital? Then again, what about suggestions for accepting life's natural course and aging gracefully? What tried and true methods do you use for getting through the birthday blues?