Mountain biking at McNaughton Park - Pekin IL

Shaun and I went mountain biking a couple of weekends ago - and man did it kick my a*$!!!  I thought that I knew what mountain biking actually was and let me tell you...I did not!

First - let me give a small disclaimer:

My bike is a wanna-be mountain bike.  It is a Mongoose, it is about 8 or 9 years old, it is heavy and I got it for free when I purchased my 1999 Volkswagen Passat.  It was good for when I wanted to take a little ride down a flat, paved path or around the block...but up hills, down creek beds and through foot deep flooded creeks...not so much!!!

I started out pretty good until we got to a part where we had to cross this foot deep creek (I am NOT exaggerating).  Shaun went across it no problem and I kind of hung back, trying to find a better place to cross, one where my shoes would not get soaking wet 5 minutes into this little adventure.  

no.such.luck.

I also asked Shaun to come back over to my side of the creek and walk my bike across and then come back and carry me across the foot deep creek....  did I mention yet foot deep creek?

He said no.

Ughhhh!!!!

So I just braved it and across I went.  Fortunately I was wearing my nice running shoes so the ventilation was good and my shoes were going to dry out fast - unfortunately I was wearing my nice running shoes which were now covered with mud and clay and sopping wet. 

Feel sorry for me yet?!?!?!

Hahaha...

Well, all in all it turned out to be a very nice day.  I felt like a big wimp but it was a really good work out and it was really nice to be out in nature - just Shaun and I!!!

Here is Shaun before our adventure started!

Here is what I looked like for most of the journey:

but...the scenery was more than beautiful.  Look closely for the white arrow - I got a pretty good shot of some deer!

We also found this really awesome spot where a huge tree had fallen into the creek and we went out and sat on it and took a few pics:

We had such a good time.  It was so nice to spend time like that together.  It was a really good work-out and I will even say that I would do it again.  

P.S. The best part of my day today was when I was driving into work for an early meeting and the sun was rising - it was beautiful and I had a great tune playing:

It was a nice way to start my day!