Mountain biking is not for everyone...

...especially me! Oh my goodness, I learned a very valuable lesson today that I would like to share.
It all started yesterday, Dan and Shannon said, "we would like to go biking tomorrow, would you like to come?" "Yes, that would be fun" I replied. And so it went... Dan borrowed a bike from his brother and today we set off. Shannon and I met Dan at his work and we all drove to a trail. As we were driving I say, "so what kind of trail is this?" (Thinking this would be a paved bike trail, I should have asked this about 48 hours prior). "It's a dirt trail, but it's not too bad,"they assure me.. Before I know it we were there and setting up the bikes. I hop on and realize, I don't think I have ridden a bike on a dirt trail, um ever!
I was able to get this picture before the ride started (and I was still sane)

As we started down the trail I immediately voiced my concerns, "um guys, this is scary." "You'll be fine, " Shannon said, "just use your back break, remember Nicki?" (Nicki is my cousin who Shannon and I watched go over the handle bars of her bike when we were about 8 on this monster of a hill by our houses when she tried to stop). GREAT, I thought. Well slow, slow, slow I went down the hill skidding my back tire every time I tried to slow more on the loose gravel. Those who know me well, know that I am always super paranoid something bad is about to happen. Maybe it's because I am a huge klutz. But as I rode (or walked down hills) I stressed about how I was about to fall down the side of the cliff, flip over my handle bars or get out of control. I was so nervous and the trail was so technical that I wanted to cry every time I saw yet another downhill. I was just waiting for the right moment to dump the bike and just start running. And then the inevitable happened, as I turned a corner going about .00001 mph I moved my weight wrong and tipped right over! Shannon heard my, "ahhhh" and then the rustling of the leaves. When I finally poked my head up we laughed and laughed since I wasn't hurt, just covered in leaves and dirt. Luckily they took pity on my sorry bike riding skills and took a faster way down the mountain. I only fell one more time on the way down. When we finally got to the bottom, we had to go back up. However, UP was better - we went a NON-technical way and instead of rocks, roots and cliffs to worry about it was just straight up mountain road! Fine with me! 6 miles uphill we were back at the car - I have never been so relived to see a car in my life.
The valuable lesson to take out of this experience... next time someone asks you to go biking, maybe you should ask - what kind of trail are we talking about here?

As for mountain biking, I think I will stick to spinning at the gym, keeping my tires on the pavement and using the trails for running. Thanks for the experience guys, the views really were beautiful!