Imagine yourself at a beautiful water park on a hill, surrounded by mountains everywhere you turn.

You grab your water tube and jump onto the first water slide at the entrance. This is going to be awesome! You get to the bottom of the first slide on an exhilaration high, but you quickly realize that the water park has been designed in such a manner that you can not tell where you were supposed to go for the next slide. Luckily, you find that you have a waterproof map. There is a route drawn for you, so you can hit every ride in an efficient manner. "Awesome!" you say to yourself, and head in the direction of the next exhilarating ride. For each plunge you take, you have to find your way to the next slide as well as walk up exhausting flights of stairs that are the equivalent height of the next slide. There are no lines, but you feel like every 10 minutes you spend walking up, is rewarded by a mere 2 minute invigorating experience. Is it worth it? Of course! As a bonus, you have amazing views at the top of each slide. One slide is an enclosed tube, so there is no way for you to fall out. Experimenting a little, you find that at certain turns, when you position yourself in a certain manner, you go up so high on the side of the tube, that you begin to wonder if you can generate enough momentum to go so high that you actually circle the tube and make yourself upside-down for a split second. Now that would be intense! You go back and slide down several more times, each time being a little more daring. A couple of times actually succeed - it feels so smooth and effortless when it actually happens! Finally, you get tired and decide it's time to head back home. You know you'll be back though. You can't wait to tell your friends about this wonderful place!

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That was pretty much my experience today mountain biking in Lambert Park. It was my first time, and I really didn't know what to expect. The pictures at the top of the blog are the pictures I took from the trailhead just after I got out of the car - it was beautiful!

Here is one of my fun "slides."

Here are pictures of the not-as-fun "stair" views.

...did I mention it's very dry here?

The first time, I went over each rock really slowly, and it was similar to biking down stairs, really bumpy (the front tire hits the ground below well before the back tire does). However, the faster I got, I was eventually able to keep both tires in the air and land them at the same time. That was awesome! Though I can imagine, in the future, trying to show off and face planting...

I went up and down the first part of this trail about three times! Seriously, 1 minute to bike uphill, just for a 5 second downhill rush!

A striking tree I found on Zag trail. Zag is an uphill trail that leads to a fun downhill ride called Ziggy!

As I pedaled back to my car, I realized that one of these days, I might have to use one of these!

Can't wait to go back with Amjith tomorrow! ;)