Farewell Fall

I was recently asked in an email what my favorite alternate activity is besides skiing. As I am packing up and getting ready to leave my life here in Park City (where all I've been doing is alternate activities that will have hopefully best prepared me for my time on snow), I thought I'd dedicate this post to answer that question. For sake of some actual content, the exact words in the email were: "I would really appreciate if you could send me a picture of you doing an alternate activity, and then a brief paragraph to explain why you love that activity." Here is my response: 

In the off season when I am not skiing, I love to mountain bike. Both of my parents were and still are big mountain bikers themselves (my mom co-founded the National Off-Road Bicycle Association aka NORBA if that says anything), so it has always been my family's main sport, second after skiing. When I was younger, it was my family's tradition every Sunday that we weren't on the slopes to have a big pancake breakfast and then go out on a fairly long, respectfully challenging mountain bike ride. At ages 9 and 10, I dreaded these half-day adventures because I could never seem to keep up with anyone in my family - neither my older sister nor my parents. Getting left in the dust was not my idea of fun. But as I got older and began to actually figure out some bike-handling skills, my hatred for our Sunday rides slowly faded. As much as my young teenage-self didn't want to admit it, my parents knew what was up all along. They successfully passed on their passion for the sport to me as it is now my activity of preference when I am not skiing. Some of its best qualities, in my opinion, are that it takes place in the great outdoors and you get up close and personal with nature; it has an adventure component to it; it's normally really scenic - great for "Instagramming"; it can be as hard or as easy as you want - depending on the trail you choose and how much you want to push yourself; it can be social - riding with friends is always fun, or it can be anti-social - sometimes I use it as a personal Zen time to zone out to my own thoughts and listen to the rhythm of my heart beat; it is an action-packed cardio workout - way more exciting than sitting on a spin bike or even a road bike for that matter; and lastly, it is similar to skiing in that you have to look ahead and pick your line...otherwise things might not end well. With risk comes adrenaline and proper execution is a must. For me, sports like these are always the most rewarding! 

Here are a few shots from some of the rides I took this fall:

On that note, I'm saying farewell to Park City and mountain biking and all of its other fun alternate activities that I've enjoyed so much this summer and fall. Until next year! In the meantime, I'm headed to the snow to get my ski on! It's time to arc some turns, feel the wind in my face, and go fast!  

Winter here I come...