It all started when someone gave me a new Trek 820 mountain bike. I thought mountain biking sounded like fun…mind you, I had no idea what mountain biking was. A friend of mine and I were talking about working out, etc. and I told him I was tired of going to the gym, it was boring. He asked me if I had ever tried mountain biking. I told him no. He said we're going tomorrow. He called me the next morning and told me to go get a helmet. A helmet? I don't need a helmet. He said you aren't going without a helmet. Okay, I'll go get a helmet. We get to N Meck Park and he tells me this is one of the easier trails. We start into the trail and the first thing I come to is this huge tree lying across the trail!!! I ask him what in the heck am I supposed to do here??!!! Some guy comes riding by and tells me be careful this is dangerous. Dangerous??!!! What had I gotten myself into?! Then I realized why I needed a helmet!! I walked over the big tree. After what seemed like hours we finally reached the end of the trail. I was exhausted and my tail was definitely feeling the effects of the saddle, but I loved it! I definitely wanted to do it again! That's how I came to love the sport of mountain biking. I joined the Dirt Divas a few months later and then the Tarheel Trailblazers. My life has done a 180. I assisted in building the additional two miles of Fisher Farm in the fall of 2005 and learned how rewarding it was to ride something you helped build!! Along with mountain biking I also do triathlons. I don't remember what it was like not to swim, bike (road and mountain) and run. The best part about all this is the wonderful people I have met and the great friendships that have developed over this past year and a half. Life is good!

Leah can be reached at secretary@tarheeltrailblazers.com