I joined an outdoor club in my area and went to my first gathering, which was a mountain biking excursion, followed by dinner and beers. I've gotten pretty good at road cycling, and so I thought I would try it out both for the physical challenge and for the opportunity to meet people.

Let's just say that although I anticipated that this bike ride would be physically challenging, I in no way anticipated just how physically challenging it would be. My shoulders and biceps are sore because I was holding onto the handlebars for dear life. Several times, my legs just about gave out from exhaustion. I ate a slightly bigger afternoon snack than usual, but it wasn't quite enough.

But during the entire ride, I wasn't thinking about my fat ass or my jiggling thighs. All I was thinking was "Don't fall. Don'tfalldon'tfalldon'tfall." Or "Please, lungs, give me one more liter of air. Fine, a milliliter. Or even just a couple molecules of oxygen." I was stark bloody petrified and had to concentrate intensely on the path in front of me. It was sandy and there were tree roots everywhere- any lapsed attention would have meant that I ate a faceful of dirt.

It was, in short, an exercise in the function of my body over its "form." I'm not much for the adrenaline rush, but I did enjoy the challenge. And I met a very nice group of people who do this every other week.

Will I do it again? Probably. I know I prefer biking on a road (or at least packed dirt) compared to off-roading, but it's fun enough. And it was nice to totally not think of the ED for a while.