Nancy is participating in the Thursday Night XC Mountain Bike Race Series at Northstar for the third year in a row. We came early for a couple of runs in the mountain bike park, and made the mistake of checking out one of the double black diamond runs, Boondocks.

The run is extremely burly—I had to walk through my bike through approximately ten sections, most of which feature 6 to 10-foot drops through rocky mazes.

Nancy went over the bars when her front tire bit in some soft stuff, and she got a bunch of scrapes and bruises, just in time for her first race.

Here, the racers gather in nervous anticipation as they await the course instructions.

Nancy thought she was going to puke on the initial climb, but managed to make it up without soiling herself.

There were a bunch of women in the race, some whom may or may not have ridden the entire course. Nancy got 4th, but won a $250 gift certificate in the post-race raffle. Score!