On the Bicycle and on the Trail, a first in my entire life!

On 9/9/2011 was the most peculiar day of my life. Christina, our group leader informed us that we were going on a scavenger hunt, riding bicycles on a trail in the woods.  I do not know about other students, but it was my first time in my entire life to ride a bicycle, I mean literally ride on it and trail other people. 

I was a little scared at first, but everybody got on their bikes and started riding, out of sheer curiosity and not wanting to be embarrassed, I braved myself and said inwardly, "I know I can do this."  I got on the bike, zig zagged for a little while, then I got the bike into motion, of course, sometimes the bike would not cooperate with me and would be riding towards the trees, this did not discourage me, I kept on trying until I was riding behind other students, I did not fall even once, I did not hit a tree or another bike rider or a walker. I was riding, yes a little slower than other students, but bottom line I was riding. One can never know what they can do unless they try it. Ok? 

Inside the forest, the trail was very wet, narrow and slippery, but I braved it on, mosquitoes had a field day on us, they were just buzzing, like to tell us we were in their territory and so they were going to "feed on our blood," and so to proof it, they stung us real bad, at one point I had these little creatures on my back, my legs and hands. Once we reached the lake, I could not go any further, I was thirsty and sweating like a pro,  so the scavenger instructor excused me from continuing on, but told me I had to return to the Chateau all by myself. What?  Oh well, he left and I had to do what I had to do to get back to the Chateau. Out of fear, I jumped on the bike and kicked it into gear, and off I went riding smoothly this time and really enjoying the breeze in the process.  I did no stop until I got to the Chateau, parked my bike and jumped up in joy and said "Feliciticion Caroline, you did it!"  Was that the ultimate French experience or what?  Tell me about it, I got stories to tell when we return to the U.S.