Riding like a girl

Hi. I'm Lou. I'm 33. I rode my first mountain bike at 32. The last time I rode a bike before that was a road racer when I was 18.
I'm also fat. That's changing, for obvious reasons - you can't ride up the side of a mountain without burning something off, but for the moment, I'm definitely the wrong side of the can't find anything to wear to mountain bike camp.
Additionally, I've got some interesting health problems which mean riding bikes up steep hills is a bit more challenging than maybe it should be, even considering my size. You don't need to know what they are, suffice to say that as in all things, fun must be paid for, but for me the payment is a little different, perhaps, to yours, though I don't wish to make assumptions. Sometimes it means postponing a ride, but it nevers means not going at all, something for which I am truely grateful.
Having said all that, I can happily ride Blues, do the descents without riding my brakes, can corner decently on switchbacks both up and down and rock gardens are something I'm working on though only downhill ones. I can ride 10km and not die, the Northshore on the Blue at Gisburn can be done without dabbing and to be honest, all the downhills on Blues I've done so far at Glentress, Gisburn and Llandegla haven't involved putting a foot down except to stop between sections and catch my breathe a bit. I can even ride on snow and a bit of ice, thanks to the recent British Winter.
I'm not brilliant, but I'm not appallingly awful either, considering how little I've ridden.

Right, now all that's out of the way, why am I writing this?

Mountain biking is changing me. There are the obvious changes, the losing weight ones, the increased lung capacity, the better heartrate, the running up and down stairs without getting out of breathe ones. But I used to be shy. I used to be hesitant. I used to be appallingly awful at making decisions. Yet somehow, put me on the back of a mountain bike and point me downhill, and suddenly I am none of these things. I am in control, I can make line decisions in split seconds, I can change my weight distribution as needed, I can stay off the brakes, I can unlock a skid, I can corner properly, I can keep my head up and process the trail far in advance of it being beneath my wheels. I can do all the things that off the bike I could never do. You would think the skills wouldn't translate. Oh yes, they do. I don't flap any more, because I learnt that on a bike you cannot. I don't hesitate any more, because I learnt that on a bike there is no time. I make decisions and stick to them now, because I learnt that on a bike there is no going back once you are committed to a ramp, corner, drop off or other obstacle. And most of all, I learnt that in taking risks, there are massive rewards.

Mountain biking is changing me. As a result, I am rather enthusiastic about it. I'd quite like to share that enthusiasm with other people, because I believe it's worth it, if only for the health benefits alone.