Do you have any hobbies that intrigue you? My favorite hobby is mountain biking. I have a lot of intriguing stories about mountain biking, but today I will tell you my most intriguing and entertaining story. 

My story starts off with me and my friends. My friend’s names are Nikita, Joon, Jayden, and Shawn. We decided to go mountain biking because we were bored and had nothing to do on a Saturday evening. As we approached the mountain, it was getting dark outside. It was the steepest mountain we had ever witnessed. 

As me and my friends started up the mountain, it began to rain. We thought that it was too late to turn back so we just kept going. Now that I think of it, heading up the mountain was much harder than going down the mountain. My legs were starting to hurt and it was getting harder to breathe. Just as I was going to suggest to my friends that we rest, we saw the top of the mountain and used the remainder of our strength to bike all the way up. 

When we got to the top of the mountain the view was astonishing. We have never been this high up, and all of us were amazed by how far we could see. We ate some bagels at the top of the mountain and then started to look for a way back down. There were 2 ways back down: an easy way and a hard way. Me and my friends chose the hard way down because we all wanted a challenge. When we started down the trail it was easy at first, but gradually became harder as the trail got steeper and steeper and more rocks and bumps appeared. 

As we continued our descent, we encountered our first big obstacle: a jump. In order to go over the jump, we would need to accumulate some speed. We each took turns, and were able to get over it pretty easily. After we had all crossed the jump, we looked back, realizing that the gap was much larger than we had initially thought and was—about 4 to 5 feet wide. We continued down, and I was huffing and puffing, almost out of breath when I saw another sign, alerting us of another obstacle—an even larger jump. At the front of the group, I knew that if I stopped, I would lose speed and never be able to get across the jump, so I pedaled faster and faster until hitting the jump. My heart skipped a beat as I was midair, and behind me, I heard a loud crash. Because my friend Jayden’s bike was much heavier than everyone else’s, it had pulled him down as he was in the air, and he had landed on the ground in between the jumps. We quickly rushed down to where he had fallen to help him. He was mostly fine but had a few bruises and scratches. 

I realized if it was going to get harder than this later on down the trail, we were all doomed. My friends agreed, suggesting that we all go back up to take the easier route. But it was getting dark and the time it would take going back up the mountain might make even an easier descent even more dangerous since none of us had lights. We then decided to proceed with the hard trail. 

As we continued on, we encountered another sign that said that there was a huge and rocky hill ahead. Not knowing what to expect, we decided to go down slowly with our hands on the brakes. We slowly descended, all pretty tired from the long journey, minds unfocused. Suddenly, I felt my wheel catch on something, and I stopped very sharply. My friends, close behind, tried to steer around me, but to no avail. My heart jumped, anticipating the collision that was about to happen. Like dominoes, the 5 of us and our bikes toppled over each other with a loud crashing sound. 

After that incident, everyone was covered in cuts and bruises, and no one was in the mood to ride again. But I knew that we wouldn’t make it down the mountain by dragging our bikes with us. The sun was setting, and we were worried that soon, there would be no more daylight. Our only option was to get back on our bikes and to proceed down the treacherous trail. Still hurting from our 5-person crash, we hopped on our bikes and continued our journey down the mountain. 

Although we were able to finally make it down the mountain, it was a grueling process. By the time we saw the trees break into the open expanse of the parking lot, it was almost completely dark outside. That day, me and my friends learned not to go mountain biking so close to sunset.