On Friday, I had my first mountain bike experience. Fun fact: the front and rear brakes are on opposite sides in New Zealand. Thankfully, I was not punished by this fact, but I was wondering why my bike acted so funny on the descents. Also, even though my bike was a rental, my pedal fell off halfway up the mountain. I am grateful to the two riders that stopped and lent me a tool to fix the issue. Finally, although I took a bus up the mountain, for whatever reason, all the buses were cancelled for the ride down, therefore I had a wonderful walk back to the city. Despite all of this, and maybe partly because of it, I had a great and memorable experience. I went with one other American and we did a mix of level 2, 3, and 4 grade trails, which were beautifully constructed on Makara Peak just outside Wellington. Here are some photos for you to enjoy, which includes a terrifying line bridge over ravine: