This week’s challenge is to present an unusual point of view. Here’s my story.

Souvik and I went to Dalat, Vietnam one weekend. I was feeling adventurous, and TripAdvisor had advised that mountain biking was one of the top things to do in Dalat. Souvik was not yet converted to the joys of cycling and I had all my experience only on the road. Still, I persisted (nagged) and we signed up.

The route went right through the pine forest, very scenic, but the whole deal about mountain biking is the rough terrain. Sure enough, there were plenty of tree roots, stones and other obstacles jutting out unexpectedly on the barely there trail. Plus some stiff uphill and insane downhill slopes that I could only manage on foot, pushing the bike. There was even a stretch where I struggled with myself and when our guide offered to push the bike, I weakly accepted. On the final rest stop, I lay flat on the bare ground, and prayed for it to end soon. As I looked skyward, the cyclist in me was dying, but the photographer leapt to life, and I couldn’t resist this shot from the ground up.