Intermediate

No cars! Spectacular scenery. My riding buddies. It's the best and most fun way I know to stay in shape.

Moab

New Zealand, Moab, Fruita, Crested Butte, all around Colorado, Las Vegas.

2005 Santa Cruz Blur LT - 2004 Trek 5200 (road bike) - Burley tandem

Doctors Park + Gunnison Spur of Colorado Trail, near Crested Butte, Colorado. A bit of everything on this trail. Great technical, especially the last stretch down to the parking lot. And "the swoopies," a long and fast romp through aspen groves, will have you grinning like a kid. So fun. This is an even better trail, I think, than Crested Butte's famous Trail 401 (though that's pretty hard to beat, too).

Take a skills class! Learn to shift your weight around so the bike floats beneath you; let it do what it wants while your body stays light and stable. Hands light. Look where you want to go, not right in front of your wheel. (Those learnings come mostly from Lee McCormack, the master MTB teacher. leelikesbikes.com)

Acing a tricky drop on Porcupine Rim (Moab) that I was too scared to try the previous year when I rode that trail.

Umm, I don't fall much any more. 8^)