firecracker22
Sponsoring Member
- Oct 23, 2000
- 3,217
- 0
Saturday I went for my first trail ride of the year. So far I have only been to the ORV park (way too open to be called trail riding, pretty boring), the dunes once and the track a lot. We rode at a place I had never ridden before but had heard a lot about, and had ridden at adjacent areas (Batey Bould for you local gals). It is known for being very technical and difficult. Well, it was, but not unmanageably so! There were mud holes, steep uphills, tons of switchbacks, steep downhills, rock piles, rock faces and a couple small downed trees. It was a near perfect day. It was warm and not raining, and there were surprisingly few mud holes in the woods, especially for this time of year. I made it up stuff that was fairly challenging although overall I think I probably could have done better. Still for the real trail first ride of the season I did ok.
There were 4 of us, my buddy Lee (a good friend who has babysat me since I was a beginner and been my team race partner too) and a couple who are he and his wife's neighbors. The gal had only been riding since December and wow, she was amazing. I am no pro but I have been riding for 3 years and she was right there on my butt at every turn! The only places I could shake her were uphills and uphill switchbacks. She has been a competitive downhill mountain bike racer for years and you could really tell. She did not have any of the hesitation of typical beginners; she would not even pause, just attack the mud hole, hill climb, rock pile, or whatever. I was amazed, and a hair jealous! But it's great--I've gained an awesome new riding partner. She is a great person to talk to as well.
So anyway, we did about 30 miles and we all rode awesome. I finally felt like I was "in the zone" after a couple hours and could stand up and just swoop through the trees (sorry for the bragging but I love that feeling). The guys assured us that us gals did not hold them up at all, and they never felt like they were waiting for us. They were there to help if we needed it (which embarrasses me that I did on occasion but oh well). They kept telling both of us that we rode great. There were a couple minor spills but no real crashes, one broken brake lever that was quickly fixed, and that was it for mishaps. It was as near a perfect day as you could ask for.
There were 4 of us, my buddy Lee (a good friend who has babysat me since I was a beginner and been my team race partner too) and a couple who are he and his wife's neighbors. The gal had only been riding since December and wow, she was amazing. I am no pro but I have been riding for 3 years and she was right there on my butt at every turn! The only places I could shake her were uphills and uphill switchbacks. She has been a competitive downhill mountain bike racer for years and you could really tell. She did not have any of the hesitation of typical beginners; she would not even pause, just attack the mud hole, hill climb, rock pile, or whatever. I was amazed, and a hair jealous! But it's great--I've gained an awesome new riding partner. She is a great person to talk to as well.
So anyway, we did about 30 miles and we all rode awesome. I finally felt like I was "in the zone" after a couple hours and could stand up and just swoop through the trees (sorry for the bragging but I love that feeling). The guys assured us that us gals did not hold them up at all, and they never felt like they were waiting for us. They were there to help if we needed it (which embarrasses me that I did on occasion but oh well). They kept telling both of us that we rode great. There were a couple minor spills but no real crashes, one broken brake lever that was quickly fixed, and that was it for mishaps. It was as near a perfect day as you could ask for.