sporty: November 2006 Archives

There is no better time to be a mountain biker in this part of the midwest than October and November. Sure there are some really great winter days, and the first signs of spring are always exciting, but you can't beat riding through fallen (but still colorful) leaves and crisp, cool temperatures.

Yesterday the boyfriend and I hit the trails for a little 8 mile loop. As (I think) I have said before, we have two sets of trails within ten minutes of my apartment. One is easy, non-technical, fast, very flowy, and very rollercoasterlike. The other is way way more technical and kicks my ass, both physically and mentally every time I go out there.

The problem with the easy trail here is that there are a few things that, a long long time ago, I got in my head that I couldn't ride. And overcoming that thought has been a constant battle out there for me. There's this little section at the very beginning ... its just three little drops followed by short climbs ... one is off-canter ... nothing too serious. A few rides ago I cleared the first one for the first time, yesterday I cleared both the first and the second (and then used that as an excuse to bail out and walk the third) - hopefully next time I can nail them all which will mean I can ride that whole trail without putting my feet down. That'd make me pretty happy.

Part of why I was able to ride it yesterday was because the boyfriend stayed behind me, barking at me ... Ride it! Ride it! RIDE IT!!. And with the exception of the last one, I did ride them all. It felt great.

Usually he drops me on these three stupid little climbs which come very early in the ride and then I don't see him again. This time he stayed with me and pushed me which meant I was riding faster than usual. And I am SORE today. Mountain biking uses all kinds of core muscles that I apparently don't have (yet) and I'm hurting ... but its a good hurt.

On the way to get barbeque after our ride the boyfriend said to me "Yanno, you're a much better mountain biker than you give yourself credit for ... I could tell that riding behind you. You KNOW how to do this, you just don't have the confidence." And thats totally true. I'm working on overcoming the fears that keep me from making the progress I should make ... and I'm getting better. I had an epiphany about all of this on top of a mountain in Colorado that I keep meaning to tell you about, but just haven't had the time ... remind me.

Yesterday was the most confident I've felt on my MTB in a long time. And it felt SO good. I'm not sure that there is a more perfect sport than mountain biking. The folks who are good at it have an enviable mix of speed and stength and skill and nerve. I'm hoping to be there someday ...