Roadie Goes Off Road

I got today all backwards. I went for a massage in the morning and then went mountain biking in the afternoon. If I had only known how hard mountain biking was! What a workout!

Yep. It was my first ever mountain bike ride today. A group of nine met for a lunchtime ride, and I was the only one who had never done this before. So, of course we went on the most terrifying, technical trail we could find: The Race Course.

Actually, the gravel road up to the trail was fine. Nice wide road with some slippy slidey gravel to make things more entertaining. I was laughing and having a great time.

Then we got to the singletrack. At first I was okay with it because it reminded me of 'cross racing.





Maybe my head was just getting rattled from so much bumping around, but things were getting scarier. There were some steep downhill sections were I got off and walked. There were some uphill sections that I was sure I could have ridden had I had clipless pedals on my bike. I got off and walked. And there were steep sections where I wasn't the only one who got off and walked. It got to the point where the group would clap and cheer for me if I was riding the bike. Quite frankly, I was ready to chuck the stupid heavy bike and just jog along the trail. It probably would have been faster.





The scariest part for me came after we stopped climbing and turned around to come back. We had reached a dirt road that was way up high on the mountain overlooking the valley below. It was confirmed to me that if we kept following the road it would take me to the water tanks, and I would be just about home. Plus, following the road would have been the easy way down. But no matter how much I tried, nobody would go down the road with me. So I followed them back onto the singletrack.

It was then that I realized that they had taken me to the part of the trail that only ten minutes earlier I had pointed to and said, "Boy, I'm glad were not riding THAT trail!" THAT trail was on the edge of a cliff. If you fell off THAT trail, you would fall 200 feet straight down and then roll another 500 feet to the bottom. After my left pedal kept clipping the rocks and throwing me toward the cliff, I got off and walked. I wasn't laughing nor having such a good time anymore. The rest of the way down wasn't too bad, but I was sure relieved when we got back to the gravel road at the bottom.

I dunno...I still think I'd take the threat of cars to cliffs any day, but I have found a new respect for mountain bikers.

I need another massage.