I wrote yesterday, that I went out on a local trail with my friend, Mike. Exciting newbie things
happened, and Mike fell in a most spectacular way 🙂.
Today, we went over the same trail. He said he wanted to do the loop twice. That didn't happen (he
has this little hard narrow racing style saddle on his brother's loaner bike that squashes his
dangly bits in a way he just doesn't like), but, we did ride 1 1/2 times. Not bad for our second day
in a row (I ride on my own but I tend to alternate it witrh other things).
The first time around, he insisted on going over every obstacle we'd passed around, yesterday. I
have to admit I was a bit irritated at first, because I don't *lilke* obstacles (translation: they
scare me silly). But, he wanted to do it, and we didn't have any time constraints, so, I consented
to watching as he went over the first. He didn't fall. In fact, he said he was quite sure I could
manage it too. Feeling mildly shamed into it (and knowing I wasn't likely to kill myself), I gave it
a try. I rolled right over that sucker (which is what I was *supposed* to do. Woo!!! It was a series
of graduated logs, which made sort of a humped-back ramp up and then down. We eventually went over
another one of those, and then a sort of "ramp-bridge" made out of two single boards placed
end-to-end over some logs. I had a little trouble with the last one, but, I *mostly* got over it,
and the point that I "fell off" was low enough that I didn't actually drop my bike. I just bounced
hard <heh>.
I'm certainly not scared of those obstacles, now. I'm not sure I'm a true convert to wanting to ride
over lots more of them (I still like climbing better as a "challenge"😉, but, I don't think I'll go
around them, anymore.
Speaking of climbing, we both had trouble on the "first" hill again (where the path starts), at the
same patch of roots as last time, but, I managed to go up and down *all* the other hills (as did
Mike). Including my Nemesis, the first one in the double hill. The first time I rather painfully
dragged myself up it and *just* barely made it. If I had been going any slower to make that climb,
the lack of momentum would have resulted in me and the bike falling over. The second time we went
over it (it was in the "1/2" part of the second ride), I built up some really good speed from
coasting down in my fledgling "attack position", and it was half as much work as the first time.
Gosh, that standing up in the pedals really *works*. It's not just good for going down hills, it's
useful for SO MUCH MORE (cue cheesy infomercial soundtrack). We used it to get over the obstacles
(we couldn't pedal while actually rolling over them or the pedals would catch on the logs). And,
when we hit level stretches where there were exposed roots, I would use it to transfer the
"jouncing" from my butt to my knees.
In closing, for the folks who were commenting that I ought not go "around" things...I read that in
the FAQ and I've been careful to only do it when there was a maintained path option to follow. I
took a wrong turn one day and ended up on a side loop full of individual fallen logs to jump a bike
over. Since I wasn't doing that, I dismounted at each one and lugged my bike over every single one
🙂. I don't want to erode out paths any more than anyone else. I hike, and I've seen the damage
bikes can do to hike trails, when they're ridden where they "shouldn't" be. But, I appreciate the
suggestion to watch out.
Gwen
--
Gwen Morse -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "Love is a snowmobile racing
across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels
come." -- Matt Groening