Irulan - I hugged a Tree today!!!

[CorsairMac]

Stephanie aka Snowtulip took me out MTB'ng today and OMG - can you say Amazing?? Awesome?? Empowered?? a Blast?? First and foremost I want to thank Steph - talk about an awesome teacher. By the time she was done teaching me I was bunny-hopping and having a blast! She took me through stuff I would've Never tried on my own - and yeah I didn't make it through all of it! :o There was some really nasty sand that I just could Not get through - it was also my first and biggest fall!!....wheeeee!! I also misjudged the space the track took between some tress and ending up using the tree to slingshot myself through them! WHEEEEEEEEEE it was sooooo awesome! Steph would find fun stuff like a huge tree root and show me how to go over it, and then watch me and coach me until I got it right! (cept for that doggone sand which I Am gonna go back and conquer - you just watch!) She also taught me how to bunny hop on the flat sections and then found some stuff that I could hop over so I could put what I had practiced into play. It was soooo much fun!! About halfway through I decided I should probably let some air out of my tires since they were inflated for the road and that made a huge difference. I've also decided I need a different pair of gloves than what I had on, the track was pretty rutted from the horses and the bouncing has left my hands a little sore. But the rest of me did NOT want to stop. (thank goodness for the voice of reason and for the prescence of Steph!) We've already set up another time to ride and I'm counting the days! And I did take the bike into my LBS to have it checked out after his first day in the sandbox!! By the time we were done Everything was dusty - even the inside pockets of my Camelback! It was just - ---------- now I know why you MTB'ers don't wanna switch to road bikes!!!

[snowtulip]

I have two words to say-

CorsairMac Rocked!!!!! :D :p :D :p

I think she was a mountain biker in a past life. Mmmm, only a matter of time before she turns to the dark side *sinister laugh* Hey wait, who said Mtbiking was the dark side...only a matter of time before the mountain biking force takes over*sinister laugh*. Ok, must admit Empire Strikes Back is on the tv at the moment.

Can't wait for the next ride and more logs and rocks to bunny hop over! Luckily, no horses at our next ride location, so minimal ruts. Instead of trees to hug (hey CM hugged the tree and still managed to keep riding!) it will be prickly pears and cholla.

Great Job!!!

[Irulan]

excellent! sounds like you are catching the disease already!

have fun.

irulan

[Veronica]

Woohooo! Sounds like you had a blast.

V.

[DirtDiva]

Wow! Sounds like an awesome ride. Wish I could have come along and learned to bunnyhop too.

:( Waaaaah. I miss my bike. Ah, that feels better - I've been holding that in for a couple of weeks. :rolleyes:

[Susan126]

Welcome to the world of dirt! {S}

[singletrackmind]

Cool!
Dirt is good. Scabs are good. Life is good.
Roll on... :D

[Dirt Girl]

OMG - can you say Amazing?? Awesome?? Empowered?? a Blast??...WHEEEEEEEEEE it was sooooo awesome!...It was soooo much fun!! ...It was just - ---------- now I know why you MTB'ers don't wanna switch to road bikes!!!

Uh-huh! Quite a bit different from road riding, yes? How exciting that you love it!! :D And it only gets better the more you do it. I will have to say that I'm enjoying the road bike (but remember my ultimate goal with it is to improve my MTbiking), and it's great to have all you gals to learn from. (I just got back from my longest road ride to date. Peanuts to many of you gals, but it was 38 miles and I still had energy to walk the dog when I got home. But it's back to the MTB next ride!)

Dirt "I'm SO HAPPY CorsairMac loves her MTB!!!!" Girl

[LBTC]

Way to go!! I'm so glad you loved it Corsair! And, yeah, I'm with Dirt Girl. The road bike is to be a better MTBer! But the road is getting more interesting and more fun. Tomorrow will hopefully be a good long ride. I hope I can make it!!

Nothing beats trails, though! yahooooooooooooooooooo :D

namaste,
~T~

[nuthatch]

Corsair, you almost tempt me to try MTB - it sure does sound like a lot of fun with so many learning challenges built into the ride. Does road riding sound like a total Zzzzzz to you mountain girls? They're like to completely different sports united only by the use of two wheels. Now, if I could just get over my fear of falling... :D

[Crash]

Sounds like you had an awesome time. That is great to have someone take you out and teach you the skills as you go.

[Irulan]

Corsair, you almost tempt me to try MTB - it sure does sound like a lot of fun with so many learning challenges built into the ride. Does road riding sound like a total Zzzzzz to you mountain girls? They're like to completely different sports united only by the use of two wheels. Now, if I could just get over my fear of falling... :D

I used to road road a lot. It was great when I lived in the rural rockies, and had miles and miles of paved farm road with no traffic. 40 - 60 mile days were no sweat. The few times I went out road riding here, I've had firecrackers and water balloons tossed at me... water balloon smacked me right on the helmet, didn't know what had hit me and that was enough to make me quit for good.

Irulan

[mtnbikenmama]

to the dark side, it will never let you go. :cool:

[RoadRaven]

Ummm... this thread is making me look at Black Thunder (my mtb) a bit more fondly...

Hmmm.... maybe..............


:cool:

[CorsairMac]

I used to road road a lot. It was great when I lived in the rural rockies, and had miles and miles of paved farm road with no traffic. 40 - 60 mile days were no sweat. The few times I went out road riding here, I've had firecrackers and water balloons tossed at me... water balloon smacked me right on the helmet, didn't know what had hit me and that was enough to make me quit for good.

Irulan
:( :( :mad: I'm so sorry to hear that Irulan. I've heard those kind of stories about both road bikers and runners and it just saddens and sickens me everytime I hear them. I still love road riding - it'll always be my first love and I see the skills I learn on the MTB as a help to improve myself as a road rider! Nut - ya gotta try MTB'ng. It was truly a blast. It made me feel so - empowered. Like Muhammed Ali - I was on Top of the World! Even the sand that got me, didn't make me feel like I couldn't do it....I just felt like I couldn't do it Today! and Steph was so awesome as a teacher it made the whole experience enjoyable vs intimidating.

[Susan126]

Yes, sorry to hear about your horrible encounters on your road bike Irulan. I guess I have been lucky never to have experienced the worst side of people while on my road bike. Maybe Joe scares them or something. Joe and me always ride together or with a bunch of friends. We have never been subjected to some of the things I have heard tell by other people. I do love both road riding and mountain biking. Each has it's own special thing I love about it. A friend of mine, who rides alone a lot, has had some bad experiences herself. It sickens me when I see how sick and mean people can be. They should be locked up and the keys thrown away!

[CorsairMac]

I had the road bike out today and reached a section of the street (not marked btw) that was all torn up and muddy and just sucked. By the time I reached the mud it was too late to turn back. My first thought was "I can do this...this is just like riding the MTB thru the sand, don't fight the mud, don't fight the bike, just let it happen and help him decide where I want him to go". Poor Allez, the mud was pretty thick and he started to bog down and at one point started sliding toward an Eki-attacker of a pothole but I just eased him back over and just kept pedalling. We made it out just fine with nothing worse than some muddy tires! Thanks again Steph, prior to our outing I would've panicked and either tried to stop the bike or muscle my way thru it.

[snowtulip]

Yahhhh! I'm so glad you were able to use your mtb skills on the road. You were "one" with your bike. Allez needs an adventure in mud every so often. But as I recall on another thread, the road bike must be clean and shiny after the excursion, whereas the mtb. should look dirty. Hope Allez enjoyed the bath. Mmmm, next skill - can we bunny hop over the mud? (ok admitedly, I can't do that).

Way to go CM!!! :D