Neighborhood Mountain Biking

I got out my 29er bike and went with my son for a ride. He said to go down the back alleys to get the best simulated mountain bike riding. We head down the first alley, cross the road and go down the next. My son suddenly slows down but I'm still heading down and then realize that there's a rottweiler sitting next to the alley tied up and skid to a stop. My son starts laughing and said, "Don't worry, she won't bite". Thanks.

We head up a hill and overlook the alley going down. My son says, "This one rocks. You gotta try it" and heads down the alley. He stops at the road and waits for me to come down.

I start down and it's full of bumps, gravel, dirt and towards the end I realize there's a drop off of about a foot. I picked up speed much faster than I expected, hit the drop off, bounced into the street at full speed (about 15mph) went into someone's driveway and nearly landed into the bushes. Thank goodness for disc brakes. My son has nearly fallen over in laughter and when I looked up the alley there were two guys sitting on their lawn chairs watching the entire show.

I haven't had this much fun in years and a 29er is so worth it even in a neighborhood. I still get amazed at how far I've come as a newbie in such a short time.