First Group Ride on a Mountain Bike Trail
Had my first ever group ride. I had a great time and the guys were super sweet. It was a no drop ride so the leader stayed with me while we went through the 5-6 miles of single track trail. I nearly went over the handlebars about 5 times going over logs and over the top of dirt hills. It's hard keeping your pedals at 3/9 position when you are used to riding on the road and I kept getting my pedals caught on stuff. You really have to time your speed so you can get over in the 3/9 position and towards the end I was getting it. I think my Mukluk has a lower bottom bracket making going over things a little tricky. There were 2 other guys with fat bikes so it was great to compare. Only reasons I went is because a couple of the guys at the MTBR site had fat bikes in Omaha and they invited me up. Plus it was a no drop ride.
Leader was impressed that I saved myself from going over the bars and was able to hold a line fairly well. I still have TONS to work on, mostly learning to get out of the saddle, doing hills and not braking during curves. I did keep getting my pedals caught on the curves because the trail narrowed way down. Toward the end, I did the "easy" downhill with the twists and turns, swallowed my fear and tried not to brake. It really works and you have more control that way. I did the trail along the steep hill w/o crashing. I knew enough that if you are going to crash, lean towards the hill, not down the hill. The leader was really great at letting me know how to get through the tricky spots. He actually made me go first which was scary until I got the hang of it.
Since the trail looped over several times, it was cool to see how everyone else was doing stuff. By the time I made it around once, they'd done it 3 or more times. Leader and the other guys with fat bikes were impressed I got over the hills on the Mukluk. If I had a lighter bike with either 26 or 29 inch tires, the course would have been much easier. 29er would make for getting over those logs and the hills, but would suck on the switchbacks unless you really knew how to corner. Mukluk actually has 26 inch rims but with the tires, it makes it more of a 29er feel. In some ways it was perfect except for the weight which was surprising.
I was also pleased that I didn't have to stop every 5 minutes to die of oxygen like I did in the beginning of the summer. I guess doing hills and riding all summer has actually paid off.
No problems with the stock handlebars either. A rigid fork seemed to work just fine. The last ride I took in Lincoln was really rough on the shoulders and arms.
After the ride, I went over with the other guys to someone's house and hung out. It was nice to have adult conversation instead of teenagers. Too bad it's a 1.5 hour trip up and cost about 40 bucks in gas to go so it will be awhile before I get up there again.
Yeah, I'm snail slow and have no finesse, but it was awesome to do a real trail. Going on a group ride really does improve skills and I wished I lived closer to get more experience.
