My new toy

[beccaB]

The husband and I just bought mountain bikes. Specialized Rockhopper, to be exact. Although I won't be hopping any rocks! I have never ridden any bike on an unpaved trail, and our maiden voyage was kind of scary! We had already done 47 road miles(with our road bikes) and thought we'd test the new bikes on a local trail system that's rated easy to intermediate. Well. I fell down a few times. One of those times I decided I was perfectly comfortable lying in the brush. I have so many questions I don't know where to start. The first one that comes to mind is there different clothing for trail biking? Specifically, fabrics that don't get pilled up and get holes in them from pulling out multiple stick tites. Of course I probably wouldn't have the stick-tites if I hadn't crashed a few times! Maybe my legs would also be less fatigued if I hadn't just logged 47 road miles before-hand. Maybe I'm just crazy? But at the very least, the husband is now very excited about the mountain bikes I had to drag him into the store to buy.

[Cataboo]

I actually find mountain biking a lot more exhausting than road riding, maybe it's the steepness of the trails or the difficulty... And that's even though really I don't spend all that much time pedaling except up hills.

All I can say is - it gets better! I usually have a lot of fun trying to go over things till I fall a few times and say OWWies. And then I ride very sedately and pick my bike up and carry it over things.

[warneral]

What kind of a trail was this? I'm thinking NOT the rails to trails type that I like to ride.

My dh's only bike is a Rockhopper and I'm impressed by it. It's a very nice bike and he's had it a LONG time

[Catrin]

Cool, congratulations on your introduction to mountain biking! I SO WANT TO DO THIS...but this year is just too early. Darn it. Besides, the road and hills are challenging enough for me right now. We will see what happens the rest of this season into next year.

So now I am starting to toy with this idea - will my next bike be a light-weight steel road bike or a mountain bike? Time will tell

Looking forward to reading more about your adventures!

[arielmoon]

OMG! I am sorry I laughed at your post but I had almost the same experience this weekend. I had only been on a mountain bike one other time and it was all flat. This past weekend was a race in Gainesville at the gorgeous Haile's Trails. It is not open to the public unless there is a race so everyone wants to go when there is an event. Well, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about! I had ridden 48 miles that morning but I did not have a problem with stamina. Staying upright on the bike was much bigger! I fell twice and walked about as much as I rode. I found out I am a big yellow chicken! LOL Back to the yellow trails for me for a while. I do, however, now have an appreciation for my many friends that mountain bike race. Some of the climbs and descents were outrageous!!

[beccaB]

I'm sure there are flat wide trails somewhere in a nearby county, but closer to us and getting near the end of the day we just went to a local place that has those short trails in the woods. It looked like places that kids would carve out of woody places behind their houses. A local group maintains them, but I will wait until I have some more experience before trying it again on those trails. My daredevil husband didn't have any problems with it because he grew up in that kind of a place, and I grew up in a city. I also have a confidence problem and am almost too afraid of crashing, which can take away from whatever little skill I may have. Does that make any sense?

[arielmoon]

I totally get what you mean. I know that relaxing and not grabbing the brakes is better but it was really hard not too!!! I really felt like I needed to get a feel of the bike a lot better before attempting anything like it again. There are tons of trails here, I just need to stick to the easy ones for a while! It was fun though!

[crazycanuck]

Mountain biking is all about concentrating and balance (other stuff too but these two are the ones that spring to mind for me). I tell ya, 100km on the road is often easier than 100km on the dirt!!!

You don't have to wear different clothing..jersey & shorts will do.

Many roadie techniques carry over to the trail-lean into the corner & look ahead. Picking the right line is often the trickiest thing. One false movement on a trail can mean running into a tree or sliding down

Mountain biking's heaps o fun and tons more fun than road riding. As Aggie Am mentioned in one thread, why do a century when there's dirt awaiting!

[Bike Chick]

Good for you, Becca. DH and I bought mountain bikes about 3 years ago and I enjoy it......as long as it's not too technical. Give me a flat trail without logs or rocks and I'm happy. DH tried a very technical downhill with lots of rocks and ended up over the handlebars with a huge hemotoma on his thigh. We never got on them again after that. I finally sold mine last year and his is still hanging in the garage. I'm sticking to the road.