bikerHen plays in the dirt

[Dirt Girl]

BikerHen and her chick are officially initiated into the world of dirt! They both joined me for a ride at our local gem, Riverside State Park, for an autumn afternoon of trails on a perfectly gorgeous day. With rain and clouds in the forecast, we savored the sun-filled park.

What troopers! For almost two full hours of saddle time, they followed me on some sweet singletrack as well as some of the miles of doubletrack the park offers. I threw in a sampling of the good stuff--short hills and rock gardens--so they'd get a true feel for what it's all about. An awesome start to another kind of riding.

Welcome to the fun of playing in the dirt!

[Irulan]

Good for you guys! Riverside is the best place to take beginners out.

~Irulan

[bikerHen]

Thank you Dirt Girl for giving my chick and I a taste of playing in the dirt and a wonderful afternoon. It was a much needed stress break from a week of deadlines. Even though we did stop by the LBS on the way home to looked at mt bikes, I'm not going to buy one yet. We did have a blast! Although I didn't know that mt. biking requires a whole new level of steering, balancing, paying attention and riding through spider webs.

I thought about our ride all day today, as I looked out the windows at work, at the spectatular fall day. If the weather is as nice tomorrow we are going back to see if we can find some of the tamer double track we rode. We may have also convinced DH to come with us! If a good time is had by all, then maybe it won't be to hard to talk him into a new bike, right? And besides, he gets my old one.

To bad the LBS didn't have the bike I liked in my size. I had fleeting thoughts of saying to heck with work, throwing my mad money down on a mt bike, and going for a ride! But, I'm not going to buy another bike, I'm really not! But maybe if the nice weather holds for another month? Since I have retired my road bike to the trainer for the winter. Hummm, do mountain bikes work in the snow? I could always use it for commuting right?

Hey Dirt Girl! It looks like you got your birthday wish for great weather today! I hope your ride was as spectactular as the weather. BikerHen