My First MTB Ride!

[bcipam]

I live with my "bike shoes" in both the roadie and mountain bike worlds... I love them both equally for different reasons. No reason not to do both (and I do) but I finally conceeded to the fact I need to devote more time to mountain biking if I want to improve my technical skills more. I'm a strong rider, got that from my roadie rides, but technically I am lacking. Just climbing steep long hills requires new skills. So you might find yourself spending more time initially mountain biking and trying to improve skills but it will be worth it.

Nothing nicer than riding in late afternoon, especially in the Fall, with the Sun's light all caramel, crimson and golden, casting long shadows on the ground, the trail's perfect, hardpacked, fun twisty singletrack, Fall flowers blooming and trotting along side you is a coyote or bobtail looking for the his evening's kill. You can smell the evening flowers starting to open and the air is cool and fresh. Ahhhhhhhh, nothing like that out on the road!

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Re clipless pedals - gotta have them for mountain biking. A suggestion - consider some of the platform pedals like EggBeater Mallets or Time Z Control. They offer a platform to help get started on steep climbs or to use if uncertain about terrains but also have that two-sided cleat so easy in and out.