first ride on a mountain bike trail

[singletrackmind]

Another yay for Castlewood. I know you're really really psyched to be mountain biking and I'm always psyched to see another chick out there but please please please wait until it's drier. I doubt you on your own are doing much damage but when you consider how much dirt you are bringing home and then the number of other people who are tempted to ride and bring home same you can prolly see how that would affect the trail. I'd sure hate to see trails closed off to bikes.

Once you get comfortable with a little singletrack (and we finally dry out) you could also try the Love trail as has been mentioned or the lower part of Chub trail from the parking lot by the train tracks over to the hill that would take you to Lone Elk or Lost Valley or Brommelsiek or even Queeny Park's outer loop. Some of these trails dry a lot quicker than those floody river bottoms trails do. Also, I haven't had a chance to ride with them in the woods but the St. Louis Adventure group rides Castlewood on wednesday eves and some profess to be beginners. GORC- Gateway off road cycling- does some beginner rides too.

Remember, horses and hikers have the right of way. Pass sensibly. If you ever see a chick on a mtb tandem with a little kid say hi and join us if you want. We don't care about speed (we aren't all that fast anyways) so long as we're having fun and we don't care if you have to walk some stuff either, we all did our share of that and still do, in some spots!

[fastdogs]

thanks for the tips, I definitely don't want to ruin any trails for others.
I'm trying to stick with real beginner trails, and only know of stinging nettle and river scene trail, in the castlewood area. I guess over towards greensfelter park there are a couple that are supposed to be "easy", but I'm suspicious- I've hiked with the dogs on greensfelter and it's even hard to walk there with the hills and rocks, much less ride. It's also muddy there a lot.
Al foster is about 45 minutes from me, and with my 90 mile commute I'm probably not going to be going during the week- I'll just ride around my little trail here at home.
They make tandem mountain bikes? I've got one of those trail a bikes, but my 4 year old still can't reach the pedals on it, and he's too slow on his little 16" bike with training wheels. We ride rte 66 state park sometimes, and it's best for me to be walking with the dogs rather than on a bike. He makes lots of stops for bugs.
I yield right of way to everyone. If it's narrow I stop and get off the trail, and smile at them and say hi.
If you see an old fat woman with a beautiful brown bike crawling out of the stinging nettles, that's me.
vickie

[bike4ever]

The river trail at Castlewood was very wet today. I turned around and headed back to the main park. The upper trails were fine since they are rocky and drain well. My only issue was riding Justin's trail and finding every single spider web. I felt so creepy crawly when I was done.

I do agree with singletrackmind that we do need to stay off of the river trail after a rain. All that happens is riders make the trail wider by riding around the mud.

fastdogs - check out http://stlrevolution.com/teamrev/

We regularly post about local rides for women - both road and mountain. We welcome all ability levels.

[singletrackmind]

thanks for the tips, I definitely don't want to ruin any trails for others.
I'm trying to stick with real beginner trails, and only know of stinging nettle and river scene trail, in the castlewood area. I guess over towards greensfelter park there are a couple that are supposed to be "easy", but I'm suspicious- I've hiked with the dogs on greensfelter and it's even hard to walk there with the hills and rocks, much less ride. It's also muddy there a lot.
Al foster is about 45 minutes from me, and with my 90 mile commute I'm probably not going to be going during the week- I'll just ride around my little trail here at home.
They make tandem mountain bikes? I've got one of those trail a bikes, but my 4 year old still can't reach the pedals on it, and he's too slow on his little 16" bike with training wheels. We ride rte 66 state park sometimes, and it's best for me to be walking with the dogs rather than on a bike. He makes lots of stops for bugs.
I yield right of way to everyone. If it's narrow I stop and get off the trail, and smile at them and say hi.
If you see an old fat woman with a beautiful brown bike crawling out of the stinging nettles, that's me.
vickie

Ahhhrrrrgggghhhhh, STINGING NETTLES!!! Ahhhrrrrrgggggghhhhhh
I'm out there occasionally and I'll keep an eye out, but I'll bet we're easier to spot!

Yes, mtb tandem. I've been riding dirt since '91 so I was pretty comfortable on the trail and my (older than your-) son was pretty comfortable on the bike on the road before I ever introduced him to dirt.
You've picked good trails to start on, you've just gotta wait for the dry. They're more fun then, anyways. Of course, we've got another mess of rain headed towards us tonight. There's always the road for fitness and balance until you can hit the good stuff.

By the bye, the girls I've met on St. Louis Revolution are good people.

[Irulan]

Another yay for Castlewood. I know you're really really psyched to be mountain biking and I'm always psyched to see another chick out there but please please please wait until it's drier. I doubt you on your own are doing much damage but when you consider how much dirt you are bringing home and then the number of other people who are tempted to ride and bring home same you can prolly see how that would affect the trail. I'd sure hate to see trails closed off to bikes.

Thank you for saying that. Mud IS fun, and sometimes people just don't know how destructive riding in it truly is, unless they are active in trail building/maintenance/advocacy work. The basic rules are to stay off trails until they are dry, and if there are puddles, to go THROUGH them not around them. Going around puddles make them bigger and makes the trail wider. You can always contact your local IMBA affiliate to find out how you can help to preserve the trails in your community.