ACK! so i'm NOT a MTB-er

[caligurl]

ya... kc realized too late that it was too hard for me.... i know he felt bad for taking us (me) out there! he did say there are a lot of dirt road areas and he'll show them to us!

i do have fun riding on the dirt roads i've found and on the side of the road in the desert!

i'm just a baby!

even last night when hubby couldn't sit from hitting his tailbone... he said he didn't want to whine cuz "you crashed".. but i was doing a bit of whining too while icing my leg!

[KSH]

Sounds rough lady!

That is why I do not want to mountain bike... I like the roads and staying on my bike... thank you!

I hope you heal up and that you get back on your road bike again... soon!

[Trekhawk]

Caligurl - you are definitely not a baby. That sounds like a horror crash to me.

Take it easy and hope you heal quickly.

Look forward to hearing more of your adventure stories with hopefully a happier and pain free outcome.

[caligurl]

thank you for saying that!

i posted about it at another cycling forum.. and they are being pretty brutal

i've always said i'm a sissy.... (that i REALLY am!) and prissy too!

i'm only going to do what "I" am comfortable doing! and if that's tooling around on dirt roads.. so be it! but i have no doubt as i get more comfortable.. i will take on bigger challenges! i just need to work up to them!

i DON'T think i'll ever do a lot of that wild downhill stuff though! i AM to chicken for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Irulan]

most mtb-ers go over the bars sooner or later, consider it an initiation There are even OTB Club socks.
The bigger question would be, were you having fun up until that point? Did you enjoy being out in the woods? Did you like the quiet, the lack of traffic?

There is a definite skill set for mtb that is not part of the road ride skill set. Many roadies forget this. Many folks taking new mtbers out forget to teach them about correct body positioning, brake skills and so on. It's no fun to thrash on the trails - if you were having fun up until your crash, analyze what went wrong and try and learn from it.

Personally I'll take the trail over the road any day.

check my bike stuff link for mountain bike skills tips.

Irulan

[caligurl]

actually... no... it was too hard even before that! from the time i fell over cuz of the rocks... i did a bit of walking... got back on some... got part way up a hill... THEN could finally ride.. then that little hill.. the whole area, once we got off the highway was way too rocky and way too hard for m!

i WAS however, haveing fun once we got onto the dirt roads again!

i think maybe KC wasn't thinking that i'd only had the MTB for a week.. and i've only ridden it 3-4 times before yesterday!

i DO think i will enjoy trails and fire roads... KC mentioned big bear and riding up there... telling hubby if i got bored with the fire roads that i could try some single tracks... but for now i would want them to be easy.. for a beginner!

i LOVED last week when i was out riding and riding in the desert vice on the road... going throught the washes... around the bushes (errrr.. throught the bushes even!) but that was all easier stuff! even the area across the street from our house.. uphill.. was FUN! it's rockier in some aread than others.. but not like yesterday! i kept going up.. coming down.. going up in another area.. coming down... had a BLAST!!!! (even fell over once.. laughed and got back up!) i was loving seeing how far up the hill i could go before i got stopped!

but yesterday.. no... i wasn't having fun... thus.. the little tantrum.. cuz i had already been thinking to myself "i don't want to do this.. i want to go home"... )

i need to ease into it more slowly! i may never do hard stuff.. and that's ok! (or at least that's what i keep telling myself!)

p.s.... i wasn't in the woods.. i live in the desert.. and we left the highway and were riding out in the desert... up into some hilly areas... with a LOT of rocks!!!!! i guess they do a lot of MTB/dirt bike stuff around there.. we were supposed to make a big look that went around and hooked back up with another road.. til i turned around and headed "home")

[Crankin]

Caligurl, you sound like me. I like being out on the trails, in nature, etc. But i find mtb so draining and scary. I know if i practiced more, it might come easier, but I am not a very daring person. Everything around here is pretty much single track, rocky, big ups and downs. Part of me says keep trying and another part of me says this is crazy for someone my age. I don't mind the small crashes, I've had plenty of bruises, but thankfully, I've never gone over the bars; either dumb luck or I am listening to my husband say "get your a-- off the seat, or I'm walking down the hill. I do feel guilty about the $1500 mtb I bought. On the other hand, my husband doesn't use his very much either.

[caligurl]

I do feel guilty about the $1500 mtb I bought. On the other hand, my husband doesn't use his very much either.

that's why i only bought a $300 bike to start! i fugure if i take to it.. i can always upgrade down the road!!!!!!!!!!!!

ya.. i don't think i'm too daring either! i need to stick to the easier FUN (for me) stuff!

[amg]

most mtb-ers go over the bars sooner or later, consider it an initiation There are even OTB Club socks.
Irulan

I need some of those socks to cheer me up...I had my first big endo in a long time at the beginning of the month and I'm still not back on the trail. I'm going to put my big ugly mtb flats on my road bike so I can at least ride somewhere.

caligurl, just take mtbing at your own pace. When I first started, I was afraid of going down hills...two years later I was trying my first downhill race. So you might surprise yourself. You'll find out what kind of mountain biking is for you, not everyone has to be hardcore. The important thing is that you enjoy what you're doing. I also second Ionic's suggestion of a skills clinic and a girls group ride. Apart from being fun, they're a good, low pressure way of learning trail riding skills.

And at the end of it, every one has a bad day. I had a crying fit out of sheer frustration in the middle of the trail on one ride because I couldn't make myself ride one section. A few weeks later, I rode it. Don't let frustration stop you from trying again.

Good luck, and let us know how things go!

[singletrackmind]

Wow. You should be impressed with yourself, not beating yourself up so. They took you onto too tough a trail and you tried to troop it out. Sure, it didn't end the best and there was emotion but so what? Sometimes it's darned frustrating and scary to take on that kind of challenge without any chance to build the skill you need to tackle the job. That kind of emotion is bound to surface at some point and it did, no need for you to feel apologetic or weak about that. Even winners cry-like the Frenchman who won the stage on Bastille day during the tour. Sometimes we get so many feelings we just can't swallow all of them down and they come bubbling out. I've been impressed thus far with your week-long efforts and I remain so-keep up the great work!
Keep riding the trails you feel comfortable with and throw in new stuff as you feel more balanced and comfortable on the bike. Who gets on a mountain bike and can do it all instantly? Who can expect themselves to? I have a feeling you'll do just fine over time. Look how far you've come in such a short time! Have fun!
You can do this!

PS. If you are on a bike and in the dirt you are too so a mountain biker! You just happen to be a beginning one, is all.

[AutumnBreez]

I can't seem to walk without crashing- This has always been a challenge for me. Feet too big all my life and the balance of a ball. Took forever to convince myself of clipping into clipless pedals for road cycling. I did it and love the pavement/asphalt. Just Lov'n it!! But MTB with cliffs, large rocks, medium- small rocks ...FORGET IT! Regular gravel, yes, I will ride as long as the holes are not too deep to get out of easily. I don't even attempt jumping street curves, did that too many times without success to just accept my abilities and keep my body in one piece for my true love of road cycling!!!!

[Adventure Girl]

Poor Cali!!! I consider myself a mountain biker who also road rides. I have fallen countless times on my mountain bike -- probably more than 50 times. The falls have included clipless tipovers, low side skids, earth/sky/earth/sky roll-overs, a face plant in a race, and a handful of endos. But I've never fallen on my road bike (knock on wood!), and I am PETRIFIED of a road fall.

I hope (physically) you're ok. And I hope (mentally) you don't get freaked out! I think the mistake was to bite off more than you were ready for. Take baby steps. Do a 4 foot drop in comfortably before you attempt a 10 foot drop. Challenge yourself, but stay within your limits.

And here's one "silver lining" to those bruises... I fall so often and almost always have some sort of damage showing on my legs. So when I spazz out and hit my shin on the coffee table, or skin my knee from trippping while walking down the street, everyone just assumes it was some sort of biking incident. So most people don't know just how clumsy I am....

[caligurl]

lol! yes.. too much too soon!

physically i'm banged up.. but thank goodness will heal!

mentally... ya.. i was NOT getting back on that bike! well.. at least not til i got to pavement! after walking and whining a while.. i did get back on in the desert.. gingerlly! by the time i rode some on the highway and we turned off on the dirt road.. i was ok again!... at least ok for that type of riding! i will wait a long while until i try something like that area again!

and ya.. crashing on the road freaks me out too! my road "crashes" have all been skids on sand.. but they still freak me out.. but not like last night!????