ACK! so i'm NOT a MTB-er

[SadieKate]

Until you can get some coaching (actually even with the coaching), I highly recommend Nedly's video.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...video&n=507846

It really helps explain body positioning for basic maneuevers and various techiniques that will help in the learning process. As roadies, we tend to sit in one spot and pedal. For example, a roadie almost always pushes her butt back on the seat to climb. On the dirt, you may need to put the tip of the saddle "where the sun don't shine" to get up a steep hill. It's the opposite of the habits you've built up over your thousands and thousands of road miles.

[caligurl]

i'll check it out, irulan... the biggest obstacle is where we live.. we have to drive so danged far to get to anything!!!!!!!!!!

big bear is over an hour... palm springs is about an hour (but they are elitist "racer wannabes" anyways)... redlands almost an hour and a half.. and it gets worse from there....

and even up here.. it's guys.. guys... guys.. i passed one female on the road one day... and then a couple (who didn't speak to me when i said hi as i passed)... two of hubby's friends wives ride.. but they are really really really recreational... so my best bet around here is to ride with hubby's friends and try to keep up best i can (that's on the road)... as for MTB... again.. guys.. i don't know of any females in the area

BUT... i will see what i can find at the MTB forum.... i would be willing to drive for a few lessons! lol!

[caligurl]

Big Bear Women's Weekend

*POUT*

that woulda been perfect for me!

[LBTC]

Wow!

Well, Cali, I checked this thread as I wanted to see how you're feeling....if you're up to MTBing again or still feeling shell-shocked. I can't believe the turn this thread made!!

First of all, I'm really glad that you're still trying and still interested and your'e not ready to give up! You go, girl! Mountain biking does involve some spills sometimes, and it can also be emotional. I've had tears in my eyes a number of times, even without a fall! Most of the falls, though, there's a giggle at some point, and if I'm pretty quiet, well, something hurts. heh. It takes time to get there - time riding, trying, pushing, holding back, doing what your body and your mind are ready for (sometimes just a tiny bit more) on that particular day. Remind yourself that that rock garden/hill/obstacle/stunt will be there another day, and maybe that day you'll try it.

But, OMG, Tinker???? The man is all muscle and dreadlocks and he's soooooo fast and soooooo good and soooooo nice!! I was going to say how his wife is a MTBer too, but a little online reading reveals that they split up a few years ago! Guess I haven't kept up with the times! It also looks like he won't be racing the 24 hour of adrenaline world solo championship at whistler this year, so I can't act like a crazed fan. darn it. Cali, I'm counting on you to do some schmoozing with this famous guy and tell us wannabe's all about it!

Namaste,
~T~

[caligurl]

i actually haven't been back on the mtb since last monday... BUT... that's cuz i had a big road ride this weekend i had to get ready for... had to climb some and get some miles in on tues - thurs! yesterday was just a really short recovery ride... we were supposed to meet up with those guys to ride in the national park again... (more relaxed pace)... not sure if tinker was going to be there.. but i told hubby is he was.. that we WOULD get a pic of me and him together!!! lol! he laughed at me when i called and left him a voice mail at his work that basically said: "OMG... tinker is famous!" and all gushy! he was like... "i told you he was".. but duh.. i didn't believe him!

i think i was kinda shell-shocked still... rolling over to the road bike.. cuz the hill we practice on regularly is straight... but i was a bit uneasy going down it i was better by this weekend on the few downhills we had (we kept going up up up.. but not nearly the down down down )

we will probably ride the mtb's tonight or tomorrow.. but on easier stuff i'm comfy with!!

[Bike Goddess]

Tinker you say??? Well he road the SF/LA ride with us in June. Loved the idea of raising money for charity. And, I think some of the fun of the ride wore off on him too!

[LBTC]

Hi, Cali...

Your story got me thinking, and correlating other thoughts together.

I've been practicing Yoga on and off for several years, and read Yoga Journal very often, it's a great magazine. YJ often talks about the emotions that come up "on the mat" while doing a yoga practice. And I don't mean while meditating - I"m not that far advanced! I had started to notice that there really is a sort of swell of emotion that happens while in certain poses, and the emotions are often unpredicatble. I'm usually wondering where the heck that came from!

Since I've grown to notice this during yoga, I've recently realized that the same thing happens in my kickboxing class. At some point during class I inevitably feel some strong emotion: anger, sorrow, elation....and then confusion because, again, I'm thinking "where the heck did that come from?"

As I think back on the process of learning to mountain bike, I realize now that this has gone on during rides since I started, but I just hadn't known there was an exercise / emotion connection. Early rides were often filled with frustration and anger and fear....which I naturally thought was simply my having trouble learning something new. But I am a pretty good MTBer with little fear of a lot of trail stuff, and I find myself still having some of those emotions!! Oh, yes, and I definitely feel them on the road bike, too!!

I think it's been healthy for me to see that connection, and to apply a yoga practice to dealing with the emotions that come up. That is....acknowledge the emotion, recognize that's how I feel, allow it to pass through me, and, if all else is well, continue with whatever I'm trying to do (finish that climb, make it over those rocks, finesse my way down a steep little drop, etc). And how do I tell whether what I'm feeling is my body's way of saying that maybe I can't handle this obstacle right now, or if it's just that emotional thing? Well, that is hard to describe. If the feeling is sudden and overwhelming and seems to demand my attention and not be directly related to a section I've just encountered, it's the emotional thing and I need to let it go. If I come upon a trail feature and feel uncomfortable about it, I try to compare it to what I've done before, what the risks are, how steady and strong I feel that day, and then decide whether to proceed. When I really really pay attention, the two are very different.

You see, your need to cry was not necessarily only about your current or future skills in Mountain Biking....it might have been a natural emotion that came up simply from pushing your body through a type of exercise that is very demanding of all of your faculties. It's perfectly natural! And I sure hope it doesn't stop you from trying again. I think you'll love the sport!

Big hugs,
Namaste,
~T~

[Geonz]

Or... it could be that all that 3-D stuff overloads the circuits. Personally, I really can't take in all that visual information when I"m riding. I can do two dimensions - forward, watch the road, move the legs.
Yes, I am pretty clinically uncoordinated You know, have fallen out of the chair trying to tie my shoes, coasted the car into the side of the house because a neighbor waved at me and somehow my foot came off the brake (waving back with my foot?? and of course that happens while the neighbor is watching... ) and countless otehr witty anecdotes...
Was talking to some ladies at a ride once and figured there were probably some definite personality types. MTB folks want & need change and stimulation - those present also liked, say, tennis and tennis played *hard.* Roadie types were more likely to be sort of hyperactive contemplatives. Or maybe it's whether you're drawn to endorphins or adrenalline.
The tiny bit I tried MTB was just not fun. Now, it's true that I could gut it out and get to the point where I'm "not afraid of the ball" and trying not to duck, but they keep changing where the ball is coming from and it's not a ball every time, sometimes it's a tree trunk :-) I figured I was likely to break several bones getting to that point, and it wasn't going to be enough fun to be worth it. Traffic is *much* less stressful to me than terrain.
Interesting ab out the emotions and yoga... sitting poses make me CRANKY and ready to cry, just like major PMS. And ... so did my experience on a road bike that I'm sure didn't really fit. 35 miles and I was the Queen Snapping Turtle. I don't think it was emotions as much as somethign in that posture that feels out of balance... but I think I'll pay attention to it.