What a great forum! I love seeing all the enthusiastic women on this site.
I guess I'm really not a newbie anymore. I started dabbling in mtn biking about 2 yrs ago. My husband is an avid fanatic of mtn biking. So I started riding a few times during the summers with another beginner friend of mine. Last year my husband decided to get back into racing so we traveled around NM hitting some races. He raced, I cheered. But mostly I sat around bored while he raced. I noticed that there weren't very many women racers at the races. So this year I decided that I would try my hand at racing. Originally I had planned to race one race because that gave me a target - a training goal so to speak. Besides, I figured I could at least be out riding my bike during these races rather than twiddling my thumbs! So off to the first race we went. I didn't do too shabby. 4th of 8 in the beginner women's category.
Thus began my racing season. I raced a total of 8 times this year. During some races I questioned my sanity and why anyone in their right mind would even think pain like that was a good idea. But always after the race was over I thought "That was fun!" The people we met at the races were great and we always had a really good time. Plus, I won my share of schwag! The best part about this season was that my husband and I won the point series for our categories so we now have matching champions jerseys! The next coolest thing was that my husband decided that I was finally worthy enough to get a full suspesion bike. I was so excited that we went out the next day and brought home a new Trek Fuel WSD. I love my bike!!
Anyway, I guess to make a long story less long....at the beginning of the year I had problems getting around a 9 mile foothills loop in town. It took me about 1hr 20min and there was plenty of stuff that I had issues with. Now at the end of the season I can crank through that same loop at about 1hr 3min and be able to ride about 95% of it! Plus I've lost about 15lbs just by riding my bike a couple times a week and throwing in a weekly spin class! It really helps that my husband has been really a great motivator in terms of just getting out and riding and then improving on my technical abilities. He always told me to focus on the fitness and the technical will come and he was right. Now I'm riding trails that I wouldn't have even considered at the beginning of the year. I'm still no great mtn biker but I'm vastly better than I used to be! I tease my husband and tell him he's my idol. His sister and I call him the Billy Goat because he's such a good rider and he can climb practically anything. It really is amazing to watch.
Well, I hope that this post motivates some of you new riders out there. The real trick to all this is to just love it and do it as much as you can.
Now get out there and ride you bike!