Trail ride :)

[indysteel]

Catrin & Indy, which skills did you learn in the clinic? Which skill(s) are you finding to be the toughest?

We practiced neutral and what they called "ready" position, modulated and controlled braking, what they called "window washing," i.e,. getting up out of the saddle and moving our body back and forth over the bike, moving fore and aft over the saddle, ratcheting and tight turns, and getting our front wheel up. At least those are the ones I remember.

I had a bit of trouble with getting my wheel up, although I got better with it as the day progressed, and I still have room for improvement on tight turns. Honestly, I thought I did pretty well during the skills and drills portion; it's simply a matter of integrating it once on the trail. I felt pretty good on the trail itself, too, so long as I wasn't descending. Descending scares me a bit. I think part of it is that I'm having trouble braking with one finger. As I mentioned upthread, DH is going to adjust my levers to a bit easier for me. I'll see if that helps. Part of it is "just" mental. I need practice and exposure to lessen my nerves.

[Catrin]

I had no problems with the neutral/ready/fore/aft positions. The sideways, "window washing" technique was challenging and I am unsure that I actually have that down. Hopping over a little stick with my front wheel was also challenging. I did improve a bit on this, but I do not think that I could actually hop over a real obstacle, that is going to take some time and that is ok. More upper body strength can only help

Shifting was something of a challenge on the trail, but that improved when I just put it in the granny gear and worked with the little gears.

The braking techniques were fun, and I found my balance to be better than I expected, so that was all good. We did some sharp turn practices and I did have a little trouble with this. I think the trouble was more from having others so close to me - most of my road riding is solo so I am just not accustomed to having other cyclists in such close proximity. Ever. Of course, one doesn't normally do such tight turns on the road so I need to practice them anyway.

One cool thing that came out of all of the drills. I got so used to the neutral position that I came out of one drill still standing on my pedals and actually caught myself pedaling! Resistance wasn't high enough for that, not really, but I've NEVER been able to do that on my other bikes

The "ready" position is a little difficult for me to separate from the ready position for some reason...but one of the instructors pulled me aside and helped me to figure it out. This still needs practice, but it was a great start!

[kimikaw]

Quick comment - know I need to post in the clinic thread, too. Hopefully will have sometime at hotel tonight (at Indy airport now, Chicago later).

Realize that Town Run trail is ver close to the hotel I always stay at when in town for biz. Heck I was within a block or two of it in last 24 hours.......but the boys (DH and kiddo) had taken my bike home. Woulda been fun to try it.

Now I'm scheming how I can have a bike on my biz trips

[Catrin]

Quick comment - know I need to post in the clinic thread, too. Hopefully will have sometime at hotel tonight (at Indy airport now, Chicago later).

Realize that Town Run trail is ver close to the hotel I always stay at when in town for biz. Heck I was within a block or two of it in last 24 hours.......but the boys (DH and kiddo) had taken my bike home. Woulda been fun to try it.

Now I'm scheming how I can have a bike on my biz trips

I guess they don't have folding mountain bikes Ya know, BGI North does mountain bike rentals, that might be an option? I won't ride Town Run until I've more experience under my belt, but it sounds like a great option for you for sure. How often are you in town for biz?

[jessmarimba]

kimikaw, I don't guess you have the option of flying Frontier too often but I believe they've recently changed their policy to charge only normal baggage fees ($25) for bikes.

[kimikaw]

kimikaw, I don't guess you have the option of flying Frontier too often but I believe they've recently changed their policy to charge only normal baggage fees ($25) for bikes.

I'm actually "elite" status with Frontier- being based in Milwaukee where they swallowed up local Midwest Airlines, I fly them or AirTran most trips. I love that they changed their baggage policy re: bikes. Even sent them a note and couple of nice tweets. Just unsure what dragging a bike along will really entail. But something to think about.

Then again rentals may provide opportunities forest out some bikes in my summer long hunt towhat MTB am I gonna buy.

[jessmarimba]

true true. It irks me sometimes how drastically different rental/demo prices can be. I've paid as little as $35 for a mountain bike I adored (in Montana), or as much as $150 (here in town), for 24-48 hours.

(I actually loathe Frontier - I'm US Airways girl - but have conceded that I will give them business simply b/c of that fee change. And I told them that. )

[Artista]

(I actually loathe Frontier - I'm US Airways girl - but have conceded that I will give them business simply b/c of that fee change. And I told them that. )

I actually loathe US Airways - I'm a Southwest girl or Frontier in a pinch

And now back to your regularly scheduled conversation...

[laura*]

And the regularly scheduled conversation...

I guess they don't have folding mountain bikes

Actually, they do! For example, the full suspension Dahon Jetstream:

http://us.dahon.com/bikes/1637/jetstream-p8