Weekend MTB Rides

[Artista]

Sounds like you're able to do more mtb'ing lately, Indy. Good for you.

We did two rides this weekend. Saturday's ride was on our favorite/usual trails. I'm thrilled to say that I earned the right to rename "Ankle Breaker Hill" to "Conquered Hill". It was good to toss the "old baggage" after successfully riding up that hill for the first time ever

We did another ride today on a popular trail system about 45 minutes from home. I ended up walking quite a bit of the uphill on super skinny single track with lots of big rocks and roots in the middle of the trail to sabotage my momentum, closely spaced trees just waiting to grab my handle bar, and tree trunks jutting into the edges of the trail just for kicks. The trail difficulty was rewarded with lots of shade while were climbing and stunning views of the local mountain range when we got to the top. We were so tired by then, though, that we rode a fire road back down. I'm anxious to go back and try riding the technical parts downhill, rather that uphill, as my decending skills are better than my climbing skills.

My husband was impressed with my riding today but I felt like a bit of a failure because I had to walk so much of the uphill. I looked up the reviews of this trial system on the internet when we got home and found out that the entire system is rated "advanced" by several websites I felt a whole lot better about what I DID ride once I read the ratings.

[indysteel]

Thanks, Artista. We are getting out a fair amount, although I sure wish we had a trail close enough to home so that we could ride during the week. Oh well; what we do have is very nice. I have no complaints. I tell ya; I am so pumped after a mtb ride. I love how "total body" it is. I feel the same way about yoga. I love road riding, but I don't get as pumped up from it unless the ride includes some climbing.

Congrats on conquering that hill!! Good for you! I understand your frustration. I think the conditions you describe are one of my bigger challenges. Maybe someone can chime in with some suggestions on how to tackle it. There's a root-covered climb on one hill that totally freaks me out. I was all set to session it today when I realized that they reworked the area to make it a bit easier. Plus, they blocked off a diversion around it that had started to develop. On one hand, I'm glad it's easier to get up now. On the other, I kind of needed to face the challenge at some point.

[Artista]

It's intriguing to hear that you equate mtb'ing with yoga. I've never done yoga but I'm considering adding yoga classes to my fitness routine this winter.

We have rocky, rooty, uphill, sections on the trails that we usually ride but the rocks are smaller and mostly buried, and the roots don't stick up as far as what we encountered today. I usually just power over that stuff on our regular trail but I don't have that kind of strength for the larger obstacles. I'm not sure that we'll do this new trail often enough for me to gain the strength to ride uphill over the bigger stuff. I may have to be happy employing Malkin's motto about never encountering a hill that I couldn't walk, although there were a few sections of this new trail that tested that motto. On the other hand, the shade and vistas on the new trails may be compelling enough to lure us back regularly.

BTW, Indy, are your feet still sleeping on your new pedals? If so, did you see the suggestion in the flat pedal thread about moving your feet a few millimeters on the pedals every few minutes to keep them from sleeping? It's worked for me.

[indysteel]

I equate yoga and mtbing to the extent they both fully engage my mind and my entire body. There's little room for outside thoughts and my whole body is actively engaged.

Still working on my feet. The Freeriders felt better than the Guide Tennies but I'm going to try some stiffer insoles to see if that might help. I'll keep your suggestion in mind, too.

[Catrin]

I equate yoga and mtbing to the extent they both fully engage my mind and my entire body. There's little room for outside thoughts and my whole body is actively engaged....

This! I don't do yoga, but this is the attraction for me to mountain biking.