I'm a 67 year old woman who started riding again in early August of this year, on the wrong bike. I hadn't had a bike since I was in college, but believed that "you never forget how to ride." True...but I'd never ridden a man's-frame mountain bike before, or any bike with multiple gears and hand brakes. Also, the frame was too big for me. Also, because of very narrow and badly paved small-town streets, I elected to ride either in the horse lot or on the 80 acres we own--and I'd never ridden on grass, dirt, rocks, and up and down slopes before. All my youthful riding was on pavement or occasionally hard-packed smooth dirt. There were falls. There were more "learning experiences" than I expected, exacerbated by being way out of shape and the stifling heat. However...I persevered. By the end of August, though every ride was difficult, I was a little stronger and knew I wanted to keep going. But I needed a different bike.

I'm now on a Giant Sedona DXW (front suspension, mountain-bike tires, but not a mountain bike per se) and having a blast. I can ride to the Post Office and bank (well--have to walk the bike where it's not safe to ride, but 90% of the way is riding--I ride on the street only at the time of day when traffic is minimal); I can put tools & stuff in the back basket and go out on the land and do useful work, riding on the mowed paths we've made for walking (mowed, so we see the rattlesnakes instead of stepping on them.) Fitness is coming, but annoyingly slowly. When I started, 50 yards on the mountain ike wore me out. Now, on pavement, I can ride a half mile up-slope (the street I ride on is a half mile long, and slopes--so one way it's down and the other way it's up, but not steeply) but on the land, upward slopes of 200 yards really take my breath. I don't know how much harder it's "supposed" to be. I do use a heart-rate monitor several days a week (had used one before for another sport) but am wondering if anyone has specific info comparing street to off-road (but not steep mountain kind of off-road) biking.

Also--are there any recommended bike-handling exercises/practice tips for someone who's still anxious about making tight turns and curves? I want to ride in the woods and have cleared a trail, but so far trying to ride on it has meant...not falls...but hugging a tree unexpectedly or running off into a cactus patch. There isn't a handy mall parking lot anywhere within 20 miles to practice in and I'm not really sure how to organize practicing this. I'd know how to do it for horseback riding (my main sport for many years) but not for this.