We got our first desert ride of the year in on Sunday. 17 people showed up at the kick off point. I was a bit stressed as some of them wanted to be back in town by late afternoon and I have ridden this area before & knew that would make for a very fast ride. On the drive out I practiced the mantra of not needing to be responsible for other people and reminding myself all were capable, adult riders and as it was an out and back we could all go our own pace. The ride is 30 tough miles on a jeep track, gradual climb out to a canyon overlook. Beautiful desert scenery. Except for Sunday, we got there in a bank of heavy fog. The aggressive riders took off at a good clip, at mile two we hit a significant muddy patch, (note to self - no need to follow the pack) Everyone's bikes, sans one who stopped and picked his bike up, were totally covered in mud. We stopped, grabbed some sticks and started scraping. One guys rear derailleur snapped in half - he is a skilled mechanic and he quickly turned his bike into a single speed.
I knew that once we climb the next hill we'd be out of the mud but much to my surprise everyone on the "extreme team" opted to turn back as did a few of the first time in the desert riders. Suddenly 17 became 7. We climbed the hill and viola no more mud the rest of the ride. Ryan rode the entire way with one gear. The rest of us noodled along at a nice steady pace, the sun burned off the fog at mile 7 and it was an amazing day.
One of the women who turned around is deep into racing and she had her carbon fiber full suspension mt bike and she was freaked out that she'd gotten it dirty and was afraid it would break, that surprised me as why spend all that money on a bike if you are afraid to get it dirty - but then that's me Do I feel a bit self righteous, well I suppose I do. Looking forward to the next ride and am confident I won't be stressing out about not being "good enough"