Ladies' MTB Ride

On Monday, June 14th, Team Revolution's Jeanie (aka boss of the MTB race team ;) ) hosted a women's only MTB ride. This was my first group MTB ride ever, and maybe 5th time out in the dirt (hey, I'm a roadie... we don't see much dirt!). I was nervous and scared senseless, but I went out anyway. Stayed in the back most of the time since I didn't want to slow anyone down, though the uphill is not my issue, it's the downhill! Unfortunately for me, I have no depth perception. It's pretty hard to see anything out there, be it drops, rocks, sandy areas, water, or shadows. I can't tell what's what nor if it's a shadow or a hole on the ground. Either way, I just have to be more alert. Since I've had no depth perception for a few years, I get used to my surroundings a lot faster. Being alert is key, though, and always looking at my surroundings is as well. Key things help.

The ride had a good turnout. Jeanie had asked Randy to come out and help a bit (he's usually the "catcher" in the rides). Chandra's husband, Rob, also came out and helped a bit. So we had a bunch of women and 2 men to balance out the estrogen... Hah!

This ride turned out to be a bit more of a "skills learning" ride. I was the newest to mountain biking, but not the only

beginner (just the really, really newbie). Jeanie and Randy taught us how to go up and down some of the more technical stuff on the TBF course at Granite Bay. We all mostly had issues with rocks and realizing that we can go OVER them. I think that that's where I have most of my issues. I'm not used to my bike simply running over rocks and tree roots... my road bike would be sending me over the handlebars if I did that! Either way, we worked on that, and one of our teammates, Krista, did extremely well going over some of the very technical parts that I can only dream of doing right now (there's a couple of spots that are more WTF!? than anything... I'll do those soon enough!).

After doing some skills, we got to more riding. There's a short, steep hill with a lot

of roots in the way where I crashed last time. This time, I took the better line but lost control of my front wheel and crashed AGAIN, though this time around I got past the roots. Not too much damage was done; just a scrape on the arm, elbow, a sore arm (lasted about 3 days), and a dirty kit. Let's just say that I was glad that I was on dirt and NOT on asphalt.

We later on went on a section of the trail that some of us hate. It's not a hard section, just a weird line with a bunch of rocks, and since I can't see how far away or how deep the sections between the rocks are, it scared me. However, this time I went for it, and after Jeanie, Krista, and Randy showed their lines (since they were ahead of us), I rode it, and it was a lot easier and smoother than I had thought before. So, I conquered another section that I didn't feel confident in!

After the ride, everyone packed up and went home. Jeanie, Rob, and I decided to ride to Folsom Bike and Grind. They are very experienced MTB riders, but I toughed it out. The only issue I had was the downhill. Uphills are fine for me, but I have yet to get comfortable on the downhill (everyone knows I'm crazy on the road on the downhills [I love the speed], so it's only a matter of time for me to get comfortable on the dirt). I pushed my comfort zone with speed and was able to keep up for the most part, until they would take off on the downhills and turns (still working on those). We then got on to the paved trails at Beal's point, where I lead the paceline down to Folsom Bike (asphalt, haaaay!). All of a sudden, I feel something hit my pedal and Jeanie say, "ooohhhhhh ho!" I look back and ask, "What the hell did I hit?!" thinking it was a snake only for her to say, "A squirrel!" I didn't even see that thing, which is good because if I had seen it, I would have probably swerved or tried to avoid it and caused the potential of Jeanie and me going down. When we got to Folsom Bike, I asked Jeanie if she saw it run off, and she said, "I just heard a loud crunch." Rob said he saw it go to the side, but I'm sure that after a loud 'crunch,' it wasn't going to live for very long. Oops!

This was a great first group ride for me. I'm excited that I was able to do some of the technical parts that I wasn't able to before. I also got another crash down! This ride definitely made me look forward to my next time out on the dirt!