Adventures in Mountain Biking

As I've said before, I'm pretty much a roadie... a roadie with the attitude of a mountain biker. One of my best friends, Asa, is an awesome mountain biker, so naturally, my mountain biker attitude eventually lead me to riding mountain bikes. I have a lot of fun riding on dirt, but just in case you've missed the entries that have described how I mountain bike, I'll give you this:

Okay, so I crash a lot. But I still love it. I really started loving mountain biking when I got the Grammo Toa. It's the best 29er that I've ever ridden. Point and shoot. I've never been so comfortable on a bike and on the trails as I am on this bike. It just naturally fits me, just like my road bike, the Grammo C3. As soon as I got on these bikes, I knew they were the ones.

Since I've gotten the Toa, I've ridden many trails, some more technical than others, and have gotten over a few things that challenged me, like going over rocks, or mounds of dirt... leaves... sticks. Eh, you get the picture. Rocks and trees jump out at you, okay? Don't judge me.

Riding the South Fork American River Trail 

Oh, sand is fun.

But, like I said, I've ridden more trails and have gone out of my comfort zone. I've conquered a lot of obstacles... literally. This bike just rolls over anything, which is awesome, because I just have to keep pedaling and steer in the correct direction. So, I decided that I'll do some sanctioned races in 2013. Sea Otter is in my sight as well as Boggs 8-hour. While I've been encouraged to do Boggs solo, I think I might do it as a two-person team. It hasn't been decided, but either way, it'll be something I've never done before and something I'm looking forward to.

The Toa makes you chronically smile

What made me decide to race more dirt? Well,
1) I have an awesome bike to do it on.
2) I got my road CAT 3 upgrade (on my Grammo C3!).
3) I want another challenge and goal.
4) It's a lot of fun!
5) Why not?

I'm getting faster, my skills are getting better, and I love it, so I'm going for it.

Of course, this means that I have to train more on the mountain bike instead of training on the road 80% of the time. Woe is me, right? It's completely different training than training for criteriums. I have the fitness, now if only I could get those trees to stop taunting me...

I'll write about my adventures in mountain biking and racing. I'm sure you'll all get a laugh at the expense of my chronic smiling and crashing... oh, and you know, tearing it up out there, both on the Toa and the C3, dirt and asphalt!

If you're wanting to try this baby out and are in the Sacramento, CA area, hit me up and we'll make the magic happen. This frame is a small, so it's great for shawties like me.