No Longer a Virgin

Went to Stillwell Park today to hit the trails on my new mountain bike and let me tell you mountain biking is no joke.  I wanted to get the feel of the trails and the Fuel Ex so I did a about a half dozen loops of the "green" trail.  This trail has very wide trails, that are relatively flat and didn't really offer the off road sensation. So after about 20 minutes of testing I decided to hit the "blue" trail which is an intermediate trail.  This is where things got exciting.  The blue trail put an immediate smile on my face because the tracks became narrow and became way more technical, there were roots to go over and small downhills and climbs as well as some short drop offs.  Now being a noob I'm sure all of those physical descriptions have real names but for now, that's all I can offer.  Anyway, I was really enjoying myself and was focusing on keeping a high cadence and being in the correct gear and I began to catch up to two other riders when the trail became super technical.  I obviously slowed down as the other riders just kept charging.  I attempted to catch up to them and made some progress until I came around a blind corner and squeezed the shit out of my breaks.  I wasn't sure what was laying in front of my but it definitely wasn't the smooth concrete I'm used to seeing on my tri bike.  Out of no where the trail just dropped a few feet, and was covered with leaves, sloping down hill with roots of all sizes jutting out.  I just began to laugh because there was no way I was going down that on a bike.  So I had a huge serving of humble pie, unclipped and walked my bike down that section.  The next hour or so I must have fallen about a half dozen times, impressed myself at times and also continued to eat humble pie.  


I have a new found respect for mountain biking and those that race on them.  I can't say that I'm in love with mountain biking like I am with triathlon however, I do really enjoy it and will continue to mountain bike through the season to improve on all aspects of becoming a better and improved cyclists.


The sooner I figure the following out the better and safer Ill be on the trails:
1. How to take sharp corners
2. Which gear to be in climbing and descending 
3. how to distribute my weight properly
4. how to handle large roots while climbing
5. picking correct lines on downhills.

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