MTB withdrawal

A few days ago was my first ride in about two weeks. I was actually experiencing withdrawal from not going out. The Saturday before, when I usually do our weekly ride with my buddies, we had one guy out sick, who seems to be the nucleus of our group. Since the weather was not good, I felt it was too risky to go out alone. If something were to happen, I would be in trouble.

But this past Saturday, we had a full crew of our five regulars. Jimmy (James) takes his nephew Dan, there's me, Jay and Jurgen. At first it was just Jimmy and me, and then we started discovering all kinds of others who joined up.

We had a great dynamic out there. The young nephew shows us how much energy you have when you are young, and we try to impose our so-called wisdom on him. He has a worse bike than my current bike (putting payments on a bike for the spring), and at one time that day his brake cable snapped and he crashed off a small bridge that follows a gentle switchback. We all stopped to help and shared our tools to get him up and running again. The guys waiting around razzed me about whether or not I would become a better rider with my new bike.

Another incident that day involved someone who stopped on an uphill and swung his leg back to get off. Unfortunately, he didn't know I was behind him and he kicked my wheel so that I lost balance and fell down the side of the hill (steep but not too high). The same guy tried to help me up, but also slid down (it was slippery clay!) No matter, I passed my bike up as a few guys hoisted it up and we managed to climb up unharmed.

We all have families, and the best time to ride is about 6:30 am. By the time we are done, our families are waking up, and we can still have a great weekend with them.

Jurgen, the veteran biker of the bunch can really give me a run for my money, and I gauge my riding against his as a measure to attain.

Jay, who has an old bike (that used to be a state of the art bike), is just getting back into biking and shows quite a lot of experience, if not a bit rusty.

Jimmy is a great guy, and he has come a long way since we started out together. I started out with him and showed him around the trails as we continued our weekly rides.

One thing that I really noticed was the sense of community that we experience. I started riding with Jurgen and another guy Kevin (who's now more into road biking). They got me started on MTBing a year or two ago. They had the patience to take me along, wait for me to catch up, teach me a few things, and watch me gain experience. It seems like it has come full circle, since I am now paying forward, by riding with Jimmy, trying to show Dan a few things, and so on.

No wonder you say Eat. Sleep. Mountain Bike. It's a great lifestyle.