Kallycat

Intermediate

I'm new to mountain biking. I'm 26 years old and only just got into it the summer of 2005. It just sparked this flame in me that took off all at one moment. One minute I was riding my Eddie Bauer on the road with a friend and a few minutes later we were at the local park right down the road and I was suggesting we check out a trail. I had never ridden a trail in my life and I'm on this Eddie Bauer - not meant for the trail - bought at Target bicycle and I'm having the time of my life, just racing through the woods, up and down hills, bypassing the cool obstacles because that was unimaginable at that time but coming out saying we have to do that again! We ended up riding that trail a few more times before going on vacation in Kentucky and taking our bikes to ride trails there and it was awesome!! I was still on my Eddie Bauer while everyone else had real mountain bikes but it was still a blast. I thought my bike was going to disintegrate a few times but it held together like it was brand new. I had a wonderful opportunity the next spring to vacation in Moab, Utah with a family of jeeping enthusiasts. The jeeping trails were great but my eyes were on all the mountain bikers. It looked like great fun and I wished I were them on the bike instead of sitting in the jeep. I soon learned Moab was the mountain biking Mecca of the world due to its slick rock trail and I went home with this new fervor. I had to get a real mountain bike. My friend took me to a bike shop that sold Specialized and other brands and I was sold on the Specialized. Nothing fancy. Just your starter bike, but it made me feel all powerful. Just getting the new bike and taking in its ability to travel rugged terrain boosted my confidence on the trail and in my life. I knew I looked good on my real mountain bike. I only get better at riding trails and I yearn for more. I'm not ready for Moab yet but I yearn for more challenge. I'm into mountain biking and I find it hard to explain why. How do you explain a feeling that just wells up inside of you until you feel like bursting with excitement over just thinking about getting on your mountain bike again? It's like I'm a kid and I can't wait to start something. Hurry, hurry, hurry, let's go mountain biking! It's like the excitement of waiting for Christmas Day to arrive, only you're just waiting until you arrive at the park and can unload your bike and everyone else's and get out on the trail. You crave what might happen on the trail, good or messy! And you can't wait for the story you know you will get to tell at the end of your ride to all the people that didn't go with you. It literally took going from pavement to trail for me to get into mountain biking or for mountain biking to get into me, a matter of seconds, and it's something I know I will never shake off.

Anyplace with friends to ride with.

Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky / Mountain Home, Arkansas / Branson, Missouri / Peoria, Illinois / Macomb, Illinois

Specialized Hardrock Sport Women's

I really like single track trails.  I love riding through the woods and being dangerously close to the trees.  I like speedy sections on single track where you don't have to pedal too much and you wind and weave gracefully through the trees.  It's nice.

Don't forget the joy you felt when you first started mountain biking.  It was so exciting for the beginner.  So seasoned mountain bikers, don't scoff at the newbie.  That's me.  I've been into it for a year and a half and I still feel such joy and excitement at getting to ride the trail. 

My friend, his two cousins, their dad, and I all went riding together at a local park.  We had never ridden there before but I had been horse back riding on this trail, so I was the guide.  It was Memorial Day weekend and happened to be quite stormy.  The storms rolled in one right after the other with 10 to 20 minute breaks between storms.  We had been planning on doing this ride so we were not going to let a few storms stop us.  The temperature kept dropping through the day, it probably got down to 50 degrees.  We arrived at the park and started out in a light rain.  Light but so cold.  I thought it looked like another big storm was coming, hard to tell though through the trees.  We kept riding.  Well we got past the point of no return and that's when the rain picked up and it just poured on us.  And shortly after the heavy rain started, the wind picked up and blew like a hurricane.  Then terrible lightening and ear deafening thunder and the clouds really sent down their fury.  The rain came down so hard and so much I couldn't see 3 feet in front of my tire.  I'm in a summer underarmer t-shirt and shorts and started out freezing but we rode hard and my body warmed up.  It was the most fun I had ever had being in such a horrible storm which kept going and going, it never lost it's strength and this was maybe a 10 mile ride.  At any moment a tree could have snapped or limbs fallen on us or God forbid a lightening strike.  I mean this was scary stuff we were in but so freakin' exhilerating the danger didn't matter.  The trails turned in to waterfalls we had the pleasure of riding down.  Mud everywhere on us and on the bikes.  We were afraid we lost the dad but he reappeared after we stopped and waited a bit.  The dad/killjoy decided we should quit riding the trail, "too dangerous", and probably right but oh the fun the boys and I were having.  At a couple points we had to climb up very steep hills.  I put the bike on my back and tried and tried and slipped and slided and ended up with my face actually in the mud with the bike holding me down.  It was great.  And I totally had horse manure all over me then.  After the dad said we had to get out we found the road that drives the perimeter of the park and trudged our way through the trees and underbrush to get to it.  We looked like swamp people or wild creature emerging from the deep dark forest.  It was helarious.  We rode back to the shelter house where delicious barbecue and chips, salads and sodas and the rest of the family were all waiting for us and boy did we have a story to tell. 

No skills yet to speak of.