By Jacqueline
“The best rides are the ones where you bite off much more than you can chew, and live through it.” – Doug Bradbury
The Corner
It is a corner I have ridden often. It has a 90 degree turn to the left with a bit of outward slope. It’s after a killer climb and all I want to do is shift up and increase my speed from a turtle pace of five mph to a moderately quick turtle pace of ten mph. Despite its smooth curve, each time I take it I tense up a bit, tap my brake, and know that it is deceivingly simple and think someday that turn will take me down. Sure enough, that day came.
The Dirt
The dirt was dry and packed into hard dirt lumps with some fine dirt on top. It was so dry, the dust of the person in front of me was in my teeth. The surface was like loose sand on top of cement and I was blazing around the corner and my back wheel just couldn’t grip. I fell fast and a three second left side body skid on the hard dirt ground felt like 30 seconds. It burned me good but gosh, that dirt smelled good. My arm, ribs, hip, and even ankle were bruised and scraped. Despite my enjoyment of getting to know the ground more intimately, this was my first fall on a mountain bike that made me skittish about the next fast turn on loose gravel or the steep rooty drops. It’s like when someone betrays your trust, it’s hard to trust fully again. I lost my confidence in my tires and in my abilities to control my bike.
The Fear
I’m an amateur mountain biker and I’m progressing quickly. I don’t want to hold myself back each time I take a itty bitty witty tumble. What do YOU do to keep going? What do you tell yourself to get over the fear?
The quote at the beginning of this post seemed appropriate because I’ve experienced biting off more than I can chew and surprise!, I’ve lived through it. I was afraid of being slow as a woman mountain biker and feeling inadequate even though I have legs that wrap around the world and probably could beat the Minnesota Leg Wrestling Champion (ok, there isn’t a Leg Wrestling Champion…not yet). My fears were wrong and I won my first mountain bike race. Another time was when I was afraid of using clipless pedals and the first time I tried them, wouldn’t you know, a large gust of wind came just as I clicked my cleat in and I couldn’t clip out. I was laughed at, I got angry, and then I had to get back on my bike and clip in. Also as someone who had not yet realized my one-armed riding mallet swinging prowess, I was terrified to try bike polo with a large group of competitive men and my first game was difficult but fun. I kept practicing and became a valuable member of the bike polo club.
We have all experienced moments of biting of more than we can chew and/or getting into situations that created fear within ourselves. We have to find ways to get passed the fear and work with it. Most recently and also this very thing I’m doing now, writing for this blog, may be more than I can chew but I’m doing it because I care about this group and its mission. I’m excited to soak in the knowledge of other WTF riders, create dialog between us, and inspire one more person to ride and ride often!
***I found an article on top ten 29er mountain bike tires but I’d like to hear your opinions based on your rad experiences.
http://oldglorymtb.com/top-ten-guide-best-29-mountain-bike-tires/