Tag Archives: Mountain Biking

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Needed: Saddle Hours

I took the first half of the mountain biking class yesterday; however, I had summitted a mountain on Sunday after 4-and-a-half hours of sleep, was coming off a 48-hour M-F, played kickball on Friday night, and left my Thermos at home yesterday so had a lack of substantial caffeine. I also have had the Non-COVID, non-Strep bizarre sinus, poopy thing for awhile, so was certainly not on my A-Game. We jumped the first rocks to head up to start the long downhill and I dodged some rocks and was motoring when I felt lactic acid in my thighs. I dismounted and talked to the other instructor.

It was really cool when I got up there initially because the guy who is a joy was the other instructor. He’s young, from VT, and loves beer. I’m going to climb two more Thursdays to hang out with him. Then the wall closes. I’ve not heard from Vegan, so I don’t know how I’ll get gym time going forward. I wish that the Rec Centers had walls. I guess I can check if the University does, and use theirs if they have auto-belay. I can use it now because of climbing with Vegan. I can’t wait for VT to see that! He has only seen me not trusting it and has witnessed me downclimbing over and over.

There is a Yeti that has a small frame that is listed at $3,200. That is way better than 6k. You can get that one shipped to you or a bike shop for 4-5K, so I want to decide on the price beforehand. I sent an email to the owner of it. We’ll see. I’d imagine that by Craigslist haunting I can get one eventually. I don’t need instruction anymore. I cycle all the time so some rudimentary moves are ingrained in me. I just need hours in the saddle on mixed terrain and want to do some of that alone. I’ll also use my “Outside +” subscription to watch videos so I can get more tips. I know the basics now and have been on a mountain bike twice, and had a shitty mountain bike that Brooklyn gave to me that I rode for years. I biffed on it once riding a singletrack. I’m ready to commit to learning more, and the long class and half class instruction yesterday have made me ready.

After the skills portion of the class, and then my bailing after the initial downhill, I decided to hike and see some leaf changes. I’m a bit bummed that I saw a HUGE aspen tree that had many shades of orange and yellow on it last Sunday, but was hurried because the Realtor had to get to a 4:00 appointment, and I couldn’t justify stopping to get a picture. I had no idea until then that foliage is completely different at elevation. It was backdropped against a blue, dark green, and purple mountain. Oh, well. I wound up having a nice, little hike yesterday and saw some beauty.

I am going to walk my dogs after I finish my coffee, and then I’m meeting nice Aries for brunch. I have two nice Aries in my life. They’re birthday twins. One I’ve known for 35-years, and the other is my friend who I sang karaoke with all last winter. She was really gorgeous when we were in our 20s. We have fun together. Before then I need to do my weights day. I’m not going to do 55-lbs though, and will instead drop to 40-lbs for my sets because I still don’t feel in tip top condition. I wanted to write today to commit to a goal of saddle time on a Mountain Bike… Happy Sunday, y’all!

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Badassery

Wow. I might be hooked. Now, I need 6k though. Riding this beauty gave me a new appreciation for an amazing bike.

I loved this Yeti. It was a long term love.

So we had micro skill lessons regarding braking, body position, feet position and use of legs. That took a full hour and then we crossed the pavement and went straight down for our 4-mile trail ride. We had to jump a rock right away. Whoa. I was much happier climbing and thought that we would do that first. The trail was beautiful, and I was so engrossed that I didn’t take any pictures of it. I loved this class and would take it again–I probably will.

A mountain bike has a seat release on the left side so that when you’re climbing you can pop it all the way up and take your weight off of the seat while it rises. You can push down on it when you’re navigating rocks and bumps so you’re lower and well back on the saddle with your elbows out. I’m so much more comfortable with biking now generally and really can’t say enough nice things about this particular bike. I’d love to get one. I’d use it too!

So, I’m going to clean my chain completely on my road bike, and then I’m going to take my son’s old Raleigh to the used sports store where I bought my pickleball racquet new, and get him situated on my Fuji Mountain Bike. The reach is too large for me, so he can have it for getting around. I need to get something for commuting that I can put a rack on for my panier. I actually should buy a new panier and give my son one. I’m not going to have a mid-level Mountain Bike anymore. I’m going to keep my road bike and also maintain it better, get a beater commuter with some manner of shocks with a new panier and save up for a real, Yeti Mountain Bike. The sport is fun and I don’t ever need to do anything epic. I just want to ride around on trails sometimes.