In college I had a mountain bike. I rode it all over San Francisco for transportation. On the weekends, sometimes I pretended to be a mountain biker and went to trails in Marin where I would walk most of the 'ride'. Then, a back injury took me almost completely off the bike for a few years. That's when I loved surfing and hiking.
Then, I discovered triathlon and road cycling. And, it's been a 6 or 7 year love affair with the road. All road all the time. My favorite non-training-specific activity is discovering a new gem of a road that I've never ridden before - or some new combination of familiar roads. But, the prospect of venturing on to the dirt on a road bike, or even touring bike freaked me out.
This year I went on a few mountain bike rides and did a CX clinic and race in the name of improving my handling skills. Now, I'm all confident and stuff. I know I can ride a fair bit of dirt on the road bike, and can ride just about anything I want on knobbies (not counting boulders, logs, and massive drop-offs).
Now, I find myself daydreaming about quiet roads that end in a bit of dirt or single track and connect up to other interesting roads. I practice my mounts here and there. The possibilites are expanding. I like singletrack. I never thought I would say that. Heaven help me, I think I'm becoming a dirty girl.
10 comments:
ok! so now it's time for a night ride.
i'm thinking of hosting one soon. you will come.
i have a light you can borrow.
i forgot to say - mostly an all girl one, but of course gentle men can come as well.
Hey Lauren - Yeah, that will be good. Let me know dates. Hopefully I can come.
The boy no longer has a knobby-tired bike. So, he will have to sit out the ride.
Is it scary?
I see no problem with gettin' in the dirt every now and then. It must feel good to switch things up a bit!
I'll ping you about getting together. Still waiting for my Dec schedule to be finalized.
Lauren, I'll drag here there.
yeah, VG will drag me 'kicking and screaming' :)
kimmy - call or email when you get le schedule nailed down.
can i come to the night ride?
i'll bring my light and blankie
Nice! This is the right area for it. We're always talking about getting mtn bikes, but where to put them?...
panda - if all else fails, house space may be allocated away from furniture and toward bicycles :)
marscat - yay, it's a night riding party!
Enjoy it all. There is plenty of riding to go around.
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