I’ve recently gotten back into mountain biking big time after taking a couple years off. I still have a long ways to go, but I’m doing much better than I expected to at this point.
We live at the base of Read Mountain. I use the term ‘mountain’ loosely because it’s only about 2900 feet at the top. And the base is at 1250, so it’s a 1650 foot climb from my house. Of course, a large part of that is at a 20% plus grade, with one long stretch at 27%, so it’s not easy by any means.
I rode from my house up to my friend Ken’s house (he lives 1/2 way up the ‘mountain’), met up with him, then we rode the rest of the way to the top. There’s about a 1/4 mile section that has to be walked because it’s very steep and covered in a 3″ thick layer of leaves and is just way too slippery to ride. Other than that section, we rode to the top, across the ridge line, then down the long technical single track. It’s a killer technical downhill, but a blast to ride. I had hoped to be able to ride the entire mountain in one day by the end of summer. The fact that I’ve been riding for less than 2 months and I can already do it makes me very happy.
We’ve also managed to get the boys into mountain biking. They went to the local beginner single track called ‘Easy Street’ on their walmart bikes last month. They did very well on the trail, but there were a couple slight hills that their bikes just didn’t have the gearing to handle. We got them new bikes a few weeks ago. Real decent mountain bikes. Ty got a 20″ wheel bike, and Dane is on a full 26″ wheel bike, but with a 12″ frame. They fit them perfectly now, but have plenty of room to grow too.
I took them out to Easy Street again last weekend. They were blowing through the easy trail, so I took them down a ‘new trail’ called Ridgeline. It’s rated as an intermediate trail, but they did great on it. There were a few places that they got kind of sketchy on and walked through, but all in all they did great. Once they got a little confidence, it really helped them. They did just under 4 miles if fairly difficult terrain. All in all I’m very proud of them. They were riding stuff that I can barely imagine a 12 year old riding, let alone an 8 and 9 year old. They’ve already asked to go again.
I’m looking forward to doing some harder trails in the future. I’ve already lost a little of my gut, and hope to lose more. If I can keep up my 2-3 times a week rides, I’ll be in pretty damn good shape by my 40th.