I think...I might want to learn how to mountain bike

[untonuggan]

I biked on gravel for the first time this week. Don't laugh, I only learned how to ride a bike at all last year and then spent the second half of the year unable to ride due to illness. I went on a very short ride to reacquaint myself with being on trails, and we detoured onto some unpaved trails for the first time in my biking experience.

They were gravel and went through trees, and there was a point where I may have yelled, "Crappity crap crap crap" as I went over a tree root (and stayed on my bike, thankfully). We went by a pond that I think had beavers in it, and there were a lot of really cool birds that I couldn't identify because I was focused on biking.

Still...it was really, really fun and I think I am going to try more gravel trails soon because I have a hybrid (Trek 7.3 FX) and so I can do that. I think at some point I may also want to learn how to mountain bike, because it sounds like it could fill the bit of me that enjoys hiking only I would do it on a bicycle. There's a class at a nearby REI that I might try taking sometime soon if I can afford it.

Damn, this means I will probably end up buying a mountain bike at some point. Better start saving now....and to think I was already hoping to save for a proper road/touring bike with drop bars.

Comments

[onlysmallwings]

That's awesome! *internet high five*

I've been reliably informed that mountain biking is very, very fun. I'm just too scared to do it myself.

[untonuggan]

I will probably be working up to bigger stuff, and I don't think I'm anywhere near "stand at the top of a mountain and then push off". But unpaved surfaces + woods = awesome, methinks.

Thanks for the high five!

[forthwritten]

Awesome!

I have a low-end hardtail mountain bike - my commute to work often takes in unpaved paths, minor potholes and tree roots pushing up concrete. Hopefully you can see this photo, but this is from when I took it to the woods a couple of months ago - the mud is because one of our dogs ran towards me, I couldn't see if she was on a lead or not, didn't have time to check, and swerved rather than risk hitting her. I have to say, falling onto mud is more forgiving than falling onto tarmac.

[untonuggan]

That is an awesome photo. Also, good evasive maneuvering around your darting dog!

My partner tried clipless pedals for the first time yesterday, but managed to fall only on grass rather than on the trail. Yay! (I have yet to try that demon invention, although I want to.)

[forthwritten]

Thanks! It wasn't big on dignity mind :D

They aren't clipless pedals in the sense of having shoe attachments instead - just bog-standard flat plastic pedals.