After planning a road ride with my riding buddy, we opted to go for a mountain ride instead. Come one now, how do you pass up a fun mountain ride for the road? I just couldn’t do it. After watching my friend Ryan install the derailleur cables on my wife’s bike I was able to replace the failing cables on my Heckler and even managed to remedy a brake rub problem I’d been having for at least three months. More on those fix tips in the future. I sure have missed being on a ride without mechanical problems!
One of many doubletrack climbs
One of the things I like about riding with my friend is he’s a sport class racer(and improving) so he really challenges me to push my limits but in a fun an recreational way. We also hooked up with his entire SC Velo team to ride and, man, is riding with XC racers ever humbling.
Checking out the view
After the recent rains there was a lot of green grass that made for some beautiful climbs. There’s a ton of tight switchbacks that require your full attention. This was part of the reason I didn’t really get any ride shots in. Every time I’d whip out my camera the crew would be off and pedaling again. Dangit!
Looking back down after the climb
Most of the climbs were moderately steep but there was a lot of loose rubble. The trail has some surprisingly fun downhills that were fast and twisty. Somebody had built up some jumps along the downhill but they looked half-assed so I chose not to risk it. Lots of exposure on this ride though. At one point I almost didn’t catch my brake in time and barely missed launching off a sheer drop. Yikes! I had been on this trail with RL, Priscilla, Jeremy and Moe before but was shown a new singletrack this time out. It ran for about a mile but followed along a hillside with some serious-consequence exposure. At the same time it was littered with jumps and drops. Wow, my heart was pounding after that! It was the perfect end to a great ride.
The Heckler wins again
This ride was all about enlightenment for me. I never new how liberating it could be to install and setup a derailleur on your own! Fixing my nagging brake problem was an added bonus. But on top of this I found I was able to hang on some seriously technical and long climbs with the sport level riders(the Semi-pro fellas left us in the dust). After the ride I found myself reminiscing about my first mountain bike ride and realized just how far I’d progressed. Think about your first ride and you’ll realize the same, I think. Weather it’s your bike handling or your stamina that’s improved, it’s so satisfying to know you’ve finally become the rider you were hoping to be when you first started. And if you’re not there yet, at least your on your way. This is why we ride…and boy do I love it!
