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When did it go from Ridin w/The Boys to "Training" ???
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
So I had a shitty ride last night. My muscles felt okay, my body felt ok, but I didnt "Get In the Game" .... last night. I wasnt THERE on the trail. I love to ski. I actually hated it when I first started. My feet would freeze, I would lose all feelin in my toes (yes, Quentin Tarantino and I share the same fetish) ... and I somehow felt flying down a mountain covered in snow while balanced upon, really, just two long skinny greased up sticks really wasnt too healthy. But the bungee jumpin thrill seeking alter ego I harbou decided that yes, indeed, skiing was a RUSH. So, I gave up on the boot and ski rentals, invested some cash in my own gear, discovered womans specific design (gotta love marketing!) got me some fur lined Salamon womens boots, got my toes warm and off I went .... with a love of skiing. Heli skiing in Alaska, weeks at Whistler, and then up and down the east coast, choosing to think of local hills as mountains, and alas, I loved skiing. However, without the cash to follow the snow around the country, I had some free time in late spring, summer and well, since this is NJ, pretty much lately throughout the winters ... and needed another sport........ hmmm.... preferring mountains to anything else, I hiked, got me some hikin poles and a nice water pack, and off I went me and my dog. Hiking, climbing, bein in the mountains. Sweet. My friend, who mountain bikes, asked me if I mountain bike. "Sure", I said. As indeed, I have ridden my bike on the dirt versus the pavement. "I do mountain bike" .... So, off we went to meet at Ralph Stiver, what www.mtbr.com would later define as "Extremely Dangerous, Extremely Advanced, for Elite Perfect Advanced Technical Riders who wish for broken bones and are insane only" ..... (Okay, or something like that). My Diamond Back, which took me over those aforementioned dirt trails, was long rusted and broken, but I had procured myself a mountain bike at Walmart, yes, Walmart, and there I sat, make up on, my once beautiful unbruised and unscarred legs clad in short shorts, make up on, hair pretty, smooth, shiny tennis shoes (I had better sneakers, but those white Keds matched my shorts so) no helmet, no knee elbow or wrist pads, no camel pack, no goo, no proper nutrition (I was a girl I starve myself on salads), on the hardest seat in the world atop a 2,000lb walmart bike (not even a full suspension) already out of breath from riding to get to the START of the trail, already starting to panic thinking Gosh, I am really physcially fit, I do aerobics at the gym allll the time, why am I so short of breath from that small ride across the campsite? ........ And there I sat, already exhausted, on top of this heavy metal with bad brakes and gears that would drop a chain every time they were used, looking down a deep, long, tecnical descent that spanned gnarled roots, rocks, boulders a stream and on the other side a climb so vertical I swore that this was some type of sick joke, I mean, for sure, no one could climb that hill on a bike??, WTF? But there went my friend, riding past me, navigating the roots, flying and i mean flying down it (I thought he must be losing control because hes not even on the saddle and his bike is allll the way in front of him, I mean his ass was practically on the back tire) and then doing a fast funny looking pedal to get up to the other side........ Huh. So, that is ridable? Well, not ever wanting to be seen as weak, descent I did, heart beating, pulse racing, scared beyond my wildest dreams, bungee jumping was better then this, sitting on my hardtail feeling every rock boulder, root slam my body as I flew down that hill and tried to pedal up the other side. Thinking to myself, ooohhh, this is mountain biking, no, no, I rode on dirt roads, smooth flat ones, not um..... this.....yeah, i have never mountain biked before. If I had I would never, ever have worn a thong...... I think I lasted oh, about twenty more minutes after that before I was like, I cant do this.... ( i think I said i hadnt eaten, or my back was sore from an injury, or, oh yes, I was insane and delusional and had no business riding my bike down a MOUNTAIN! At least on snow you fall there is flully white stuff, here its dirst and sharp and ROCKS ! jagged jagged ROCKS! Fast forward a year and I just completed (my only goal) my first Novice race at Fair Hill, Maryland. Im still only ten months old in this sport, and Im not "good" ... but I have come along way as the two friends I ride with are awesome MTBers, and its either eat dust or keep up. Mostly, I eat dust, but I am determined and committed, so off I go hating and loving every second of it. Cursing myself, praising myself, grateful to be healthy enough to live my life like this, disgusted for biking on a mountain where people break shit. ALWAYS pulling out of the parking lot after a ride, my bike bungee corded to my truck thinking WOW, who would think I could EVER do that? But last night I had a really shitty ride. My two friends now race so instead of that jovial feeling of being in the mountains and learning to navigate roots and fast singletrack, now they are focused and "training" and I too am "training" .... Now .... I have gotten used to be stared at by other chicks as I sport short skirts with bruised and chain teeth scars and pedal teeth cuts all over my legs and I resist screaming "I HAVE THESE SCARS CUZ WHILE YOU ARE OUT SHOPPING I AM MOUNTAIN BIKING" I have given up on manicures that just get mushed from sweaty Fox DirtPaw gloves ,,, (not the pedicures though, see Quentin comment above).... I have been OK walking through shoprite in spandex shorts that look like I have a diaper on, covered in mud and blood while I procure myself a tasty whole rotissiere chicken (cuz now I EAT) ... But when did it go from a Ride with the Boys, to "training" .... ????? ANd how does one shitty ride make me think I SUCK and have no business even being on my (new) Specialized bike?
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