My Mountain Bike Journey
When I started dating Joseph, I knew I was going to be trying mountain biking at some point. He has ridden and raced most of his life, and is extremely good at the sport, and I was always intrigued at the thought of trying mtn biking, so it was inevitable that I would be getting on a bike not long after our relationship started. Now that I’m over half a year into my mountain bike journey, I feel like I can share with you all my thoughts on the sport.
Ok, I will start out by saying MOUNTAIN BIKING IS AWESOME!!! It’s so much fun, and I am really enjoying learning all about it. It helps that my teacher is an expert in the sport, and also happens to be super supportive and encouraging…seriously, Joseph is the best coach anyone could ask for, so I lucked out. In the beginning he was constantly asking me “Are you sure you love it, or are you just trying to love it because I love it?” He wanted to make sure I was actually liking the sport of my own free will, and not because I was pressuring myself to like it for his sake…so sweet. I can confidently say that I do love it out of my own free will, and I am dying to get better and better at it.
Joseph and I try to ride together 3 times a week if we can, that’s our goal, and it has been a great addition to our fitness routine. Mountain biking is an amazing workout because your core is engaged, your legs are working hard, and your heart rate is up…it’s an all-round kind of workout, which I love.
Ok, so a little bit on my progression. I started riding in October of 2021, but have been riding consistently since January of this year, so I am finally starting to see my progression in the sport.
When I first started out, it was all so confusing. I had to be conscious of leaning forward and dropping elbows when going uphill. I had to be conscious of standing up, leaning back, and keeping cranks even going downhill. I had to be conscious of shifting into higher or lower gear depending on the terrain and the incline. I had to be conscious of dropping and raising my seat depending on if I was going uphill or downhill. And all the while I had to be conscious of staying on the single track, controlling my bike, my speed, and my body. It was A LOT to remember.
The first few times riding trying to remember all of this was super overwhelming. I was constantly shifting into the wrong gear to go uphill, or I would forget to drop my elbows, or I wouldn’t keep my cranks even. It was a lot to think about because I hadn’t yet figured out the feel of it all or developed the muscle memory to make every transition smooth. It was super frustrating.
I am a perfectionist…I always want to be good at things immediately, I’ve been that way since I was a baby trying to walk…literally. So the fact that I jumped into something and couldn’t “get it” right away, was frustrating. BUT, that’s where having such an amazing coach as Joseph helped so much. He was always there to encourage me and tell me how good I was doing, and how much progression he was seeing from ride to ride. He would always ground me when I was getting overwhelmed, and help me when I didn’t understand something. When he saw something lacking in skills, he would have me work on it and work on it till it clicked, and I got it.
And little by little, under his gentle guidance, I began progressing. After a few rides I started to realize that the hills I had to walk up at first…I could now ride up them without stopping. After a few months I realized my speed and timing on certain trails was getting better and better. After a while I realized that I was more fearless about going down rocks and steep terrain that freaked me out in the beginning. I even started trying to get air off of little dirt mounds in the trail…it’s so fun!
Now I have even started to set goals. My recent goal has been working on my endurance and my strength. I have stopped shifting straight into my easiest gear just because I’m on a slight incline, and have been working on getting up them in harder and harder gears. I have also been working on powering through long hill climbs, and stopping as little as possible. Now that I am building skill, and have the fearlessness down, my biggest weakness is my endurance. Once I can build that up so that it doesn’t hold me back, I think I can do much longer rides, and enjoy mountain biking even more!
All in all I give mountain biking two thumbs up, and I would recommend it to anyone! It’s really fun to learn and do, and I would encourage anyone thinking about trying it out to pull the trigger and do it! It’s a very rewarding sport, and I can’t wait to get better and better at it.
So there you have it…those are my thoughts on mountain biking thus far. It’s the best!