The first Ride Like a Girl for 2012 is in the books. It was a chilly but good ride. We had a good bunch of riders.
We inundated the little section of the neighborhood as we got ready. I felt a little uncertain at first, but I guess one of the neighbors came out, was friendly, and said hi. So that was good. I just was not sure if the culdesac was accustom to this as I have never ridden the trail this way before. It did work out well.
We started off on a short climb to the Bonneville Shoreline and then turn off for some smooth descending, climbing and then a mix of everything. We got back to BST faster than I anticipated so we continued up and did some more zigzagging trails before the fast descent back to the cars.
The purpose was really balance. When we learn to ride a bike as a child, we understand how important balance is. We tend to think riding a bike is all balance left to right. In mountain biking, it is also about balancing front to back. This is usually referred to as weighting the bike. When a trail zigzags or has switch backs the way we weight the bike influences whether or not we make the turn as much as balancing side to side. It is a skill that is only learned with practice. And almost every corner or turn is different.
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Mindy and Gayle |
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Shauna and Des |
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Gayle, Emily, and Tiffany |
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The group listens and laughs as Gayle tells us why she ended up off course. |
When it started to get chilly and a little dark, we headed back. Thanks to Gayle, Tiffany, Emily, Des, Shauna, and Mindi for the ride. Sorry if I did not spell your name right. Hope to see everyone and more next month!