Bike Noob

Because I'm Always Learning Something New

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Partners

I Suck At Mountain Biking

09.28.2014 by Ray Niekamp // 11 Comments

Instead of the usual Sunday road ride, my friend Maggie and I decided to get out the mountain bikes this morning. She put an invitation to join us on our club’s message board, but we had no takers. When we showed up at the club ride start, some of the roadies greeted us with bemusement at our getup, but soon we left in different directions.

Our target was Bauerle Ranch, a subdivision surrounded by nice singletrack trails. (I’ve written about it before.) We had had a little bit of rain overnight, and the dew point was high, so once we got onto the trails close to home, we could see that today’s ride would be somewhat muddy.

The thin grass along the trail has exploded in growth with all the rain over the past couple of weeks, and being wet, it gave us leg baths as we pedaled along the skinny trail.

But the rain had had another effect, too: It put a lot more rocks across the trail. I don’t mind rock gardens the way I used to, but the ones today were loose, and I could feel my rear wheel skid out to the side when it glanced off them. Nothing serious, but I did find myself stop and walk over a couple of areas that I had ridden just weeks ago.

route

At Bauerle Ranch, the trail starts out as easy singletrack, but soon starts to dip with lots of rocks to navigate. I was leading the way, and came around a corner to see a large rock in the middle of the track. The front wheel slid a bit, and I realized I  would not be able to navigate around the rock — but I wasn’t about to hit it, either. Yeah, right. I hit the brake — the front brake — at the same time the front wheel hit the rock.

Bam! Endover! My right leg slammed into another rock along the trail, and I wound up on my bottom, legs across the trail and my bike on top of them. Already, I could see blood start to roll down the shinbone. I struggled to get the bike off me, as Maggie sympathized.

“What a sight you are right now!” she exclaimed. “I wish I had a GoPro for that one.”

“It felt like I was going over in slow motion,” I said.

“It looked like it, too,” she shot back.

After the crash, the sticky blood on the knee collected grass and other crud that I didn't find until the end of the ride.
After the crash, the sticky blood on the knee collected grass and other crud that I didn’t find until the end of the ride.

I got untangled, and we mounted back up and kept going. The rest of the ride was mostly uneventful. Maggie got well ahead of me when I slowed to chat with another biker we encountered, and when I caught up to her, she was at the side of the Veloway, intently staring at the ground.

“Look at this cool spider!” she said. “It was in the middle of the Veloway, so I got it off to the side so it wouldn’t get run over.”

A bit hard to make out, because it's well-camoflaged against the pavement of the Veloway.
A bit hard to make out, because it’s well-camoflaged against the pavement of the Veloway.

It was cool, but neither of us had any idea what it was. (If you know, fill me in.) We left it, and headed home.

Back at Starbucks, we got to assess just how muddy we were from the day’s ride. Our bikes took the brunt of it, but we were well-spotted, too.

Muddy buddies.
Muddy buddies.

It was good to get back on the mountain bike again. But I still suck at it. I’ll keep flailing away, and hope to get better.

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Categories // Rides Tags // Injury, mountain bike

Comments

  1. Rick Ankrum says

    September 28, 2014 at 7:33 pm

    That is some badge you got on your knee. I have to say I suck at mountain biking too but I keep trying every once in awhile. I ordered some new pedals. Maybe they will help me when I have to put my foot down in a hurry.
    Mountain biking seems to present issues at the most inopportune time and when I try to react I don’t do it right. One time I was riding beside a street in the grass and came to a driveway I never knew people even lived on back in the trees. Just as I was about to ride across a pickup truck pulled in front of me. The driveway dipped down from the grass/dirt I was on and I almost fell as I tried to find a place to put my foot down. Fortunately the driver saw me in time to stop. He waved for me to cross.
    As far as the spider goes, was he as big as the picture makes it seem? Monster in the path if so.
    I hope your knee gets better quick.

    Reply
    • Bike Noob says

      September 28, 2014 at 8:12 pm

      That picture shows the spider at just about actual size, which is why Maggie was able to see it in the first place.

      Reply
  2. Steve says

    September 28, 2014 at 7:54 pm

    That is an awesome wound! Remember – chicks dig scars, so you’ve got even more going for you now! In the future, I’d recommend against locking your front brake! If you do, consider throwing your weight well to the rear to help Sir Isaac Newton’s equations on momentum balance better. 😉

    Reply
    • Bike Noob says

      September 28, 2014 at 8:13 pm

      The sad part is, I know about all that stuff. I do it about 80 percent of the time — maybe. For some reason, I grabbed the wrong brake handle this time.
      The owie isn’t as bad once it’s all washed off as it looks in the picture. I can cover it with a single Band-Aid.

      Reply
  3. lauratex says

    September 28, 2014 at 8:08 pm

    What pressure are u running? Roadies tend to overinflate – and it causes problems

    Reply
    • Bike Noob says

      September 28, 2014 at 8:15 pm

      Thirty pounds today. I’ve been admonished several times about tire pressure, so I was going for a squishy feel.

      Reply
  4. fossilcyclist says

    September 29, 2014 at 3:13 am

    You’ve reminded me I’ve hardly been out on the mountain bike this year. Maybe once the snow & ice arrive?

    Reply
    • Bike Noob says

      September 29, 2014 at 5:29 am

      I live in Central Texas. Not all that familiar with snow and ice. 🙂

      Reply
  5. Bike Noob says

    September 29, 2014 at 9:38 am

    BTW, the spider turns out to be the black-and-yellow Argiope, sometimes called the black and yellow garden spider. It’s evidently pretty common.

    Reply
  6. pat says

    October 2, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    Funny, I was on the trail the same morning(8am) and noticed the washout
    on the hills. I hadn’t seen it that bad since the halloween floods
    which did a lot of damage on the creek. We must have just missed you.

    Reply
    • Bike Noob says

      October 3, 2014 at 1:16 pm

      I was there about an hour later.

      Reply

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Get Email Updates

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 259 other subscribers

Categories

  • Accessories
  • Bike fit
  • Bikes
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • clubs
  • Cold weather
  • Community
  • Commuting
  • Components
  • crash
  • cycling
  • Equipment
  • Favorite rides
  • fitness
  • food
  • guest post
  • Heat
  • Injury
  • logs
  • Maintenance
  • Mental
  • Nutrition
  • Odds 'n ends
  • People
  • Poll
  • Racing
  • Records & stats
  • Review
  • Rides
  • running
  • Safety
  • soreness
  • Specialized
  • Technique
  • Technology
  • Tips
  • tires
  • training
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Partners

Recent Posts

  • Getting Back on the Bike: Road Cycling Tips for Older Cyclists
  • Are BCAAs and EAAs Good for Cycling?
  • How to Fix Numb Toes When Cycling
  • How to Find and Vet a Bike Club
  • Celebrate Pearl Izumi with Big Savings in the Memorial Day Sale

Categories

  • Accessories
  • Bike fit
  • Bikes
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • clubs
  • Cold weather
  • Community
  • Commuting
  • Components
  • crash
  • cycling
  • Equipment
  • Favorite rides
  • fitness
  • food
  • guest post
  • Heat
  • Injury
  • logs
  • Maintenance
  • Mental
  • Nutrition
  • Odds 'n ends
  • People
  • Poll
  • Racing
  • Records & stats
  • Review
  • Rides
  • running
  • Safety
  • soreness
  • Specialized
  • Technique
  • Technology
  • Tips
  • tires
  • training
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • May 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • March 2022
  • October 2020
  • November 2018
  • May 2018
  • September 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • January 2016
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008

Copyright © 2026 · Modern Studio Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Go to mobile version
%d