Saturday I accomplished my first noteworthy ride as a cyclist. My fried Kirk and I set out on Saturday morning to ride the Old Snowbasin Road, from Huntsville to Snowbasin. I have been riding frequently but haven't done much other than ride on the flats. I wasn't sure that I would even be able to make it all the way up, it's about 1,300 vertical feet of climbing in 9 Miles. Initially I just planned on going as far as I could and turning around when I thought I couldn't go any further. But we ended up running into a friend of ours, Don Mueller, along with some of his riding friends. The added pressure of riding with a big group gave me the motivation to make it to the top no matter how long it took. So it was not only my first big climbing ride, but my first time riding with a significantly sized group. That turned out to be a big benefit to me as Don literally pushed me up parts of a few of the steep hills. We did eventually make it up to Snowbasin with only one minor mechanical incident which Kirk (The Expert Bike Mechanic) fixed. Then we enjoyed the descent from Snowbasin down Trappers Loop back to Huntsville. With a top speed of 43 miles per hour, it was quite a rush. Surprisingly I was pretty impressed at how I performed, although significantly behind the other riders, I felt pretty good about it considering I have only been riding for about 5 weeks. It was a fun ride and a good introduction to mountain riding for me. I plan to do more rides like this in the future. Next time I will try to take some pictures to post.
Saturday I accomplished my first noteworthy ride as a cyclist. My fried Kirk and I set out on Saturday morning to ride the Old Snowbasin Road, from Huntsville to Snowbasin. I have been riding frequently but haven't done much other than ride on the flats. I wasn't sure that I would even be able to make it all the way up, it's about 1,300 vertical feet of climbing in 9 Miles. Initially I just planned on going as far as I could and turning around when I thought I couldn't go any further. But we ended up running into a friend of ours, Don Mueller, along with some of his riding friends. The added pressure of riding with a big group gave me the motivation to make it to the top no matter how long it took. So it was not only my first big climbing ride, but my first time riding with a significantly sized group. That turned out to be a big benefit to me as Don literally pushed me up parts of a few of the steep hills. We did eventually make it up to Snowbasin with only one minor mechanical incident which Kirk (The Expert Bike Mechanic) fixed. Then we enjoyed the descent from Snowbasin down Trappers Loop back to Huntsville. With a top speed of 43 miles per hour, it was quite a rush. Surprisingly I was pretty impressed at how I performed, although significantly behind the other riders, I felt pretty good about it considering I have only been riding for about 5 weeks. It was a fun ride and a good introduction to mountain riding for me. I plan to do more rides like this in the future. Next time I will try to take some pictures to post.
1 comment:
Ty -
Nice work! It's a great accomplishment no matter how fast you go. One day I'll get back on the bike. I just need a donut to sit on for the first couple rides. By the way - I'm typing this on my new laptop that Kirk bought for me!
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