Grrls in their natural habitat--bikes in the woods

After my glorious spill, I was itching to get back out there.  Since my husband and I have to trade off child-watching duties to get rides in, he was not able to squire me into the woods.  Fortunately, my enabler lives close and had a bit of free time.

Enabler

I'll confess to being a babe in the woods here and I don't like it.  I can definitely change a flat on a car, but haven't had cause to learn the same on a bicycle, so I don't ride alone.  I'd like to, but I've been repeatedly warned against it.  Sigh.

We met up at one end of an almost-27-mile-long rec trail wearing matching jerseys and smiles.  After a liberal application of bug dope, we got rolling.

As we emerged, victorious but tired, at the other end of the trail, I reflected on my improbable rise from couch-slouch to athletic phenom...

Nah, we rode for about an hour then went home.  But it was a fun hour.  I shook off my nerves from the recent fall and got great advice, too.

I learned the rules of the trail are the same as on horseback--to call out obstacles the others might not see, to pass left after calling it out, and to always keep a few sugar cubes in your pocket.

I was shown sweet tricks for quicker mounting and choosing lines.  Jen demonstrated extended slow-speed balancing while repeatedly waiting for me to catch the heck up.  I remember doing all of these things as a wilder child so the real trick to cyclocross is probably never to grow up.

Until next time, friends...get muddy!

Grounded: gravel, gauze, and self-deprecation...

Excited that the grandparents were going to watch the children overnight, C and I quickly planned a ride together.  Though they are the greatest joy of my life, the kids are also so young that they can also be an impediment to riding.  Someone's got to watch them, of course.  But, it is going to pass, and all too quickly, so I will never complain that they need me.

I wanted to try a maintained trail of some kind so I could get the hang of the shifting on the new bike.  My husband had sold his cx bike when we moved back down to civilization but a quick tire swap on one of his road bikes and he was trail-ready.

Ready to roll

They say you never forget how to ride a bike and that's sort-of true, but it had been seven years since my last ride and it did feel a bit strange, if euphoric.

I had a huge smile on my face after the small, muddy descent and the few branches I rode over though I was later jokingly admonished for doing so with no patch kit on board.  Ha.  Oh, well.  I felt like a kid again, exactly what I wanted in the first place.

Bellatrix in her natural habitat

I was getting the hang of the shifting on this new bike and even enjoying the surroundings.  C pulled up beside me and then it all gets a bit squirrelly.  I've still got no idea how or why it happened, but down I went.  I do remember the fall in slow-motion, like all good tumbles.

Trixie was fine.  That's the first thing we checked.  I knew I was banged-up but okay.  We washed off the blood and some of the sand with water from the water bottles and kept going.  "It doesn't even hurt," I noted, somewhat surprised.

Haha, oops...

A mile down the road I stopped.  We were at a road-crossing and I realized it was going to be a long haul from there on out.  I was still bleeding and the adrenaline was wearing off making it obvious that I had actually hurt my shoulder and should probably ice that.  We bagged the ride and headed back.  I was disappointed (understatement).

Of course it was worth it.  I only sprained my shoulder and I the road rash healed pretty quickly.  I have mad nursing skills from my husband's old spills.  I have a very physical job and I spent the week doing my eight-hour shifts one-handed.  That was probably the worst of it right there.

Cool sling

I'd like to regale you with tales of all my subsequent cx adventures, but I am still working weeknights (when the local group rides go off) and my husband is in serious training for a pretty big goal so he hits the roads for hours and hours at a time.  I'm super impressed by his determination.

So if anyone wants to take an enthusiastic newb out on the trails, I promise to be smiling the whole time and to always laugh at my own foolishness.  I mean, that's kind of me in a bizarro nutshell: equal parts stubborn grit, childlike enthusiasm, and extra hearty servings of self-deprecation.  I don't know any other way to be.  Let's play!!