Well that was my line of thought ingrained in me from finally becoming comfortable and capable on the road. What was this whole thing about riding up over curbs and over rocks and roots and anything else that I'd be sure to steer far away from on my road bikes? What was my at-the-time boyfriend (now husband) trying to tell me to do? No matter that he was easily making it over all these things on his cruiser/commuter bike. My brand new mountain bike surely couldn't do that. He was just being crazy.
Because I never learned basic bike skills when I was young, I had to start fresh now. Boy am I glad Alex and I did a few days of skills work before hitting the trail. My first time going over a curb must have taken at least 100 run-ups before I even let my front wheel just touch the curb. Alex told me to weight and unweight the front wheel... huh?? Move my weight around on the bike... what?? All such foreign concepts that I hadn't even know existed in the biking world.
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| Me and my beautiful new bike! |
Slowly but surely, I was becoming able to consistently make it over curbs, little mounds of grass, and even a little tree stump. I am still amazed at Alex's patience and ability to withstand my whining about how I can't do anything. But he knew getting me a mountain bike was a long term investment and he was willing to put in his time.
Despite all my complaining, I was loving learning new things! It was so fun having new challenges to work on. And having a great person to help me work through them didn't hurt. No way was I going to attempt any of these things by myself. After a few days of these seemingly pathetic, but completely necessary, skills days I was finally feeling ready to venture out onto a trail. I had no clue what I was in for!
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