My first mountain bike was named Rex. It was a piece of shit.
I bought him when I lived in Logan, Utah getting my master's degree and became suddenly inspired by the surrounding mountains and all the people shredding in the hills while I ran - lame. I too wanted to shred mountains. I found my Gary Fisher Trek 29er on Craiglist for $500 that appeared to be my size and at least semi-functional. With an income of about $400/month, I pestered the poor man relentlessly for two weeks until he agreed to sell the bike for a whopping $225 - pedals, bike cage and extra tires included.
My first ride out my chain dropped down between by chainring and frame, locked up my pedals and I went head over feet into a gravel ditch in front of some guys fishing in a lake. I cried the whole way home.
Not shown: road rash all over my arm and side
A few months later I attempted again, this time bringing Chris along. I was riding along in front on an open, winding path and out of nowhere- my brakes locked up and head over handlebars. Chris came skidding around the corner to a halt. He caught the situation on a GoPro.
\
And that's basically the only two times I mountain biked. I hated that piece of crap. I sold my bike and that was that. Mountain biking is THE WORST.
.......5 YEARS LATER.......
I got back into mountain biking after Ironman training and at this point was going almost daily on Chris' bike from October to December.
It's Christmas morning and my entire family is at my house in Albuquerque for Christmas. I'm sitting in the middle of my floor sitting amongst all the kitchenware my mother and mother-in-law gifted me (Without planning it they both got us kitchen stuff) feeling thankful for all the new goods... but also feeling like if I wanted a pot, I would buy myself a pot.
My family always does a secret santa gift exchange, and weeks before Chris already slipped that he had me. Chris usually nails presents for me but he always gets something completely practical and only somewhat extravagant, but never too over the top - like a really nice bike computer or a guitar (and no, I didn't play guitar - he just thought I'd like one.)
So when he handed me a small, heavy box, I wasn't thinking diamonds. I unwrapped it and inside was a new set of mountain bike pedals.
(Side note: at this point in my life I was wearing his bike shoes with 3 pairs of wool socks and using his mountain bike to explore the trails). I had a pair of mountain bike shoes but never got cleats for them.
So I HONESTLY thought that my husband, who I love and adore more than anyone on this Earth, had bought me a pair of mountain bike pedals and cleats for HIS mountain bike so I didn't have to wear his shoes. Again, thoughtful and practical, and not too extravagant.
The WORST part was I had to pretend I was excited about it. I should also mention I had a 104 fever and raging flu. It's excruciatingly hard to pretend to be excited when you have the flu when you're really, really not.
About 30 seconds of me going "wow babe, this is awesome! These are so nice thank you!" he goes, "Yea, they're to go with your new bike in the laundry room."
I almost threw up - mostly from the flu, partially from the excitement.
I scrambled as fast as my 104 degree fever bed ridden body could into the laundry room and there resting against my dirty laundry was my brand new Eagle Patriot Silver with a carbon fiber Wheelset.
BEST. PRESENT. EVER. So much better than that time he got me a bike rack.
Because I was literally dying from the flu, it wasn't until a week later that I was able to take my new baby for a ride.
I first rode an Eagle mountain bike a few months prior and it was the first time I realized mountain biking doesn't have to be this horrible, grinding gears, "my bike may or may not brake", "my disc brakes are rubbbing" "my bike is squeaking and squealing and may fall apart at any second" experience - which I just always assumed what mountain biking was. I was so surprised at how easy it was to pedal, how smooth it shifted, and how light it was up hills. I was SO HAPPY to now call the bike I tested in the shop months prior mine.
My favorite thing about my Eagle is how light it is. Even just taking it in and out of truck it's noticeably lighter than Chris' bike. Being so light makes it so easy to pop up and over short, steep climbs. It also makes it easy to do those little jumps when you hit a rock or bump that makes you feel like a badass. I also don't have to throw my back out or look like a struggling girl getting it into the car.
I also love that I never have the question the shifting. I didn't even realize that having one gear in the front was even a thing, but it makes it one less thing to have a problem with in a ride or race - even though I have a 1x drivetrain in the front I never feel like I run out of gears when climbing or descending. I probably have this wording all wrong but the point is I love the shifting and riding up or down hills is never too hard or too easy and I've never once dropped my chain. My shifting does it's job the first time, every time.
After a month of riding almost every day I convinced my friend Rachael (who also was new to shredding) to sign up for a mountain bike race. The Puzzler is a notoriously difficult race NOT meant for beginner mountain bike riders. In fact, every single person Rach and I spoke to told us not to do the race. Rachael almost bailed, and would have if I had let her pre-ride the course. I didn't let her pre-ride the course. If we die, we die.
The race ended up being awesome, and I ended up winning first place female overall in the 15 miler. Granted, this race was the shortest of the 3 distances offered, but it still was a gnarly course that included several sections of me dismounting and running my bike through boulder fields on the sides of cliffs. The best part was when I got passed on the technical descents, I always passed everyone back on the long climbs. My bike proved to be a worthy competitor to the other bikes on the course and I felt like I fit in with the shredder crowd on my new bike!
It's been 7 months since I got my bike and I absolutely love it. I haven't had one issue with riding it. It's light and responsive, and I feel like I can do a ton of climbing or technical stuff with it like jumping and descending in sand, but also it's so comfortable just to ride on the hard dirt packed path along the road if I just want to go grab a coffee. It's absolutely quiet - no clicking or grinding or wrenching when I'm going up hills. It shifts when I want it to, brakes when I ask it to, and doesn't hold me back on any obstacles - the only thing holding me back in that department is myself.
I love the way that with mountain biking I can just throw a water bottle on my bike and put my headphones in and blow off steam on the trails. I love to ride if I'm tired or angry or happy or bored. I just love being out in the woods. With mountain biking I can measure myself getting better by if I can get through a certain rock garden or up or a log I couldn't before. And I LOVE that I pretty much always pass other bikers on ascents up in the foothills. Triathlon and marathon training can be so structured and numbers-driven, my favorite part about mountain biking is you just go out and ride and fall and sweat and breathe hard and get the best workout but always come home dirty and happy. I've never had a bad mountain bike ride on my Eagle- even when I eat shit into a cactus.
My bike gives me the freedom to explore the foothills of New Mexico around my house, and the west has some of the best mountain bike races in the country. I can't wait to race more on my bike and get better and better. I feel like no matter how good I get at biking my bike will always be a good fit for my skill level and it's a bike I can grow with and never feel like I'm being limited by my equipment.
Me and my bike, Crash the Rasta Rocket
Happy Shredding!
-Katie
Comments
Post a Comment