mtb jong: lessons learned, and more to learn

Just got back from my first offroad ride in six years. With all the bike lust going around here these days, I've resurrectd my mid-90s rigid steel Hilltopper. This morning, I confirmed some old skills, learned some things, and learned that there are many other things that I never learned:

1. Before going around the blind singletrack corner where you can hear rushing water, stop to see if there is a bridge. (I did; there wasn't. Portage!)

2. Going uphill is hard. Not the long aerobic uphills so much as the short "up and over a bad pitch" uphills. I'd never tried riding up anything I couldn't make it up before -- lesson learned, and pitch noted for further practice. Rock, roots, overhangs -- these things are hard to climb steeply on.

3. Sandy hills are fun in granny gear.

4. You see that little bitty stream crossing -- the one 12" wide with rocks on either side? So that's what going over the bars feels like! :eek: (What should I have done -- try to pop my front wheel over the gap?)

5. Front brakes really are better.

6. I love mud.

7. I should probably get clipless pedals/shin guards/both. I now have a lovely vampire-bite-like pedal kiss on my right shin from those spiky stock Wellgo platforms. (Recommendations on a shoe/pedal system that's cheap enough to be worth putting on a '95 rigid steely? Yes, I've followed the recent threads -- after today's experience, I think it's worth a bit of expenditure.)

8. I've never ridden with my seat high enough before. But I think today it was a little too high. Must seek compromise, or new saddle, or learn to like that kicked-behind-the-nuts feeling. :tdo13:

9. Roots aren't as bad on a rigid bike as I remembered. Conversely, going fast downhill on loose gravel is harder.

JONG away, and chime in with your own revelations of the obvious. It's a learning process, y'all.

I have only been in this sport since '03, but plenty of miles. Hearing others first experience stories are great. A lot of these stories sound awfuly familiar. Hook, line and sinker, sounds like you caught the bug.

1. trail familiarity goes along way, take your time first time out, that or crush it on the way back.

2. of course it is, makes the beer taste better, your gears might not be as small as the newer bikes. when i did the same thing as you with my rigid a few years ago, i was as low as I could go and others were still having a higher cadence at the same speed as me.

3. sandy is more fun on flat or down IMO

4. Wheelie over the gap and usually the rear wheel will follow. Better yet, next time bunny hop it.

5. they sure are

6. so do i, i miss it out here and muddy riding is frowned upon due to its trail erosion effects.

7. check out the cheapest shimano shoe and some wellgo or shimano cheapies, there are combos at performance

8. when at a stand still, sitting on your bike, at the bottom of the pedal stroke your leg should be slightly bent, a good way that some find this is, to raise the seat till with your heel on the pedal, till that leg is straight.

9. some skills came back eh?

10. have fun!

Went up to Camden Hills this weekend and rode some of the trails. Good stuff, though many of the trails are foot-traffic only. A highlight was the Mount Battie Auto Road: 586 vf over 1.4 miles, an 8% grade on average but with two flatter sections and two 5-mph-in-granny-gear steep pitches. 16 minutes up, 3:14 down. I hit a new personal top speed: 37.5 mph. With a road bike and better skills/strength, I'm interested to see how much faster I could go.

Downhilling is thrilling. I'm hooked.

Rides like this are convincing my wife that I need/deserve a new bike -- one that actually works as it was intended.