Today, since my best road bike is in the shop I decided to do a little mountain biking. I've mentioned before that off-road riding is not my forte. It's the exact opposite of my forte. It's my anti-forte.
But I have found that once I've spent some time on the trails I do better. Not great, but better. Today I decided to try someplace new and went to Rocky Ridge Park down near (in?) York. It's a pretty good park as far as mountain biking goes, with something for every skill level. There was a mile or two of rail-trail style crushed gravel trails, but also some technical dirt trails that are extremely challenging.
And by extremely challenging, I mean rocky. I have no problem with mud, uneven ground or steep hills, but rocks make me nuts. It's not just that they limit the line you can take on the trail or give you unexpected bumps and drops during your ride.
Rocks are hard, and I'm a little scared of crashing. And if I crash on dirt, it's usually okay, because it's dirt and it's soft. But rocks are hard. It seems like if you crash on a rocky trail (made more likely with the rocks bouncing you around) you're liable to break a bone on a rock. Or at least get a really nasty bruise.
So do most mountain bikers just embrace the rocks as an additional challenge? Or are there trails somewhere with fewer rocks that mountain bikers flock to? Or am I just a big wuss and either need to get over it or stick to the roads?
Embrace them. They are part of the fun.
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