Mountain Biking For The First Time

Mountain Biking For The First Time

by Heather Korbar

Publication Date: October 1997

It all started about a month ago when my boyfriend borrowed a friend's mountain bike and they went to Cherokee Park to ride. Nick came home telling me all about the fun he and his friend had riding on the trails. The bike that Nick was riding belonged to a girlfriend of mine. The next thing I knew, another one of my friends went out and bought himself a mountain bike, and Nick decided to buy one for himself. And there I was, the only one without a bike.

The closest I had ever been to mountain biking was when I was younger and owned a T-Murray dirt bike. I rode through the neighborhood occasionally jumping off curbs or riding through the field behind our house. After hearing all about my friend's great adventures, I broke down and bought myself a bike. It was a lot bigger than the dirt bike I owned when I was younger, and felt a little weird. Nevertheless, I was ready to hit the trails that I had heard so much about.

One night after work Nick asked if I would like to go riding. "Sure I would, but I don't think I'm ready for the major trails that you have been telling me about," I replied. The reason I was a little skeptical was that my girlfriend, Wendy, had been with her boyfriend riding and told me the trails they take are really hard. However, I was ready for the challenge. We packed our bikes into our cars and, we were of

We arrived at Cherokee Park, reassembled our bikes, and took off along the Beargrass Creek near Big Rock. The first leg of the trail wasn't bad, except for my continuous battle with the straps on the pedals. Nick told me they were a safety strap and I would just have to get used to them.

We ventured on into the woods, crossed over the road a couple of times, and came up to a small, yet steep, hill with tons of tree roots obstructing the path. I turned around to get a running (or should I say...riding) start, switched to a lower gear and started up. I ran over one of the larger tree stumps and it knocked me off my bike. After that I kind of lost my momentum and had to push my bike up the remaining five or so feet.

Despite that short, abrupt departure from my bike, I was having a great time. I never knew these trails existed. We continued our ride, switching back and forth through the woods...through mud puddles...and over debris. We came up to what I thought was a for-sure obstacle -- a tree had fallen across the path. Someone had stacked smaller logs up against the tree...I guess making it like a little bridge. Nick turned back, got a head start and ran up on the tree and got stuck. After seeing this, I picked up my bike and carried it over.

The next area we came to was a taller, steeper hill with more and larger tree roots. I made it up this one! Then we rode a while through a nice flat brush area that turned into a steep, but-kicking hill that we had to climb. Remember, this was my first time for mountain biking, and I wasn't graced with agility and the strength that my boyfriend had. I was going to make it all the way up this hill without stopping if it killed me...and it almost did! I was s-o-o-o out of breath that I started hyperventilating when we got to the top, but I made it. We then took a short break in a clearing and Nick informed me that it was all down hill from there.

Downhill, yea, but the path was really rough and full of tight switch-backs and big ruts. It was also close to a fence that I did run into once. We went over a small brook and going up the other side my bike started to flip. I almost went over the handle bars, but they stopped me, right in the gut. Then we rode through -- well, he went around and I went through a smelly mud hole. I almost lost it here also, and my feet and legs were covered with mud. It might sound as if I got beaten to death -- well, I did, but had a great time doing it.

We rode on a little farther on the road, as it was starting to get dark and we couldn't see well enough to continue through the woods. We then rode our bikes to the top of a hill in the park where people usually sled down in the wintertime. Nick suggested that we ride our bikes down the hill. Nick rode down first and I followedit was a rush!! It was also the last thing we did before heading back to our cars.

We rode around, went the wrong way, and got lost. This wasn't good, as it was so dark we couldn't see, especially when car lights blinded us. Somehow we managed to get back to our cars, loaded up and headed home. This was a great adventure, and I look forward to doing it again soon.