Meet Taña

I've been thinking, wishing, and hoping for a mountain bike for quite a long time now. But I just hadn't had that little burst of motivation I needed to take the plunge and invest in a bike. In fact, I had decided that I would make my 2012 New Year's Resolution be to take up mountain biking. I figured that would give me lots of time. Well last weekend, Joel and Chad managed to light a spark under me.

They went out for a ride on Sunday morning. When they got back, they both started laying it on pretty thick, telling me they didn't think I could 'handle' mountain biking. They thought it would be too tough for me. They thought I wouldn't really enjoy it because it's really hard. At this point, I had already logged 15 miles in two runs that week, and was getting ready to head out the door for 5 more. Needless to say, I was getting pretty damned irritated with them. How dare they? I'm in the best shape of my life, and they're sitting here telling me it's too hard??? Well I start fuming... Giving them a piece of my mind.... Telling them I'm tougher than they think. And they start laughing. Chad tells Joel, "See, I told you... the quickest way to get Chandy into mountain biking is to tell her she can't do it." They were just trying to get a rise out of me, and I fell for it. They wanted me to hurry up and buy a bike so I could start joining them on rides. I went to the bike shop the next day.

That is where I met Montaña. I call her Taña for short. She is a Specialized Myka Sport 29er, and I really, really like her.

Since Joel and I had a date night last night, while the kids stayed with my parents, that meant we also had a date morning. Usually on date mornings, we would do a hike or a trail run together. But now we can ride together!

Joel took me out for a very thorough lesson. He's been mountain biking for close to 20 years, so he really had to dumb it down for me, but I was glad to be out there with someone who knew what he was doing. (Especially when my chain fell off...I would have been up a creek if I was by myself!) He tried to teach me everything he knew about shifting, climbing, descending, braking, and reading the terrain. 

It was a little frustrating learning the technique and mechanics of riding. Pedaling down the street is one thing... it's an entirely different beast to come down a steep wash crossing with a sandy bottom, and then make a sharp 90 degree turn to climb back out over a bunch of loose rocks. There is definitely some technically difficult areas back in the Sonoran Mountain Preserve, but it's really fun too. We did about 13-14 miles, and by the end, even though I was pretty gassed, I was feeling much more confident and proficient. And practice makes perfect, so if I keep at it, I'll be flying along the trails like Joel does in no time!

Happy Trails!