My wife has had a three year long battle with bike confidence after a pretty bad spill over-the-bars on her road bike. After getting her a Specialized Vita this year, she's been doing intervals up and down Bernal Hill to IBM, and slowly, but surely, she's getting used to going downhill again. She climbs great.
Sucks, because before that she wasn't even afraid of hitting a pump track.
Well, I finally got her to go on a MTB ride. She's never climbed more than 1000' in a ride, so we went out to Nisene and climbed to Sand Point - on a 1988 KHS Montana Pro! She was telling me the downhills were pretty rough and the brakes sucked, but I have a donor bike to build her a WSD mountain bike, and I've located a frame. It'll have disc brakes, 2.35 tires and 100mm of travel up front, so that should give her more confidence and ease the bumps. It'll pretty much be fireroads until we can build her confidence to venture off onto light single and double track. But hey, I got her off-road and that's been a very long battle! And... I guess... 2,500 ft. of off-road climbing is a great way to start .
I yanked the awful cage style pedals on the KHS and put her magnesium pedals she uses on her Vita on the KHS.
Sunday, I took the 456 out with my brother... that's a different story than Saturday.
All weekend, it was cold, but the dirt was great. I hooked up really well, got a couple PR's on Sunday and even landed myself in a top 10 on Strava!
I am jealous. I took my wife out a couple times, but she took a trip OTB both times and now I can't get her to ride with me at all. Well, she will do West Cliff with me, at least.
I think I have a hard time realizing the difficulty level of the trails I ride and get new riders in over their heads. I guess watching Red Bull Rampage and Danny MacAskill videos makes me feel like what I ride is really tame. My wife strongly disagrees. I may have soured a 15YO kid a couple weeks ago when our easy ride turned into exploring a new trail. I fail as a trail guide.
Maybe my wife would do the Aptos Creek fire road up to the bottom of the big incline. She did do Waddell with me on our anniversary to see the waterfalls.
Maybe my wife would do the Aptos Creek fire road up to the bottom of the big incline. She did do Waddell with me on our anniversary to see the waterfalls.
Without trying to sound sexist, but I've noticed with MANY women (not all, but many), have a hard time breaking away from the emotional scarring of a bad fall. I think it may be the feminine way of accessing risk, whereas guys, growing up trying to bunnyhop your buddy laying on the ground when you were 12, grew up falling and getting up. Getting hurt, and then going for it again. Especially from my generation, where showing pain and crying about it was a sign of weakness. When we crashed, growing up, it was about getting back on the bike and conquering it. I think for many women, a crash tells them to "never try that again". Again, ladies, not all, but many. My wife is a great example of this.
I am especially hyper aware of this because of my job in sales, and marketing to women is a much different thing than marketing to men. I think this applies to mtb'ing.
So, you have to approach it gently. I had to re-start off on dirt paths in the park, then work up to flat, smooth dirt trails, and finally what we did on Saturday - OVER THE COURSE OF THREE YEARS! She still has major phobia of going downhill, but I think a modern MTB will help that, as her modern flat bar road bike has done for her in her overall bike confidence.
I purposefully put aggressive knobby tires on the KHS for her, even though I know they would be rolling resistant on the fire road. Not because they were the most practical for the fire road, but because I knew, on a mental level, the idea of having knobby tires on dirt would give her confidence, mentally. Although, fast rolling low-tread tires would've been a better choice, from a mechanical stand point, she would've felt like they weren't going to give her the traction she "needs".
Overall, I think women should find other women to ride with. Not because they can't hang with men, but I think the rider support is much different on the feminine side of things.
Yeah, you just can't go out and take them to Demo...
From the top of Mount Baldy at Canada Del Oro. Had so much fun on the rigid earlier in the week that I decided to do it again. That, and my full suspension was still in the shop.
Nice Dion. That's awesome. I have just started easing my wife into riding the past few weeks. We got her a Vita as well, that I put nobby 38cc cross tiers on and we did 15 miles together in Golden Gate Park yesterday, jumping on and off tame dirt paths and the roads. She crushed it. She is super hesitant on downhills but getting more comfortable every time out. She climbs great. Really fun to be out with her showing her my favorite spots around the city.
On Saturday I got a great long road ride in through West Marin. Longest ride I've been on since a slew of injuries this summer. Felt great! Weather was insane!
Caught some kind of bug on Friday... down all weekend with a fever. My last ride was last Thursday morning, that ended with a dumb crash that led to a double flat and a cold 4 mile hike back to my truck. So post those pics/stories... I'm stoked to hear stories about everyone else's rides!
Dion - Good to hear your wife is getting more comfortable on the mtb. That ride up to Sand Point is a pretty good climb!
No work for me today, so I did a sweet 20 mile loop out in Wilder/UCSC. Beautiful day out there, and the trails are in perfect shape. No dust, no mud, just miles of goodness.
Today, went on a top 10 ride of the year for me. Logged 4900 footies in Stevens Creek Canyon and a little Gap. Trails were so excellent today and the weather was mild/slightly cold with lots of sun. The combo loop I did combined so many different types of terrain and killer views...I am basking in the after ride stoke...and the hot tub didn't hurt.
Dion, my BFF Nikki is getting into mountain biking. She rides dirt bikes and raced AFM last year, but is very, very cautious on descents, and rides a gentle pace up hills too. If Kelly is looking for some moto friendly girls to connect with, let me know, we should put them in touch!
Also, gentlemen:
ENCOURAGE YOUR NEWBIE LADIES TO WEAR GEAR. IT IS SO EMPOWERING FOR US!
Elbow pads, knee pads, full face helmets. In March of THIS YEAR, I was afraid to ride my bike over a 2x4. I bought gear. I was less afraid. I tipped over in gear and popped up with nary a scratch. I was even less afraid. And then I raced Downieville, and even won some beginner XC and DH races.
On a Downieville training run, a pretty lady with lots of super rad bling bling asked her husband why he hadn't kitted her out in all the gear I had on. For the first time, a girl was jealous of my gear, instead of me feeling like a BIG NERD!
Most men wouldn't dare wear gear on a XC ride, but guess what, your women might love you for the suggestion or even gift of some rad G-Form pads. Anyhoo. Just a suggestion. A strong suggestion.
Francois, thanks for showing me some of the goods at Waterdog. Looked like that Norco 650b was working well! Looking forward to some mtbr group rides in my future.
Without trying to sound sexist, but I've noticed with MANY women (not all, but many), have a hard time breaking away from the emotional scarring of a bad fall. I think it may be the feminine way of accessing risk, whereas guys, growing up trying to bunnyhop your buddy laying on the ground when you were 12, grew up falling and getting up. Getting hurt, and then going for it again. Especially from my generation, where showing pain and crying about it was a sign of weakness. When we crashed, growing up, it was about getting back on the bike and conquering it. I think for many women, a crash tells them to "never try that again". Again, ladies, not all, but many. My wife is a great example of this.
I am especially hyper aware of this because of my job in sales, and marketing to women is a much different thing than marketing to men. I think this applies to mtb'ing.
So, you have to approach it gently. I had to re-start off on dirt paths in the park, then work up to flat, smooth dirt trails, and finally what we did on Saturday - OVER THE COURSE OF THREE YEARS! She still has major phobia of going downhill, but I think a modern MTB will help that, as her modern flat bar road bike has done for her in her overall bike confidence.
I purposefully put aggressive knobby tires on the KHS for her, even though I know they would be rolling resistant on the fire road. Not because they were the most practical for the fire road, but because I knew, on a mental level, the idea of having knobby tires on dirt would give her confidence, mentally. Although, fast rolling low-tread tires would've been a better choice, from a mechanical stand point, she would've felt like they weren't going to give her the traction she "needs".
Overall, I think women should find other women to ride with. Not because they can't hang with men, but I think the rider support is much different on the feminine side of things.
Yeah, you just can't go out and take them to Demo...
In my opinion, going over the bars or having the front wheel wash-out is usually caused by having too much weight over the front wheel. I see people all the time riding down hill standing-up with their elbows and knees locked straight, and when they start to turn whoosh! Or, when descending they are usually going to slow with too much weight over the front-end and the next rock the front wheel just stops, but they don't. I don't know if you guys read Lee McCormack's book "Mastering Mountain Bike Sills." That book changed the way I ride.
Got a good 20mi in at Annadel today - Burmas, Ridge, Marsh, etc. Skipped Lawndale and Schultz this time, but its good it times to change it up now and then.
ATBScott and Awai were among our squad of five. Oh, and yes - I'm still a fan of Lepe's Chicken torta after an Annadel ride.
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Originally Posted by Dion
I am jealous. I took my wife out a couple times, but she took a trip OTB both times and now I can't get her to ride with me at all. Well, she will do West Cliff with me, at least.
