Mountain Biking

Ouch! Erin and I tried to use some new mountain bikes that we got. We went up to Lambert Park. That was a big mistake.


For any of you that haven't mountain biked, it's more intense than you might think. The entrance to this park was a huge downhill. The path is maybe two to three feet wide at most spots. It's easy to run off of the path.

We checked out a "How To Mountain Bike" book from the library. The book basically said, "Newbies use their brakes. REAL mountain bikers use their weight to slow down." I thought, "OK. Don't use brakes. Use weight." Bad idea.

Erin fell down maybe ten seconds in and scratched herself up pretty bad. We went a bit further for a minute or so and Erin fell down again. We got back up to the top and put bandaids on Erin's scratches. She started just riding around the parking lot while I took down another trail that I thought would be easy.

I got going pretty fast and then I think I hit a rock and plummeted to the ground. I got a few scratches, but the worst part was on my chest. I got maybe a three inch wide and one inch tall spot on my chest where the flesh was ripped off and was bleeding. As well, my bike was not in great shape. The brakes got out of whack.

I was kind of frazzled by this and was determined not to let the mountain conquer me. However, Erin convinced me to call it a day and we went home at that point defeated by the mountain. We decided that we needed to ease into these trails a bit more. :)