Father's Day Present - Downhill Mountain Biking
Jorge wanted to go downhill mountain biking, for his father's day present.
Things I have learned today:
Obviously, I didn't get any pictures of us biking because one cannot navigate a mountain bike down a mountain ski trail and take pictures. I have lots of cool ski lift pictures. Unfortunately, I am really afraid of heights, so this part was the worst for me.
Yes, we all dumped, even taking the wimpy 'couch potato' trails. A log got me, and I'm bruised from my knee to thigh with interesting spots on other parts, and got a skinned elbow. Jorge got his knee twisted in a couple parts of bike, and Sam just fell a couple times.
Sam felt pretty much the same way that I do, about heights and ski lifts. It didn't help that in order to bring the bike up the mountain, you couldn't put the safety bar over you. Note no safety belts. We just held on. And we held ON. Especially when the wind started blowing...
Funny, how the lighting turned out this way. This is pretty much how I was feeling about the Ski Lift Of Doom...
This was our height. I've been on higher ski lifts. And hated them more. Actually, by the third or fourth time I went down, I was relaxed enough to enjoy it. Exhaustion, I guess, will do that for you.
This is how Sam went down a lot of the roads. She's great on level roads, but these were twisty and had a lot of loose gravel on them. It was easy to slip. Sam also had dressed in her road racing gear, and was freezing to death.
And this was the Father being a Hero for the Father's day present. Jorge rode ahead, got to the car, got Sam's pants and rode the ski lift back up. As he went over where we were sitting and waiting, he dropped the pants down for Sam.
I got separated from Jorge and Sam, and finally went up the ski lift to see if they were at the top. They had been, and were coming back down. Next photo is closer up.
Hi!
Things I have learned today:
- Downhill mountain bikers are insane.
- Downhill mountain bikers' judgement should not be trusted. See #1. If a downhill mountain biker says that a trail is 'easy', and 'you'll like it', understand that they wear body armor and full head helmets with face guards while they careen down said 'easy', 'likable' trail.
- The word 'technical', in a downhill mountain biker's vocabulary loosely translates to 'you'll need to be replacing bike parts, if not body parts, and good luck'.
- Downhill mountain bikers are very good about helping you get back up again after you've fallen. Nice, crazy people.
- 15 year old rigid frame mountain bikes, with cantilever (not disc) brakes are really not the sort of equipment that anyone should ride down a mountain, on a downhill mountain biker trail. It's great on a nice paved road. Jorge and Sam have much newer bikes with disc brakes and front shocks.
Obviously, I didn't get any pictures of us biking because one cannot navigate a mountain bike down a mountain ski trail and take pictures. I have lots of cool ski lift pictures. Unfortunately, I am really afraid of heights, so this part was the worst for me.
Yes, we all dumped, even taking the wimpy 'couch potato' trails. A log got me, and I'm bruised from my knee to thigh with interesting spots on other parts, and got a skinned elbow. Jorge got his knee twisted in a couple parts of bike, and Sam just fell a couple times.
Sam felt pretty much the same way that I do, about heights and ski lifts. It didn't help that in order to bring the bike up the mountain, you couldn't put the safety bar over you. Note no safety belts. We just held on. And we held ON. Especially when the wind started blowing...
Funny, how the lighting turned out this way. This is pretty much how I was feeling about the Ski Lift Of Doom...
This was our height. I've been on higher ski lifts. And hated them more. Actually, by the third or fourth time I went down, I was relaxed enough to enjoy it. Exhaustion, I guess, will do that for you.
This is how Sam went down a lot of the roads. She's great on level roads, but these were twisty and had a lot of loose gravel on them. It was easy to slip. Sam also had dressed in her road racing gear, and was freezing to death.
And this was the Father being a Hero for the Father's day present. Jorge rode ahead, got to the car, got Sam's pants and rode the ski lift back up. As he went over where we were sitting and waiting, he dropped the pants down for Sam.
I got separated from Jorge and Sam, and finally went up the ski lift to see if they were at the top. They had been, and were coming back down. Next photo is closer up.
Hi!