Nine years ago, as I rode back along the 1A from Cochrane to Calgary on an 8-year old second-hand GT Aggressor, I debated with Annabelle if I should by a new mountain bike or go with a hyrbrid. Someone along the way...or maybe it was a few weeks later...I decided to buy a road bike instead. Since I bought Cabra, skinny tires were my sole (soul) ride. But last weekend I got lured back on to some fatties. Mick lent me his Specialized Epic full-suspension and I email transferred $300 to Chad. After a 9 year hiatus, I had a one-night stand with mountain biking.
24 Hours of Adrenalin was a hella good time. Not surprisingly, my technical skills on single-track are useless. But fitness from the road translates over to the dirt. The 17.5km course at Canmore Nordic Centre was a tough one - lots of climbing and some technical descents. I held my own on the way up, but got left in the dust (literally) on my way back down. Riding on a 5-man team, I got in 3 laps including one night lap. Riding 17.5km in 1h 30 minutes is not what I'm used to, but as I told Chad after finishing my night lap:
1. I suck at this sport
2. This sport is so much fun.
Fortunately no one on our team ended up with a serious injury nor a trip to the hospital (I can't say the same for our campmates and biggest "rivals"). Our bikes didn't fare quite so well.
So will it be another 9 years before I ride bike built for the mountains? Highly unlikely.
24 Hours of Adrenalin was a hella good time. Not surprisingly, my technical skills on single-track are useless. But fitness from the road translates over to the dirt. The 17.5km course at Canmore Nordic Centre was a tough one - lots of climbing and some technical descents. I held my own on the way up, but got left in the dust (literally) on my way back down. Riding on a 5-man team, I got in 3 laps including one night lap. Riding 17.5km in 1h 30 minutes is not what I'm used to, but as I told Chad after finishing my night lap:
1. I suck at this sport
2. This sport is so much fun.
Fortunately no one on our team ended up with a serious injury nor a trip to the hospital (I can't say the same for our campmates and biggest "rivals"). Our bikes didn't fare quite so well.
So will it be another 9 years before I ride bike built for the mountains? Highly unlikely.
No comments:
Post a Comment