Mountain Biking

The past few weeks our family has been a bit consumed with Mountain biking.

I used to race mountain bikes pretty religiously. I spent a few years touring on the NORBA Pro National Series as a Downhiller and Dual Slalom specialist. It was a great way to spend a few years in and after college before succumbing to The Real World.  I lived out of the back of my car for a few summers and in my final year, secured a factory ride with a bike company team and could actually sleep in a condo at races.  That was my least successful year as a racer.  Scrapping it in the back of my truck in independence was more favorable to me.

 Here is some dual slalom footage of a race a few years ago - I was probably barefoot and pregnant with child number four around this time.

My 12 y.o. Daughter decided she wanted to mountain bike race this summer rather than a third year of swim team. She fits perfect on my cross country bike so I gave it to her. It's a bit old school, but custom built on a unique Diamondback Titanium frame and I still love it.

We both entered a race at the Grafton Nordic center last weekend. It was brutal and I was out of shape. I was beat by a bunch of 40 something women. But it felt good to be back in the saddle, after overcoming the feeling that I wanted to die during the climbs at race pace.

Daughter did outstanding and was competitive with an experienced 15 year old. She is eager to do it again.

While I was out there, I recalled exactly why I was a downhiller. The caliber of amateur cross country racing has elevated since my day and it takes serious fitness to be competitive, even in the older classes.

Despite suffering intensely during the race, I found myself daydreaming about my next climb the next morning.

Daughter on the podium in second place on the left. 

Here is little ol me at the finish.  I had a mechanical issue that took a significant amount of time to work through in the first lap and I was suffering from the distance, so I bailed after the second of three laps.  I rode 9 technical miles out of 13.5. 

 I took them to Mount Snow - a mountain biking mecca of the east - the day before the race, as Cassidy had never been in singletrack.  We spent the day as a family climbing the mountain and taking section by section in the technical downhills video taping and having a ton of fun.  I was elated to be doing this as a family - the two smallish kiddos went to grammas for the day.  Climbing Mount Snow on bikes may not have been an excellent choice the day before our first race.

This stairs with no helmet and flip flops stunt was their idea while I was talking to an old downhiller friend I bumped into at Snow.  I snapped a photo before pulling the plug...

Ciao!