Mountain Biking Mania

Lake Lopez

And the mountain biking mania continues....this time for almost 3 1/2 hours at Lake Lopez. I was sure I was going to have a heat stroke. I went with Martin and a couple of people from the Singletrax mountain biking group I joined. I just spent a bunch of our tax refund $$ on mountain biking gear: fatter tires, crash pads, gloves, etc. It was nice to ride a trail I was so familiar with so I could see if all the gear really did make a difference. The tires were WAY worth the $$, I could see a definate improvement in my downhill skills although there is still a lot more mental work to do.

I used my crash gear (elbow pads and knee/shin pads) on the Montana de Oro ride last week and that is going to take some getting use to. The leg gaurds make me look like I walked off the set of Star Wars, they are very similar to the storm trooper's gear. The tough part is that the people who normally wear crash gear are "bombers" (bikers who really fly downhill) so it's really embarrassing to strap this stuff on and have people think I'm hardcore only to go down the hill at a snail's pace with my brakes squealing the whole way down. Plus, I start thinking..."Crap, now that I have all this crash gear on I'm definately going to fall now. I'm too well prepared not to!"