Last weekend I went mountain biking solo (which I often do) and it continues to be one of my absolute favorite ways to spend free time. When I’m riding I can’t scroll on my phone and I don’t listen to music. Instead, I let my thoughts drift in an abstract, right-brain way and sometimes a song gets stuck in my head and I go with that.
I’ve been riding and racing bikes for more than 20 years. I entered my first cross-country mountain bike race in 2001 and it was a total disaster. I came in dead last and dead tired. Six months later I entered my second race as a beginner and won it easily. Eventually I moved up to the sport/intermediate category and stayed there. Sometimes I did well, but mostly I was somewhere in the middle.
Racing trends moved away from cross-country and into longer endurance races, downhill and enduro style racing which didn’t interest me. Instead, I got sucked into the niche world of cyclocross racing, which is a short course sprint style of racing that can best be described as steeplechase on a bike. I raced six full seasons, mostly with somewhere-in-the-middle stats. I won a few, I lost a lot. Pretty okay at it, but not amazing.
Still, racing my bike helped me through a lot of the frustration and anger I had while going through a divorce and some tough family stuff. Racing gave me something to focus on and a way to channel my negative energy into something positive. The pandemic canceled racing but by then I was already burnt out and overall in a better place, so it was something of a relief.
In 2020 I was able to settle back into the thing I loved the most- mountain biking. I did short solo lunch rides and long weekend rides. Richmond is unusual because there are lots of mountain bike trails right in the city and a really nice bike park a twenty minute drive away. I had all the options! I rode a lot that year but at my own pace and to please only myself.
When we moved to Oregon, it didn’t take me long to realize there were no truly local mountain bike trails. The closest singletrack was a 40 minute drive away and if I wanted more extensive XC trails, it was closer to an hour’s drive each way. I was horrified. But, in most places this is the way it is - you drive to the trails, sometimes long distances. I sucked it up and started to explore the trails available to me.
The driving was worth it. The trails out here are next level. They are epic and beautiful, often wending through old growth forest full of ferns, waterfalls and moss. It’s fucking magical. There are other slighty less magical trails that are built on clear-cut land but those offer views. Such views! Mountains and rivers and sky and wildflowers. I’m not complaining about any of that, just about the driving.
Because of the distance, I mostly only get to ride on weekends, and when the weather is nice, it’s my top priority. Last weekend I drove an hour-ish south to one of my favorite trail systems. It offers a beautiful four-mile-long trail that’s mostly a gentle downhill. To get the the trailhead, I have a choice of some steep, rugged singletrack or a rough gravel fireroad, (which is still steep but much less effort.) Last weekend I chose the fireroad and pedaled the four miles up slowly, happy to be outside, to feel the sun on my skin and to take in the views.
When I reached the trailhead at the top, I stopped, had a quick snack and just enjoyed the anticipation of the fun part to come. I dropped in and y’all, I was feeling GOOD. Just that perfect sensation of doing something well, of being fit and of all cylinders firing correctly. It suddenly occurred to me, oh I am GOOD at this. I’m not amazing or great or an expert, but I am solidly competently GOOD at it.
I say this as someone who had never taken easily to sports. I can’t really swim, I find running to be painful drudgery and I can’t handle any kind of projectile. No balls, no bats, no rackets. Just bikes! And I am pretty good at bikes. I mean, I should be after 20+ years at it, but mostly it’s just doing it over and over and over again until it feels like the bike is part of me. I’ve put in the time and it’s paid off. I doubt I’ll ever race again but it’s nice to be able to go out and do a fun 8-10 mile1 mountain bike ride and feel great afterwards.
My advice to people who want to get fit but don’t like gyms is this: find a sport that appeals to you and put the time in. There are those annoying people who are just naturally great at whatever they try but most of us have to work hard to be good at something. This seems logical but a lot of people really hate not being good at something right away. (Why? Why?? It’s fine to be a beginner! It’s fine to work towards improvement - that’s the part that makes you feel good and keeps you going.)
My first-ever mountain bike ride was scary and hard and fun. My 20th mountain bike ride was also scary and hard and fun. My first race was deeply pathetic. I’m glad I didn’t quit, though, because my insistence that this was going to be my thing has given me the best gift - the ability to float through the woods, over roots and rocks, to carve down a trail light as a feather, to nail an uphill switchback climb without hesitation, to feel free in the woods on my bike on a beautiful summer day. It’s so worth it and even though my mother loves to say, “You can’t ride that bike forever!” I fully intend on riding this bike forever.
Mountain bike miles are not road miles and I generally don’t like to quantify mountain bike rides by distance because it’s so much harder/slower than riding on the road.
Beautiful