~ mountain biking buddies! ~

Took Elizabeth on a mountain bike ride yesterday. As you can see, she had a wonderful time! After putting in a lot of thought about which trail to take her on, I decided to start on the dirt path in the Reserve Area, up the intermediate-level switchback, out and back on Shane's-the-backwards-way, and down Central Ridge. Last year, we did a couple rides on Crestline. However, in my experience, getting up and over the beginner mountain biking hump requires that one develop a true sense of joy from the experience. Crestline is okay, but it's not the most scenic trail, and is so full of runners, hikers, and dogs that one must always hold one's bonzai back a little. I have a big fondness for the Shane's / Central Ridge trails because it was on them that I truly began to LOVE mountain biking. Not only is it more scenic, but there's a lot less foot-traffic and dogs to worry about, and it's got some lovely singletrack that winds around the hills. Thus, I decided to share some of my favorite trails with Elizabeth and I think that was a good move. I made her try to ride the intermediate-level switchback uphill grunt and she successfully rode almost all of it, which I thought was very impressive. I was also impressed at how fast she was riding on the downhill - - for whatever reason, I hadn't thought of Elizabeth as a thrill-seeker, but we had a good time on the cowabunga! down Central Ridge.

Posted by jennifer at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)