There used to be Skirt Rides (skirts ride) that was mostly riding road with other women on Monday nights.
Now there is Monday Ladies Only MTB ride put on by a friend of mine, Steph and assisted by another friend Deb. We all converge at the parking lot by frisbee field at Cherokee Park. I was thrilled by the 14 women who showed up. Katherine, a remarkable 14 year old cyclist was enlisted to help along with me. There was a wide variety of skill level. I decided to hang in the back; for a couple of reasons. 1) I wanted to help anyone that might be tentative on trails and 2) I was riding flat pedals for the first time.
This was the best experience I've had in a long time. It felt good to help others build confidence to do something they'd never done before. There were several women who had been on their bikes once, twice or three times before. To watch them want to stop 100 feet onto the first trail to seeing them clear roots and rocks, climb some good ascents and descend some gnarly root drop-offs was inspiring! I just kept encouraging and coaching as best I could.
I can't wait until next week! I hoping we have even more women come out and participate.
Several times a group of guys would come upon us and we would let them through. Once a gentleman said, "wow, this is nice to see a lot of pretty girls riding!" Others asked if they could join us and of course were told no. It's nothing personal. It's just that trail riding is intimidating enough without the added pressure of trying to not look stupid or worse in front of guys.
I honestly can't wait until next Monday! I hope Mother Nature cooperates.
Peace and Love to all of you!
2 comments:
YAY!!! So glad you had a great time!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!!! for flat pedals. We started mountain biking clipped in and due to our fear of falling on the rocks we were not making much progress. After switching to platforms, life is much better in the rocks because we can step off easily. Glad you had a good time on the trails, sounds like fun. I want to go!
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