Today I was riding my mountain bike up the slopes of Blue Mountain, huffing and puffing my way while trying to keep JackJack from getting into small scuffles with other dogs, as he is prone to do frequently, and this younger woman comes riding by me on the trail......on a skinny tire road bike. This wasn't just a road bike, it was a race bike, the kind that crazy people ride in triathlons. What's really weird about this is that I was riding up the mountain.....on a bumpy, non-paved hiking trail. Why in the world would you take a very expensive road bike up an off road trail? I was very perplexed at this behavior, not to mention the fact that she went by me like I was standing still. Of course road bikes weigh far less than my full suspension mountain bike and the skinny tires roll much easier than mountain bike tires so I didn't feel too bad for looking like a portly old geezer for once. The thing that amuses me is that she asked if the trail we were on at the time loops back around to the parking lot. I told her it does and that it gets far more rocky and steep towards the bottom, definitely not road bike terrain. Now, I've blown tires up this trail with my heavy duty mountain bike tires and she's riding on tires that are far more prone to flats, even on roads. How she planned on getting down with both tires intact was not exactly obvious, not to mention what kind of damage she was going to do to her ass riding on a very rigid bike. Unfortunately my path for the day veered off to head directly up the mountain so I didn't get to see how this debacle ended. Bummer and double bummer since she was rather comely.
You just never know what you are going to see on the trails around here and this isn't the first time I've found someone's antics to be amusing. About 6 weeks ago I was riding at the same location and just left the trailhead when this guy pointedly passes me on his cheap, hybrid crossover bike. This bike is better suited to off-road use but still isn't the type bike you want to ride on the trails that I ride. I rode another half mile and he was pulled over on the side of the trail and wanted to know where the trails went. I told him it really depended on which trail you take as to the distance and degree of difficulty. He was rather proud of himself for having passed me when earlier, not knowing that I was still in my warmup phase before things started to get steep. He told me he was just going to follow me and see where I went on my way up. It should be noted at this time that this guy had no helmet and obviously had no previous experience with mountain biking. Slightly annoyed with him, I decided that I was just going to ignore him for the rest of my ride. Fifteen minutes later when the slope decides to get serious, I glanced back to see where the dogs were and I saw him about 100 yards behind me.....walking his bike up trail with a determined look on his face. I figuered he was going to get the hint that he wasn't prepared for this trail and went on my way, turning onto another trail that gets rather strenuous and technical in spots. Ten minutes and two switchbacks later and I look down the mountain and see him again, still pushing his bike up the first switchback, though he was looking far more dejected at this point in time.. There is no way in hell I would ride down this trail without a helmet, let alone on the bike he was riding but he kept on following me. Eventually I got so far ahead of him that I couldn't see him anymore so once again, I didn't get to see the end of this debacle. It's just so funny to me because this guy was so pleased that he had passed a "Hardcore" mountain biker (which I really don't consider myself as) on his cheap ass bike with no helmet, only to end up biting off far more than he could chew, resorting to what I like to call "The Push of Shame" (that being where the trail gets so tough that you have to shamefully dismount your bike and push it up the hill). There weren't any cases of head trauma from a mountain biking accident in the ER that day that I know of so he must have made his way down in one piece somehow, though I'm sure he has a greater appreciation of what a near middle aged, portly guy with the right kind of equipment can do. Don't mess with NoJoN people!
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