You're fearless! You'll do well! My friend Alain tells me. He's talking about mountain biking. Buying a mountain bike, and I'm talking not an entry-level mountain bike, having been on trails a total of zero (!!!) times is borderline bananas!! And yet, here I am, all set to pick up my brand new first full suspension MTB! My soul sings YAY and my feet do a happy dance. All due to the sheer excitement of buying a bike!! My brain is saying "What are you thinking??" Maybe I'm not thinking, maybe I'm diving in. Sometimes the longer you look down the cliff doing risk analysis the less likely you are to jump. I love being on a bike, I love being outdoors, so really, how can that add up to a bad experience right?? Right??
And now we wait for spring. We're in Canada....so we pray to the Gods of Spring in hopes that we can muddy up those new bikes come May. I additionally pray that I will love it as much as I love my road bike! Hassan is convinced that I will not look back....well maybe once or twice to make sure he's keeping up with me! ;)
Although it may seem like I'm fearless, I actually have a pretty strong case of fear of the unknown. I don't know, maybe I hide it well. But for the purposes of full disclosure I must confess that if it weren't for my incredible, strong, supportive, encouraging friends and hubby I wouldn't try half the things I have gotten myself into (or about to get myself into).
Nadia (hey sister from another mister!) on multiple occasions believed that I can accomplish something I wouldn't even consider trying. Become a spin instructor? Sure! Run a 10k with no training? Noooo problem! So over the years I have learnt to say "ok, what the hell", shut my eyes (but not my mouth so much) and jump off the cliff.
So here are our new beauties. Cannondale with a slick Lefty fork for yours truly. An unbelievably gorgeous Norco for Hassan. Hey! How come he gets the dropper post!?? Alain even used his incredible powers of persuasion and convinced Hassan (ok and me) to go tubeless!
Here's my realisation though....where the hell are all the girls?? This is Department of Electrical Engineering all over again! So far, the only interactions I have had with women and mountain biking is "Oh yeah? You mountain bike? (uhm....no...but....) my husband/boyfriend/brother does that!!" "Oh cool!! How about you!??" I ask with hope?? So far....nothing. I gotta get some girls stoked for MTB!
For now though, instead of tearing up (or down?) the trails we will have to settle for getting a perfect photo of our new bikes. Hassan...you're up! Until then...