What Just Happened?! - Part 2

Riding with the boys. Pretty much all the riding I did (and still do for that matter) was with guys. Russell and his friends. There were definitely good things and bad things about this. The good thing was that they always made me want to go faster to keep up and I'm sure this is why I ride fast today, Thanks Boys! The bad part was that they were always faster!! and this could get pretty frustrating, probably for them as much as me. When I first started, there was definitely a lot of feeling bad about having to make the guys wait for me, and feeling sad when they took off on more fun rides without me because they were "boys rides" and I wasn't invited. For the most part though, I was lucky, the guys we rode with were supportive of me being out there giving it a shot and I'm sure they all helped me up from a fall or two. I remember being really conflicted because I wanted the guys to have fun and not have to wait for me all the time, but I also wanted to get on my bike and practice, and the only way I could do that really was to ride with them since I didn't know any girls that rode. When my friend Karen got her bike I was really excited, Finally I would have a girl to ride with!! As much as riding with guys was probably good for me, boy did it feel good to have someone else who shared my fears and frustrations and emotions on the trail. If every woman learning to ride had both men and women to ride with, I think you'd see a lot more women on bikes. We did a lot of riding as 2 couples which was good for Russell too because he could then go out with the boys another day and I wouldn't feel so bad because I'd already gotten a ride in with Colin and Karen.

Riding with "the boys" and Karen on my Trek, I had a lot of firsts:

• First time climbing Jedi trail in Loma Linda - the day I started to hate climbing slightly less. I'm not sure, but I think at least a few other people besides Russell heard me cursing and saw me throwing my bike into the bushes as I was trying to do this.
  
• My first SART experiences - the very first was with Russell only, and I believe I had a meltdown, but then had a lot more fun rides shortly after, discovered what the world of sweet singletrack was.
• First HellRide - where Monty was the chivalrous dude and rode behind me making me nervous, and my fork blew, and Al told me I had a crappy bike. I thought I did pretty good to ride that trail with no suspension.
  

• First trip to Sedona - fantastic and frustrating at the same time. Just when I thought I was getting the hang of this biking thing... Sedona, with it's technical steep climbs and rocks everywhere. I loved it, but I remember finding it extremely challenging sometimes and doing a lot of hiking my bike uphill and endoing.

Anyway, today riding with the boys is a completely different experience, I've earned their respect I think and I can hold my own with pretty much anyone. Of course, we've started riding with faster people now too, but I'm comfortable enough with myself and my abilities to see that as an opportunity to get faster myself instead of reason not to ride or to be down on myself. I still get frustrated occasionally because it doesn't seem to matter how hard I train, some guys (cough Russell, cough Colin) can just get on their bikes after not riding for weeks and still be faster than me. Damn your giant man legs!! BUT I think the guys are really impressed with how far I've come on my bike and I have a blast riding with them now.

And the morals of the story....
WOMEN, get out there and ride. With the boys. Don't let them make you feel like you're not welcome because you're too slow or not as daring as them. They were all beginners at one point, even though it might not seem like it. It may be intimidating but I think for the most part, guys would love to see more girls on the trails, and if everyone can be patient enough, you'll get to the point where you're just riding with friends and they don't care if you're a girl or even better are impressed because you are a girl.
MEN, be like the guys in this story!! Don't get mad if your girlfriend can't go as fast as you right away, don't leave her behind all the time when you do the fun trails, and be patient!! You might have to wait at first, but who knows, somewhere down the line, she could be waiting for you, and you could be sharing your passion with her.

As a final note... Russell deserves a ton of credit here. I think he did a way better job than many guys do when it comes to riding with their girlfriends during the learning phase. A LOT of patient rides with me, and a lot of confidence in my abilities and telling me Yes, you can ride that. A big thanks to Mike Owens and Colin who have also been patient with me and helped me up from off the sides of cliffs, and have helped push me to morph from the girl they had to wait for all the time, to the rider I am now.