So I finally got enough courage to try an actual mountain bike ride. So I logged into my trail website and looked around for a trail to try. One thing I really like about this site is it tells you what the temperature is at the trailhead. After seeing that most Boulder trails were about 36 degrees I decided to go to Deer Creek Canyon which was about 52 degrees. Of course when I got there, there was a bunch of people there because there was a mountain bike demo going on. Either way I got all my stuff on and jumped on my bike and road up the mountain.
As the elevation chart above shows its a little uphill…yea a little! I fell about 4 times because I couldn’t pull my feet out from my clips in time. TrailCentral.com describes this trail as: Multi-user trail, lush sections, rocky in spots, steep climb west of Meadowlark junction. Yea Meadowlark Junction is at the trailhead so it’s straight up from there. Also the trail had a whole bunch of big loose rocks and stuff to navigate. I made it about 2/3 of the way up the hill and turned around as I wasn’t sure I could ride down. But I did manage to make it back down no problem. I then took another trail that went down the hill you park on, across Deer Creek Canyon Road and then up the other side. From there it just does a big loop on the top. This was a nice easy trail with a decent up and a big drop-off on one side.
Needless to say after only 6.5 miles I was dead tired and really sore today. I did however have a blast and learned that I need to work on going up steep rocky hills. I will just have to keep practicing but the first ride was successful and a blast! It is pretty rewarding to ride up a hill and then ride down it. It takes 2 different skill sets to ride up and ride down. I have the going downhill part alright but going uphill is a little different. You have to keep your legs moving at all times and you have to stay low on your bike. I sat there for a while on the trail watching other people do it so I could get an idea of what they were doing.
Trails Ridden: Rattle Snake Trail, Elk Grazing Trail, and the killer Plymouth Creek Trail
