# My first ride in ~10 years



## Greg (May 7, 2008)

Well, this evening I finally got off my lazy off-(ski)season ass and tried out the mountain bike my wife bought me three years ago on something other than a neighborhood cruise. Had lots of fun and think I may have just rediscovered something to keep me busy in the summer. I rode for about an hour at White Memorial in Litchfield. Nothing technical - all doubletrack terrain, but enough ups and downs and turns to keep it interesting. Took me about 30 minutes to get used to anticipating shifting again and not be such a pansy. I'm still as slow as a dead snail, but it was fun getting back out there. Hope I can hook up with some AZers once I get some wind and basic skills built back up.


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## severine (May 7, 2008)

Nice!  I was looking forward to getting back out on my MTB, too, after a 2 year lapse (and not much riding before that).  The hills in White Memorial are definitely a nice easy way to transition into the sport.


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## Paul (May 7, 2008)

Awesome to hear that, Greg.

Just picked-up my new ride today. Heading down to Hamonassett on Saturday to try it out. Definitely would like to hook-up for a ride sometime.


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## MR. evil (May 7, 2008)

Greg said:


> Well, this evening I finally got off my lazy off-(ski)season ass and tried out the mountain bike my wife bought me three years ago on something other than a neighborhood cruise. Had lots of fun and think I may have just rediscovered something to keep me busy in the summer. I rode for about an hour at White Memorial in Litchfield. Nothing technical - all doubletrack terrain, but enough ups and downs and turns to keep it interesting. Took me about 30 minutes to get used to anticipating shifting again and not be such a pansy. I'm still as slow as a dead snail, but it was fun getting back out there. Hope I can hook up with some AZers once I get some wind and basic skills built back up.



Glad you got back on the bike............when are we riding


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## MR. evil (May 7, 2008)

Paul said:


> Awesome to hear that, Greg.
> 
> Just picked-up my new ride today. Heading down to Hamonassett on Saturday to try it out. Definitely would like to hook-up for a ride sometime.




what did you get?


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (May 7, 2008)

Steezy...I'm starting to think about buying a mountain bike..there are apparently tons of nice trails within 30-45 minutes from where I live.  Why not???  I'm not messing with road biking..sharing the road with cars is too scary for me..


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## Paul (May 7, 2008)

MR. evil said:


> what did you get?



Nuthin' fancy. Trek 6 series. Good enough to handle as much as this old fart can take (yeah,  I don't downhill, or rock gardens or technical stuff, My insurance sucks) But not overkill when I'm tooling along with the wife and seven year-old. Actually, the seven year-old is better on the single track than I am.


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## MR. evil (May 7, 2008)

Greg said:


> I'm still as slow as a dead snail, but it was fun getting back out there. Hope I can hook up with some AZers once I get some wind and basic skills built back up.



Nothing will get you back to your old form faster than riding with people better than you are.........(just like skiing)


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (May 7, 2008)

Paul said:


> Nuthin' fancy. Trek 6 series. Good enough to handle as much as this old fart can take (yeah,  I don't downhill, or rock gardens or technical stuff, My insurance sucks) But not overkill when I'm tooling along with the wife and seven year-old. Actually, the seven year-old is better on the single track than I am.




How much does a Trek 6 run..I think I'm buying a bike tomorrow and not a piece of shit Mongoose..lol


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## Greg (May 7, 2008)

MR. evil said:


> Nothing will get you back to your old form faster than riding with people better than you are.........(just like skiing)



Not really sure even my "old form" was all that impressive :razz: but yeah, I can see how riding with faster/better riders will help you push yourself.


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## MR. evil (May 7, 2008)

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:


> How much does a Trek 6 run..I think I'm buying a bike tomorrow and not a piece of shit Mongoose..lol



You want a great bike at a budget cost, check out www.Ibexbikes.com. This is where I got my bike from. They sell direct and cut out the middle man (the bike shop) and on average you will save 30% to 60% of a comparable bike found in a bike shop. Bike shops mark up bikes up to 50% what they pay for them. I paid a little over $1000 for my bike, and I couldn't touch anything close to it quality wise in a bike shop for less than $1800. The exact frame on my bike is also sold by a boutique brand (Azonic) for almost as much as my complete bike did. The only difference is lable on the frame.


Also check out http://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=105 if you want to get some feed back from a bunch of happy Ibex owners. The owner of the company hangs out there as well.


edit: if you don't want to buy a bike online site unseen I would check out Jamis bikes. They will be more expensive than Ibex (by quite a bit), but Jamis is know for making great bikes at a fair price. Jamis bikes are ussually much cheaper than a similarly equiped bike by one of the bigger names.


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## MR. evil (May 7, 2008)

Greg said:


> Not really sure even my "old form" was all that impressive :razz: but yeah, I can see how riding with faster/better riders will help you push yourself.



You dont need to worry about me blowing you away on the trail. I tend to ride at a slower pace so i dont gas out. But I also like to ride more technical terrain. Even if I wanted to go real fast it would be hard. I removed the big ring up front and replaced it with a bash guard. I only have 18 speeds instead of 27.


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## cbcbd (May 8, 2008)

That's awesome Greg. I think MTB brings out similar thrills as skiing and you can definitively get very technical with it and engage your left brain artistic perfectionist... or whatever that was 

The only bummer is... biking muscles aren't skiing muscles. But hey, its good exercise and a lot of fun.


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## GrilledSteezeSandwich (May 8, 2008)

MR. evil said:


> You want a great bike at a budget cost, check out www.Ibexbikes.com. This is where I got my bike from. They sell direct and cut out the middle man (the bike shop) and on average you will save 30% to 60% of a comparable bike found in a bike shop. Bike shops mark up bikes up to 50% what they pay for them. I paid a little over $1000 for my bike, and I couldn't touch anything close to it quality wise in a bike shop for less than $1800. The exact frame on my bike is also sold by a boutique brand (Azonic) for almost as much as my complete bike did. The only difference is lable on the frame.
> 
> 
> Also check out http://forums.mtbr.com/forumdisplay.php?f=105 if you want to get some feed back from a bunch of happy Ibex owners. The owner of the company hangs out there as well.
> ...



Thanks for the link..but I would want to try before I buy..even in the parking lot or something..


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## Paul (May 8, 2008)

GrilledSteezeSandwich said:


> How much does a Trek 6 run..I think I'm buying a bike tomorrow and not a piece of shit Mongoose..lol



You should find them in the $700 - $800 range, depending on the shop and components. I got mine from a shop which is owned by friends of mine, so in my case, the price was moot.


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## bvibert (May 8, 2008)

Glad you got out Greg!  I'm jealous.  I was supposed to go out yesterday but I bailed, mostly because my allergies were killing me.. 

How long did you end up riding for?


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## Greg (May 8, 2008)

bvibert said:


> How long did you end up riding for?



Just an hour. I couldn't get over there until almost 7 pm.


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## bvibert (May 8, 2008)

Greg said:


> Just an hour. I couldn't get over there until almost 7 pm.



It's nice having a place that close so you can make evening rides like that, similar to Sundown for skiing.   I wouldn't have been able to bike much at all last year if not for White Memorial.


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## Greg (May 8, 2008)

bvibert said:


> It's nice having a place that close so you can make evening rides like that, similar to Sundown for skiing.   I wouldn't have been able to bike much at all last year if not for White Memorial.



Indeed. I would actually love to find something that I could just get to directly from my house on the bike though. That would get me out a lot more often, I'm sure.


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## bvibert (May 8, 2008)

Greg said:


> Indeed. I would actually love to find something that I could just get to directly from my house on the bike though. That would get me out a lot more often, I'm sure.



Riding directly from the house would be ideal.  I'm not sure exactly where your house is, but I bet it's possible to put together something with minimal travel on roads.


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## marcski (May 8, 2008)

Greg said:


> Indeed. I would actually love to find something that I could just get to directly from my house on the bike though. That would get me out a lot more often, I'm sure.



I love being able to ride directly from my house.  I have about a 1/2 mile uphill (a nice steep hill too) to a great local trail network.  And then I'm 10 minutes to 2 other great county parks that allow riding and about 25 to another.   Although, it takes me a while to get to any good skiing....I live in a great area for biking!


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## Greg (May 8, 2008)

Greg said:


> Indeed. I would actually love to find something that I could just get to directly from my house on the bike though. That would get me out a lot more often, I'm sure.



I think I might have found something. There is a small state park which is little more than woods, within 2 miles from my house. I didn't walk too far since I had the kids with me but there are some very lightly used trails leading into the woods. It's a small area. Maybe 0.5 mile x 1 mile, but perhaps it's good enough to set up a small trail system. Anyone wanna help?  I'll have to check it out a bit more.


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## MR. evil (May 8, 2008)

Greg said:


> but perhaps it's good enough to set up a small trail system. Anyone wanna help?  I'll have to check it out a bit more.



I am not sure if your joking, so I will assume you are serious about setting up a trail system at this park.

Please don't!....Atleast not without the permission from the park land manager. Even with the best of intentions, people that go out and make there own trails (aka poaching) on public or private land ruins it for the rest of us. If you do get permission I would seek the help of your local Mountain biking club and or trail advocate. They can show how to build trails that will last. It is not as easy as you may think.


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## Greg (May 9, 2008)

MR. evil said:


> I am not sure if your joking, so I will assume you are serious about setting up a trail system at this park.
> 
> Please don't!....Atleast not without the permission from the park land manager. Even with the best of intentions, people that go out and make there own trails (aka poaching) on public or private land ruins it for the rest of us. If you do get permission I would seek the help of your local Mountain biking club and or trail advocate. They can show how to build trails that will last. It is not as easy as you may think.



I wasn't really serious. You're the one that must be joking if you actually think I have that amount of free time!  What I meant was, the trails that I saw were not at all heavily traveled, certainly not by mountain bikers. I wouldn't think of doing any cutting or making "new" trails in any way, but rather just ride on what's there, clearing downed trees that are in the way (again, just by pushing them off to the side, not cutting), etc.


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## JD (May 14, 2008)

a good raking never hurt either.


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## Trekchick (May 15, 2008)

Greg, good for you!!!
Nothing takes the place of skiing for me, but Mt biking is what I do to pass the time until I can go skiing again.

My first Mt bike is/was the trek 4900, with disc brakes and rapid fire shifters. 
Last year I kicked my riding up a notch and invested in a Trek Liquid 25.
Now, where can I buy skill?


Seriously, I got into a group that rides every Wed night at  6:30.  We always know someone is going to show up to ride so we always have a partner.
Logs are getting a lot easier for me, but I freak out on skinny's.  Just can't wrap my mind around them.

Up hill logs are my nemesis!!!:-?

What I noticed with mt biking is this:
It has helped my mogul skiing, because, .........I was not looking far enough ahead.  When I got into mt biking, I learned that you look past the trees you're going between, DON'T look AT the trees.
Learning to look ahead in the trees helped me to learn to look ahead in the moguls.


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## JD (May 15, 2008)

Greg.  Enjoy being a novice.  Every time you go you will notice improvement, and if that doesn't make you wanna get back out again and again I don't know what will.  Love the progression.


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## Greg (May 15, 2008)

JD said:


> Greg.  Enjoy being a novice.  Every time you go you will notice improvement, and if that doesn't make you wanna get back out again and again I don't know what will.  Love the progression.



Been struggling to find the time to get back out lately. Can't wait to though. Back in the day, I think I was an _okay _rider so I think I'll progress quickly which might make me get hooked even more. I really need something to keep the off-ski-season blues at bay.


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## from_the_NEK (May 22, 2008)

Greg said:


> Been struggling to find the time to get back out lately. Can't wait to though. Back in the day, I think I was an _okay _rider so I think I'll progress quickly which might make me get hooked even more. I really need something to keep the off-ski-season blues at bay.



Greg, since you never seem to be able to get to Burke during the winter to ski, you should a least set aside a weekend this summer and make a trip to the Kingdom Trails in Burke. There is a tremendous amount of perfectly groomed single track riding that doesn't require you to be an expert by any means. Some of the flowing downhill single track gives me the same feeling as skiing a good bump run :lol:


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## ckofer (May 29, 2008)

cbcbd said:


> That's awesome Greg. I think MTB brings out similar thrills as skiing and you can definitively get very technical with it and engage your left brain artistic perfectionist... or whatever that was
> 
> The only bummer is... biking muscles aren't skiing muscles. But hey, its good exercise and a lot of fun.



I'm trying to get myself back into it. Busted 5 ribs last summer (mild lung puncture) on a slow ride. Being a wuss.

As far as biking muscles go, I agree somewhat w ski muscles being different. On the other hand, it keeps you in great shape for snowboarding. 

The social aspect to riding is a lot like group skiing-for better or worse.


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## Greg (Jun 6, 2008)

A little damp, but I think I'm gonna hit the mad steezy trails of White Memorial again tonight.... :lol:


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## Greg (Jun 6, 2008)

Greg said:


> A little damp, but I think I'm gonna hit the mad steezy trails of White Memorial again tonight.... :lol:



Nice little doubletrack cruise again tonight. I rode much more smoothly and added more mileage than I did in the same amount of time (only an hour) during last outing. The clipless pedals make a huge difference in not wasting energy. I like being "locked in" and I only fell over once and that was at the end of the ride while looking at the map at the trail head.  Still, I think I'm ready to start getting back into some mellow singletrack.


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## bvibert (Jun 9, 2008)

Greg said:


> Nice little doubletrack cruise again tonight. I rode much more smoothly and added more mileage than I did in the same amount of time (only an hour) during last outing. The clipless pedals make a huge difference in not wasting energy. I like being "locked in" and I only fell over once and that was at the end of the ride while looking at the map at the trail head.  Still, I think I'm ready to start getting back into some mellow singletrack.



We definitely have to get together for an after work ride up there sometime.  There's nothing too exciting there, but it's a nice way to unwind after work.


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## Greg (Jun 9, 2008)

bvibert said:


> We definitely have to get together for an after work ride up there sometime.  There's nothing too exciting there, but it's a nice way to unwind after work.



Let me know when...


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## powbmps (Jun 9, 2008)

I'm scared to go into the woods solo.  Too many bears around here.


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## Skier75 (Jun 9, 2008)

Yep, finially got a ride in last night and again tonight, first time this season. Only got to ride once last year, hubby's first time last night in two years. Hoping to do more this year. We only went to the end of our road and back which equates to about 2.6 miles round trip. Quite a bit of up and down for a short ride, but gotta get the wind back, not too bad for the legs, just winded getting up the steeps. 

Good thing hubby only went for a short ride last night, gotta work those kinks outta the bike, since it's been sitting for a while.  It's a start.


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## Greg (Jun 9, 2008)

I'm looking at my 4th ride tomorrow and my 5th on Sunday. I'm so happy I rediscovered MTB. It'll keep me going until November, plus I'll keep in shape as a bonus. I'm at the point where I am looking forward to the next ride just like I do the next ski trip. Riding this past weekend with a few AZers sealed it for me - definitely something I want to keep up with.


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## deadheadskier (Jun 9, 2008)

What flipped the switch to get you back into it?

I was pretty into it in High School, but lost interest once I went to college. Now the beach/swimming is my summer hobby, though I have yet to take a dip yet....still a tad cold.  Someday I think kite surfing will be my summer passion.  Unfortunately the entry costs to it are higher than skiing.


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## Greg (Jun 9, 2008)

deadheadskier said:


> What flipped the switch to get you back into it?



Not really sure. I think I just wanted to get back into _something_ during what I would consider the off-season (non-skiing). We bought our second house in 2005 (the same year my wife bought me the bike) and I've spent the last two summers doing some rather large scale projects. Free time was pretty limited. I went into this summer determined to not have a long-term project looming over my head. I also really enjoy yard work/landscaping, but I'm just getting into maintenance mode with that so it doesn't really take up much time. The kids are also older now (not infants anyway) so it's easier to break away for a few hours to take a ride. It was either riding or getting back into hiking/backpacking and riding is actually easier since you only need to commit a few hours vs. almost a full day for a decent day hike (about an hour away) or longer for backpacking trip. With MTB, there are a lot of parallels to skiing too. Plus, once you have the gear, it's free.


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## MR. evil (Jun 14, 2008)

Greg said:


> Plus, once you have the gear, it's free.




HA HA HA .......Hmmm right.......free......:roll:


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## marcski (Jun 14, 2008)

MR. evil said:


> HA HA HA .......Hmmm right.......free......:roll:



He'll learn....Maintenance on my mtn bike is quite high...and I have a very durable fully..  And there are also upgrades.  Already, I upgraded wheels, hubs, brake rotors, new locking grips. This obviously doesn't include all the tubes, tires and brake pads. I'm on the 3rd rear derailleur, 2nd derailleur cable...I'm sure I can think of a few more...oh 2nd derailleur hanger.  And of course numerous tune-ups, rotor and wheel truings. etc. etc.  

I love biking....  So, while there might be no trail access fees if you're doing cross-county/trail riding...its definitely not "free".


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## MR. evil (Jun 14, 2008)

marcski said:


> He'll learn....Maintenance on my mtn bike is quite high...and I have a very durable fully..  And there are also upgrades.  Already, I upgraded wheels, hubs, brake rotors, new locking grips. This obviously doesn't include all the tubes, tires and brake pads. I'm on the 3rd rear derailleur, 2nd derailleur cable...I'm sure I can think of a few more...oh 2nd derailleur hanger.  And of course numerous tune-ups, rotor and wheel truings. etc. etc.
> 
> I love biking....  So, while there might be no trail access fees if you're doing cross-county/trail riding...its definitely not "free".



I have been really lucky with my bike, one year and no real issues. A couple of tune ups. some new tires, and a few cheap add ons. I am just waiting to blow a fork or shock, or loose a rear der. Seeing how I removed by big ring up front and went with a bash guard I think my next project will be to swap out my long cage rear der. for a medium cage one to get some more clearance.


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## Greg (Jun 14, 2008)

Yeah, I know. I'm sure there's a lot of maintenance involved. Obviously my point was there were no list tickets or season passes needed. Once the initial gear is in place, you can just go.


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## marcski (Jun 14, 2008)

MR. evil said:


> I have been really lucky with my bike, one year and no real issues. A couple of tune ups. some new tires, and a few cheap add ons. I am just waiting to blow a fork or shock, or loose a rear der. Seeing how I removed by big ring up front and went with a bash guard I think my next project will be to swap out my long cage rear der. for a medium cage one to get some more clearance.



Oh yeah, you can add to the list, a rear shock rebuild from PUSH, I also removed the large ring up front and replaced with a dangerboy bashguard.  My 3rd rear derailleur is one of the newer "shadow" versions.  Very nice so far, no real issues. It has a narrower profile so doesn't stick out past the quick release skewer to avoid hitting things.  Works so far.


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## Greg (Jul 21, 2008)

Interesting reading this thread again too. So, it's been about 2 1/2 months since I started riding again, and actually more like 6 weeks since I started to really get into it. I've got about 17 rides in and I've come a long way. It truly is a fun learning curve to be "riding" on. 



JD said:


> Greg.  Enjoy being a novice.  Every time you go you will notice improvement, and if that doesn't make you wanna get back out again and again I don't know what will.  Love the progression.



You were spot on with this comment.



ckofer said:


> The social aspect to riding is a lot like group skiing-for better or worse.



Totally. The usual crew of Jeff and Brian have been great partners as we figure this MTB thing out.


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