And I only had to drive to Santa Barbara to do it!
After a lovely day of enjoying the (mostly) foggy beach in Isla Vista while Dan was building lasers, we headed to Knapps for my first ride of the season.
I did a little riding in Feburary, but I hadn't really been on a mountain bike since October. It was definitely time for that to change! I decided to start my season out big, and try a trail I'd never ridden before - Knapps in Santa Barbara.
Safety first! Notice that my thighs aren't covered. That will be important later.
As I was bikeless, I ended up borrowing Dan's Spitfire. He's only 6'7" - approx. 8 inches taller than me.
Dan looks normal sized from this far away.
Giant bike + rusty skills + new trail = disaster, right?
Actually, it wasn't too bad. I had to walk some of the more technical rocky sections and go really slowly around some tight, narrow switchbacks, but I did better than I expected. Dan even told me how impressed he was with my form. Weightlifting works, y'all!
I did have a couple of crashes, including the very first feature on the trail. I nailed the steep-ish technical section, but missed the turn immediately after. Ooops.
My other big crash happened on the easy fire road section of the trail. I'm still not sure what happened. I was riding along, then bam! I was between the trail and my bike. I ended up with some nice ass/upper thigh bruises and an oozing elbow scab. I think I need better thigh protection than running shorts.
All in all it was a great start to the new season. All I need now is for the snow to melt in Tahoe!
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