Bleeding, Muddy, and Happy
by:
Iggy03 from Kentucky
So I've been out of the saddle for two years with the exception of a couple of simple joy rides. I'm in my third decade and after being in an office for the last 6 years I figured it was now or never to get back in good shape. In my childhood until I started driving my time was spent on a BMX and it was my passion. Driving screwed that up. Somewhere around the age of 21 I started missing crusing around on 2 wheels but this time I thought I'd try out mountain biking. I settled on a Giant Youkon SE mainly due to money constraints. I had a blast for about 2 years till my riding partner started bonking on every ride. "Why don't you drink more water?", I'd ask but it never seemed to matter. He'd just go till he turned white and then puke. Sometime around that point I met my future wife and biking, once again, sort of fell away from my priorities. Skip to the end of the two year break and here I am. Out of shape and with a job that offers no exercise, so I finally pushed myself to get back on my bike. After riding around for about a week on my now 10 year old MTB, I thought I'd take a stroll into my favorite bike shop. There was several models of Trek and Giant around for me to gawk at. I knew my present financial situation would not allow a high end dual suspension DH bomber but I did find a good deal on a 2003 Iguana in "Once Yellow". I test rode it around the parking lot and really liked the thing. After debating for about a week and looking around I went back and got the Iguana. I rode the new bike around my neighborhood and a short nature trail close to my son's school to get the unused muscle groups working again. It obviously hurts but I am having so much fun that after each ride I can't wait to be out again even when its just in my little paved suburb. Finally on the eve of the first day of spring I take a vacation day off work and hit the mountain bike park about a 45 minute drive from my house. I get everything preped and ready in the parking lot and nervously take to the trail. Soon after when attempting to go over a couple of jumps I suffer from cable stretch which truly sucks but it has to get broke in somehow right? Right, so by now I'm on a muddy mess of a trail but my shiny, well, now quite filthy, new bike is really impressing me cause I have been able to motor through it all without stalling or spinning out. With renewed confidence along with an incredible burn in my legs I press on to tackle 4 other large sections I've never been on. At an intersection close to the end of my ride I have stopped to take a short break and to gather both water and oxygen to myself. I hear something and when I looked over I saw a deer about 15-20 feet from me staring. I watch the deer for a moment before continuing thinking about how beautiful it is. Then as I rode toward her I noticed there were 2 more that were right beside her that were hidden by the bushes. "Pretty Cool" I thought. A few minutes later I ran across what I believe to be the same few deer crossing the trail in front of me. I saw other wildlife on this venture and it felt so great to be in the woods again. Finally my legs were at the breaking point and I just couldn't take anymore. I managed to get in about 2 hours worth of riding and only had to walk one hill. "Not Bad" I thought. The last 2 weeks of constant riding has really helped. I cant imagine how painful it would have been had I not had that little bit of "warming up". I get back to the parking where I have a coke in a cooler along with my other water. I'm bleeding from the calves of both my legs from an unexpected drop to the small wheel and am heavily peppered in mud that has mostly dried at that point. My legs feel like they are three times there normal size and are quite painful...And yet I can't help but smile about the whole thing. I think to myself "How could I have ever quit riding?" There was even a point on the second section where I come VERY close to blasting a tree with my shoulder. Had I hit it I would likely have either broken my coller bone or dislocated my shoulder. I barely managed to avoid that crash and am still not sure how I managed to get by it. To sum up I am looking forward till the next adventure. I can't remember the last time I was off work that I had this much fun.
