Anderson Truck Trail - First Ride
Uncategorized May 10th, 2008
Hey gang. Alison and I got to ride Anderson Truck trail for the first time this weekend. We joined some of the guys from the Kearny Mesa Bike Warehouse along with a few of their friends for a ‘way too early’ in the morning ride. The ride time worked out well for me as I had plans to get on a train at noon to go up and see my Mom. When the alarm went off at 5:30 AM I did have my second thoughts. :-) We met Christos at Santo and the 52 at 6:30 and followed him out to Alpine to the bottom of the trail. Once there we waited a little bit for the rest of the gang to arrive so we could shuttle up to the top. We were short on time so we had to forgo the pleasure of pedaling up the mountain.
After unloading at the top we got to experience Jeff’s warm up routine. Many jokes were made, but I’ll bet that he’s in a lot better shape than the rest of us are and typically less sore. This was a first time run for us so Alison and I were both pretty cautious. I’m still getting used to riding again, and I don’t have a lot of steep descent or jumping skills. But, I was able to get some great shots of the others! Some of the jumps were huge to me. Like 5-8 foot drops or jumps. Just way too big for me at the moment.
As you can see here on the left. Some of them were so big I could squat under them and they didn’t even know I was there! For the most part the big stuff was up top and the lower half was fast single track. The second half was something I was comfortable with. Ruts and rock gardens don’t make me nervous like steep descents or big drops. I did however accidentilly roll off a drop I was ready for. When I came down I was positioned wrong and slammed my seat into my chest. I think it was the first time I’ve ever seen stars. I never knew what that looked like before! Nice little white spots appearing and disappearing in your vision. Kinda trippy. I think its cause I usually crash on moving vehicles I tuck and close my eyes right before impact.
We had a couple of crashes, some road rash. None for me though as I prefer to be remembered as ‘that chicken guy’ than ‘that guy who crashed 8 times’. I figure once I’m more comfortable on the bike and build my skills up more some of this stuff won’t be as scary. Fun ride! Can’t wait to do it again. You can see the rest of my pictures here: Anderson Truck Trail
May 11th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
It’s funny but after it’s all said and done, it didn’t seem so early in the morning. I was kinda surprised how easy it was go get motivated. Guess you could say I’m really digging mtn biking!
I learned several things:
My bike is all cross-country. I don’t really have the travel for some of those jumps. Knowing that probably makes me more cautious, which is a good thing (cause cajones only go so far… you need that and the experience to back them up to perform well!) Ahhh, in my mind, I’m epic, or at least I will be someday! *got the visualization down; now for the execution!
1.5) I can understand and appreciate the bike differences. The Freeriders, the down hillers, the cross-country bikes… the amount of travel the suspension gives, the size of the tires… all goes into the equation of mojo + experience = ability. The cool thing about Anderson is, for every big transition and jump, there’s a built-in escape route. Smart people worked on this trail. THANK YOU!!!!!
2) I actually do have mojo-regulation. I didn’t really know it, or at least I didn’t want to admit it. My credo has been “Live to ride another day.” This means, if I can’t do it this time, just walk it and check it out, and maybe next time I’ll have all the bits put together to execute it (safely)– as safely as can be.
1 & 2 together, is difficult. You see yourself with such great abilities but know that at the moment you’re limited by your experience. I’m learning new tricks, new equipment/mods and how to handle them, and also, my big thing is keeping up with everyone. Like many other girls I know with the same abilities, we have a hard time accepting it if we’re not keeping up with the guys or the gang; don’t want to hold up everyone or worry them; and balancing the #1’s and #2s above. Whew… what a juggling act!!
I’m really looking forward to the next time!