Introduced Audrey to singletrack one night last week. Then we did some fun slight downhills with root filled drop-offs. Attack position, arms bent and no brakes to carry momentum down or up and over roots and a "Whoo Hoooo" from her everytime she cleared a section. She even started to say "That wasnt that big of a drop dad."
She gets totally bugged out by the single track anywhere near a ledge and I dont blame her!! They probably look like a big gorge drop-off to her. I dont want to scare her, but open her eyes to new experiences and if her young brain can make those precious synapse connections so riding technical stuff later in her life maybe comes a bit easier, then great too. I know I wish I could ride offroad with more confidence and not be such a struggle.
We also walked a good section of very technical trails,up and down steep narrow paths and took some time to look for tadpoles and fish in the brook and I hopped logs on my cyclocross bike. I showed her how to walk her bike while using the brakes to help her maintain control down steep sections. We tried to avoid poison ivy. Hope we were successful on that one.
She was understandably concerned when I showed her the crazy descents I do when I ride these trails and happy when I showed her the ones I was WAY too scared to even try (though secretly I am hoping to master them this fall).
It was a great afternoon. She rode/hiked almost 8 miles. Way to go Audge Podge.
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2 comments:
Awesome!
Looking forward to eventually getting a bike w/ gears and hand brakes for my older one (functional hand brakes, not the faux ones on there now; even I couldn't stop a bike with them.
Hey -- maybe I should put 'em on my MTB! That way, I might learn to stop constantly grabbing levers needlessly!)
Never underestimate great brakes!! But when we rode epic offroad rides in the late 80's I didnt start descending well till my hands were too tired to death grip the brakes anymore. Front shocks were just starting to take hold.
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