If we’re being honest, this isn’t my first-time mountain biking. In fact, I started mountain biking in 2013, June 2013 to be exact. I had decided I wanted to learn, so I started asking some of my guy friends in the biking community if they could teach me how to mountain bike. The general consensus was that Squamish didn’t have beginner trails and I’d just have to follow along on a ride to figure it out. Ummm, no thanks! That sounds like a broken bone in the making! But, I was determined and I kept searching.
Eventually, I found a beginner skills course through Challenge by Choice, a local gym and training centre. It was a three-part series, only four students total, and just for women. I signed up immediately. Our coach led us through the basics, encouraged us, and challenged us to push ourselves that little bit out of our comfort zone. Taking that course gave me an entry level taste of mountain biking and it gave me the boost of confidence I needed to invest in an expensive full suspension bike and head out on the trails with my friends. I knew that I liked biking enough to invest the money in the gear and the time to get better.
I rode occasionally over the next two seasons. Then life happened and I seriously neglected my bike from 2015 through 2016; she would stare at me from the back of the garage wondering if I’d ever take her out again. Being honest again… I wasn’t sure if I would. I enjoyed biking when I was doing it. I really liked the feeling of accomplishment when I got to the top of the hill, the wind on my face as I came back down, the intensity of choosing a line and committing, the triumph when I tried a new trail, the time with friends, pushing myself, challenging myself, the adrenaline rush. On the flip-side, I dreaded the climbing, the falling, the stress, the fear of hurting myself, the pressure of riding with people way better than me, and the thought of all these things tended to hold me back from actually going out for a ride.
When I was just starting out, I was lucky enough to ride with someone who was very encouraging and he always told me, “I want you to have fun biking, so you’ll want to do it again.” And he was right; when we’re learning something new, the moment it gets scary, or too stressful, or we hurt ourselves there’s a strong likelihood we’ll never try it again. In my case, though nothing bad happened to me, I was always a little afraid something would.
Now, here we are in the spring of 2017 and I can feel my bike practically begging me to go back outside again. As luck would have it, a group I belong to, Girls Bike Squamish, offers beginner bike skills courses for free if you’re a member of the Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association. They only offer a few sessions with small groups and when the notification goes out for registration they fill up quickly. My friend Jennifer and I signed up for a two hour session with a total of six riders and our coach, Mary-Ann Taylor. Mary-Ann volunteers her time to help coach other women on the basics of mountain biking; she has been riding for over 10 years and has been coaching since 2009.
The stories of how we’d all ended up in this lesson were all a little different, but the common theme was simply wanting to have a little more confidence when we were out riding. That’s definitely why I signed up; I hadn’t been on my bike in two years and I was nervous about getting back on the trails. Side note: I’m really afraid of hurting myself! Like REALLY afraid! For sure this has been something that has held me back from trying new activities, especially sports.
But I had managed to stay injury free previously and I really don’t go fast enough on a bike to hurt myself anyways! So, I was back in the saddle, and I think it really helped to start off slow and with a coach. Baby steps back into biking. We practiced the basics of stance, body positioning, braking, and shifting in the high school parking lot and then we were off to the trails – Cracked Patella and Two Fisted (Not super stoked about that first name, but then again bike trail names are usually a bit out there!). The anticipation was getting to me; would I still like biking, would I remember what I was doing, would I hit a root and fly off my bike into a tree?!
I’m happy to report that I did not bail, in fact I loved it! It felt so good to be back on my bike, whizzing through the forest, going over rocks and roots, it was amazing! Why had I waited so long to get back out there? Easy. #1 – fear of getting hurt, #2 – no confidence in myself, and #3 – making other areas of my life a priority (rightly so, I had shit to do that, at the time, was more important than biking).
But, could I have managed to carve out one day per week, or even just one day a month to go biking with my friends? Probably. Would it have made me happy and confident, and also been great exercise to keep me physically and mentally fit? Yes. But that’s just the way it goes sometimes; you’re nervous, too hard on yourself, or need to make other parts of your life a priority. It doesn’t mean you should banish your beautiful bike to the back of the garage forever though!
For me, the best remedy for my nerves and fear of getting out there and trying something new, has always been to just rip the band aid off! What I mean is, sign up for a course and pay for it in full, make firm “you’re not getting out of this, there is no backing down” type plans with your friends, or tell someone you are going to learn that new skill and get them to hold you accountable. Commit yourself, set a timeline or a deadline to do something, get back on your bike, and just get out there and ride!
