I preface this story by saying that it seems that TRUE Mountain Bikers are now Road Riders! Those NEW Mountain Bikers are now trying to tell me (subtly of course) that to be a true mountain biker ya gotta ride the road!....jeesh let me ride my mountain bike!
A story:
So I meet this guy at an event & he finds out I like to ride mountain bikes. He rides road bikes & has been riding them for years, he even rides with the Velo club out here & knows some of the same guys I do. Well he proceeds to want to ride with me. Wants me to ride the road with him & even offers me a pretty cool Curtlo that he can set up for me.
Now understand I have NEVER EVER ridden on a road bike but have been mountain biking for more years than I can count. Well I am apprehensive about riding a skinny tired bike all hunched over sniffing exhaust fumes & sharing the road with irate "supersized mom's" that have their cell phones glued to their ears while driving their Excursions on a Sunday afternoon! (sorry roadies!) (That's another thing WHY does every roadie I know want to convert me, a mountain biker, to compete with cars on the road? It seems implied to me that I can't just ride my mountain bike & then even my mountain biking is not any good UNLESS I ride on the road! baaaaaaaaaah!....Can't a guy just hang out in the dirt, in the peace & quiet away from the hustle & bustle of the city!?? After all that is one reason I like to mountain bike...being away from the restless world!...boy have I digressed or what!?
Anyhow I agree to ride the road with him. He will resurrect the Curtlo, size me up, I would then bring my pedals & mountain bike Sidi's & then buzz from Placerita Canyon up the bike path, through the Industrial Center, & loop back to Placerita. No biggie but he then decides it would be hard to revive the Curtlo & that we should ride mountain bikes on the loop! WHAT!!!
The wind was blowing & my Ellsworth on 2.5's seemed to all be begging me "NOOOOOO don't do that to us!"
..Well being the nice guy that I try to always be I agreed with my new roadie friend that I would ride with him on his terms!
We leave Placerita & I did have a good time talking & all & I was enjoying just getting out on the bike (had not been out in 4 weeks & he rode 25 miles the day b-4!) in spite of the fact I would see not single track...I was having an ok time. I did vear off the path once or twice, well maybe 3,4,6,8 times to add some excitement to my boring "technically" ride! I mean after all I was chugging along on a 6 inch travel bike with not even curbs in sight. (The bike path is pretty flat people!)
Well I was going "Off Path" & "Up concrete Banks" etc., etc..looking for stuff to play on. We then get off the path over by Magic Mountain & proceed along that road. We go along the old road, come down the hill towards Rye & as we hit the corner at the bottom of the hill at a good clip I feel the rear tire start to wash out on me!!
I figure man I guess I can't corner that hard on the knobbies. I get another 2 blocks & yep I got a flat!
I ON PURPOSE did not bring my camel back with all my gear because come on bike path? Industrial Center!? Placerita!? Come on I can go all year without a flat in the dirt!!
Why in the world would I need a pump & patch kit!?
Yep a thorn ONE from veering off the bike path! No pump-tube, cell phone, pay phone, etc. Favorably for me I could ride on the rim/tire combo cause the tire was so big & rim so small!
Well I rode home from the Industrial Center to my home in Saugus while my new roadie friend rode home to Placerita. I did get a good workout attacking a hill that was pretty steep & about 5 blocks long!...Someone was chasing me & I was not going to let them pass me. Hmmm??? Mountain biking on the road on flat tires for a work-out? What a concept....maybe those that would want to convert me to road riding would think I have really flipped & then leave me alone!?
Well, I call my new friend whom I really like & we decide that I since my van was at his house that I would ride INTO THE WIND "down"(ya right!) Bouquet to Placerita & that he would ride up & meet me. Well I get all the way to Newhall at 13th street & there he is waiting. He proceeds to want to take me up some dirt roads up Placerita (I think this is the Oil Field ride some of the guys are doing??) Man my legs were toast PLUS I never ate a thing except 5 of those little chocolate covered hostess doughnuts at 7:30 in the morning!We started riding at 1:00...It was like 4:30 & remember I did not have my camel back...I was smart enough to slap a small water bottle on the bike b-4 we left for the "tour de industrial".
We start riding & well I am ready to quit because I want some energy stuff, water & BESIDES I GOT NO FUN SINGLETRACK PAYBACK for all this GRIND!
Also I'm thinkin the whole time...I gotta keep up with this guy I mean I need to hang with him after all He is an experienced Roadie & all I am is a lowly mountainbiker!
Well I follow him & he has never ridden a mountain bike...he takes me down a street & we then proceed to turn up a DEEP SANDY wash & BOOM down he goes into the deep soft sand! I was very thankful it was soft, that way he did not get hurt....but I can't help but wonder if that was payback for making me grind 1/2 way over Santa Clarita on a flat tired mountain bike!
Yep I can FOR SURE say I am staying away from road bikes & all the guys that want to compete when they go out on the trails better stay on the road bikes...cause that seems to be the way things are these days. If you don't ride a road bike then you ain't a true mountain biker!
I never thought I would see that day...BUT it is upon us!
In closing my new friend is really, really cool & most of you that know him like him! This is NOT at all a bag on him......This is just a funny story & it is just funny how I deal with the whole Roadie thing & the Pressure that I seemed to be faced with!
p.s. The next day I went out & road Bouquet & loved the world again!
Is it me or is out mountain biking culture meshing just fine!?
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