My poor sad mountain bike, bought 3rd hand from Clem this summer, got a pretty rough deal in our cross-country move. The wheels wont ever be true again, but after getting her new brakes and lubing up her headset proper, she’s been feeling like new.

Adam and I took the bikes out the last 2 weekends to the Tamarancho trails in Fairfax, ca. Its a 9 mile loop with a 2 mile climb to get up to it, and its a damn good time.

Nothing near as technical as CT has to offer, but challenging enough for myself, who needs to beef up some mtn biking skillz. There’s some technical sections, rocks, roots, lots of rolling hills that are super fun to cruise through, and TONS of switchbacks, which are the bane of my existence. My first ride out I couldn’t make any of the tight u-turns, kept having to clip out, and fell all over the place in slow motion to get around them.

Yesterday was much improvement, I got about half the switchbacks climbing uphill, and 1 going downhill – the mechanics are so different for such a similar movement. Its fun to see how I’m getting better again, and I hope next time we try this trail, I’ll be able to get even more of the challenges.

I feel more alive on my mountain bike than I’ve felt in a long time, and we’re gonna keep going out every weekend, hopefully finding different trails. Maybe when I get to ride bikes in CT again, I’ll be able to flaunt some better skillz.