Skills Without The Hills

Aside from watching cover bands and attending pump track opening ceremonies, I wanted to get out on my bike.  Slightly bored of cross country stuff due to all the “racing” I’ve been doing, I wanted to hit something different.  Since the Dirt Divas were having one of their skills clinics at Backyard Trail I thought, “I should go there and help.”

I like riding with the Divas, especially when they need us Dirt Dudes to help out.  There was a really good turnout of Divas (and sweaty dudes.)  We broke up into two groups and hit the trail.

Hubbs is not a Diva.

BYT is definitely my favorite place to ride here in Charlotte.  It’s different than most other trails in the area, and getting to spend time with the ladies to help with their skills is a bonus.  Everyone loves BYT it seems, like those Faster Mustache guys.

We actually saw lots of people out there for fun, but it wasn’t about them.  It was about helping the ladies and showing them a good time out on the trail.

My man Evan took the time to teach the ladies proper jumping techniques…

And they did their best to catch some big air too.

The best thing about BYT is the features, so having a skills clinic there makes sense.  That place is a difficult as you want to make it, and everyone can learn something.

Sandy shows us how to ride the big tree skinny.

It was a fun day, and I felt like it was the best way to spend time on the bike on a warm Saturday morning.  The ladies had fun, no one was (seriously) hurt, and there were smiles all day.

It’s not always about racing.  Sometimes you have to give back.  Yeah, even a selfish sumbitch like me.

Skills On The Farm

Saturday, I had the pleasure of helping out our local women’s mountain bike club, the Dirt Divas with another one of their skills clinics at Fisher Farm Park in Davidson.  I enjoy these very much, and any chance I get to help out I will (I guess it helps that Little Miss Sunshine was leading this particular one.)

We had a pretty good turnout of ladies and Dirt Dudes (as we are affectionately called.)  We hit different areas of the trail to work on some of the features, and after giving a quick demonstration we let the ladies get at it (we spotted them of course.)

  

The photos are blurry, I know, but at least you can see the Maxxis logo on the little lady’s tire.

The ladies are real encouraging towards each other, and we really don’t have to do much other than catch them if they start to fall.  Even though we hit each feature first, they don’t really feel like they can do it until the other ladies get them going.  Sometimes they get pushed beyond their comfort zones…

And with cheering from the other women they do just fine.

I mean who the hell would want to try something with just a bunch of creepy dudes standing around watching?

It was a good day.  Fisher Farm is a great place to work on this sort of thing, with all the features out there.  There’s nothing too advanced or anything, and with a little practice you can ride it all.  It has a good mix of terrain, structures, and other goodies, so tat makes it my favorite place to help with a clinic by far.

Thanks to the Divas for letting us help out.

There are some features out there that are creepier than us dudes though.

Or maybe it’s us dudes that make it creepy.

Um.  Yeah.

At least no one saw that.  Except you. 

Shhhhhhhh.

Moar Skills

Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a skills clinic for our local ladies mountain bike club, the Dirt Divas.  It’s been quite a while since I’ve helped them out on something like this, so I was pretty excited to be a part of it.

Our destination?  Backyard Trails.  Since most of our local trails are smooth and so not technical, BYT is the perfect place to work on the skills.  We took off as one big group, and it didn’t take long to find something to work on with the ladies.

With plenty of spotters (courtesy of us Dirt Dudes), even Little Miss Sunshine conquered some trail features out there.

I’ll skip the small stuff, and just tell you that eventually we ended up at the Poo Tracks.

The ladies had a great time as far as I could tell.

It was like a big social ride.  We had a great crowd, rolling through the trail at a fun pace and stopping every once in a while to regroup.

Originally I planned to go to Pisgah on Saturday, but helping the ladies work on their skills turned out to be a better way to spend the day.  Spending time a BYT was a plus too, since it’s one of the few trails around here that actually give you a challenge.

Anyway, big thanks to the ladies for letting us hang out and help.  Most of them can already out ride us fellas as it is, and it’s just fun to help them get better at it.

I’m good with that.

They Gots Skillz

Saturday, a couple of us fellas headed out to the Whitewater Center to help the Dirt Divas with one of their skills clinics.  I always enjoy helping the ladies out on the trail, but honestly this time I didn’t feel like going.  I’d been sick pretty much the whole week and I just wanted to stay in bed.  Luckily I dragged my ass out into the morning sunshine and drove out the meet the rest of the crew.

We divided up into groups depending on which sections of trail the ladies wanted to ride.  Good Guy Greg and I took one group, and we worked on a couple of sections on the Carpet Trail.  When the girls were satisfied that they could ride the obstacles, we rolled out to Goat Hill.  It was there that we found a random rider to take a group shot.

We took quite a bit of time climbing the rocky, rooty switchbacks.  We met up with another group and we sorta just merged together into one big, happy group.  The fellas were happy to help the ladies.

And it was such a nice day to be out in the woods.

After spending a little time working on the steep climbs of Goat Hill, we bombed the downhill section and rolled out to the river… 

Photo credit:  Allison Foil

Where Little Miss Sunshine conquered a rooty climb that usually gets the best of her. 

We worked on that spot for a while with all the ladies (and even a random little boy that happened to be rolling by), and then we took the rest of the trail out towards the parking lot.  There was one more tough feature to tackle though:

This section didn’t used to be difficult, but a severe lack of trail maintenance by the people out there has made it a little more challenging.  The ladies kicked its ass though, and eventually we wrapped up and headed back to the parking lot.

And right to the post-ride festivities.

Photo cred: Allison (again)

Helping out at these skills clinics has got to be one of my favorite things to do.  The ladies put their fear aside (and put all their trust in us smelly boys) to conquer the trail like professionals.  They ended the day as better riders, and it makes those of us that get the privilege to help feel pretty damn important.  You know, much more important than being a kinda famous blogger on the Internets.

Oh yeah, that was ride number two on the geared bike.

Stay tuned.

Need Another Road Trip

But unfortunately I’m probably stuck in town this weekend. 

Just like most of you, I have two days off.  After the longest short week ever, I need to get out for a ride.  I’m for sure staying local tomorrow because I’ve volunteered to help with the Dirt Divas skills clinic at the Whitewater Center.  It will be a nice ride for sure, but I know I’ll need more.  If I can resist the urge for an immediate beer reward after the clinic, I’ll probably stick around for another lap on the geared bike.  Will that count as two rides?  You know, of the five I need?

Maybe.

I’m thinking about getting the hell outta town again Sunday.  With all the Trans-Sylvania Epic coverage I’ve been watching, it’s got me itching to do some epic shit myself.  I don’t have any plans yet, but I’m sure something will come up.  Well, “something” could mean that I just sit around drinking beer.  Whatever.

Hopefully I’ll have something good to talk about Monday when I come back, because I sure as shit don’t have much to say today.  It’s Friday anyway, so y’all aren’t really paying attention.

Are you?

Good.  Go out and ride.

A Gathering Of Skills

Saturday was really fun.  Instead of traveling to some far away city to race laps on some random trail, I got a chance to help the Dirt Divas with one of their Skills Clinics.  We broke up into a few groups and headed out on the trail, stopping along the way to hit some of the features out there.

Even though I only rode a total of about five miles in the span of a few hours, helping out the ladies was well worth the time I spent out there.  I didn’t do it all though, since there were plenty of other “Dirt Dudes” in attendance.  Still, I was glad to be a part of it all.  The ladies did a great job out there, some of them doing stuff they hadn't done before.  That kind of riding is pretty fun, and it sure beats racing.

So, with that I’ll cut it short.  I kinda feel like crap today, so it’s not easy to come up with a decent read today.  I’ll try again tomorrow.

Will it be better?  You betcha.

Well, maybe it'll be better.  I kinda suck at this sometimes, you know.

These Ladies Have Skills

Yes, it’s back to bicycling. My doggie is doing okay, so hopefully I can stop worrying about her so much. Thanks to those of you that sent e-mails and left comments.


Anyway, Saturday I hung out at one of our local trails, Poplar Tent with a whole bunch of mountain biking women.




It's not like they showed up there because I’m some kind of ladies man though.

It was a Dirt Divas Skills Clinic, which is one of my favorite rides to attend. I somehow got assigned to ride in the advanced group, which really should make me feel good. Instead, I felt all funny that I got to help the ladies with trail features, especially since most of them can probably out ride any man around here.


Our group took off, and I liked the pace (especially since I was on the single speed.) The point of the advanced group was to ride all of the options, and to stop at the features to help the ladies master them.

And master them they did.





Cathi (top photo) and Emily (bottom photo) showed off their rock riding skills.

Every once in a while, the different groups would merge when we stopped at certain features. That was the only way was I able to capture Dirt Diva Melissa showing off her mad skills.




We also rode the teeter totter (not pictured because I had to be a spotter), and that was by far my favorite stopping point. It was fun to hear the ladies giggle when the teeter dropped them down gently. I giggle the same way every time I ride it too.


We worked on everything until they all felt comfortable, and I didn’t mind spending extra time out there to help.


Every rock, root, and drop was tackled.


Doc blindly dropped off of this rooty section, and made it look way too easy.




That gave the rest of the ladies some confidence (because watching guys do this stuff just sucks.)


Here is Emily again showing us how it’s done.




I wish I would’ve taken more photos, but like I said before I was doing a lot of standing around, I mean spotting. There isn’t even one photo of me, mostly because I feel like an ass asking someone to take my picture. I did have a great time though.


The Dirt Divas really put on great rides, and it’s cool the way they encourage women of all abilities to come out and try to improve their skills. I’m very thankful that they allow a few of us smelly boys to come out and play too.


Interested in riding with the Divas? Check out their website and look for the next time they hit the trail.


I’ll be there for sure, as long as they don’t mind.