another Chick Debut's at Mountain Biking....

[Shrekmeister]

howdy all...

Six month's ago my better half christine hadn't touched a bike, :eek: :eek: however was one heck of supporter ;) ;) , going to every race i was in (mostly 4 hr enduro's ) and supporting me through the day...

and also was sitting at home to patch me up after coming home with a few injuries from crashes.... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: with her being a paramedic...well it just was part of the job....

anyhow a few month's ago, she purchased her own mountain bike, a beginner's Norco, and started on the cycle ways, bit wobbly at first, however gradual progression was made....

then on sunday afternoon, we wont off roading...up round the trails at loftus and heathcote, and Wow...!! :D :D she went awesome...powering along, having the time of her life... :cool: :cool: climbing some hills that i thought no way would she make it the way up the climb.. :eek: :eek:

30km later we made it home safely with one very happy, trashed and satisfied newbie... :D certainly was one enjoyable afternoon and good to see :D :D

[Gekigengar]

good on her.. nice to see people getting into this awsome sport...

[kerbdrop]

Awesome to hear!!

It's something we should see more of. Having my partner ride with me is really nice. But she's a little deflated by the fact that there are so few females out on the trails. It's good to see that more girls are joining the fold!!
:D

[miko]

Yeah I'm stoked to have a chick that rides, means we get to spend some time together ;) :D

[Dozer]

That is unreal :D . I hope she sticks with it and enjoys all it has to offer.
It is funny how people know the sports you play and never have much interest in it.....then one day they give it a go and never look back, good to see. Our sport has so many positives and it rewards us more often than not.

[Bodin]

'Tis but a gaping chasm in my life...

About 4 years ago, when myself and the "better" (pfffft) half hooked up, she was, in no uncertain circumstances, made completely aware of my love of the two-wheeled off road adventures that the world has to offer. She got enthusiastic about it, we went out and purchased new MTBs together and I thought I was set for life.

Four years later, with my girlfriend's sweet-riding, but hardly-ridden Trek Fuel 90 sitting dormant and gathering cobwebs in the dark recesses of my garage, my heart sinks. The promised good times have been replaced with both of us doing long hours at work, family weekends, demands for housework and any number of boring, pointless activities that do nothing but take my time away from my one true love.

Treasure this time in your lives together and do everything you can to create the sort of balance that allows you to enjoy it indefinitely. *sniff*

[Turner_rider]

Top stuff, watch out though she'll whip your ass one day ;)

Introduced my better half (Miss Jane) to mtbing in 2002 after she hadn't been on a bike in over 20 years and within 6 months she had completed her first 6 hour race solo. Since then she hasn't looked back despite the odd crash related stay in hospital and has completed 4 Wildsides and we did our first Mont as a mixed pair last year.

She too gets a little annoyed at the lack of girls on the trails and being the only girl at some races but that has stoppped her enjoying her ride and having a go at everything and is a regular at the local Wednesday night rides.

Below is a shot of Miss Jane at last nights Dirt Crit in Hobart - Thanks to Tony for the use of his photo. :)


http://tonyjross.com/MTB/IMG_1827a.jpg

[Bodin]

Since then she hasn't looked back

...and why would she with a bike like hers? Riding a piece of crap like that must be a real chore. ;)

[dain2772]

I too would like to see more girls on the trails. I am considering buying my girlfriend a bike for her birthday, but I am not sure if I want her entering that precious part of my life.

There is no reason why girls shouldn't be able to ride more, except that I would be somewhat annoyed at more people beating me up the hills!

[Mandy]

I got into mountain biking when i went with my boyfriend one day just so we could spend time together doing something he loved. Like a month later i got a trek fuel 80 and love riding and even more love riding with him :)

[G-Man]

Hello there

was that you two Mid heathcote / engadine on a NRS
yellow and silver , not to sure what the other bike was ..

if so that was me and my better Half Foxy
that popped out of the trail and fixed the Flat
on the rock nest to yas - Arggg hate flats ..

If that was you - but good on her ..

more girls on MTBs is long over due ..

keep on riding - catch ya on the trails ..

G-man outy

[Shrekmeister]

Hello there

was that you two Mid heathcote / engadine on a NRS
yellow and silver , not to sure what the other bike was ..

if so that was me and my better Half Foxy
that popped out of the trail and fixed the Flat
on the rock nest to yas - Arggg hate flats ..

If that was you - but good on her ..

more girls on MTBs is long over due ..

keep on riding - catch ya on the trails ..

G-man outy


No dude, wasnt us....both on silver bikes, but mine an ironhorse, and the Norco, plus a mate was on a black raceline....

but yup no doubt bump into each other out there before long....:)

[Turner_rider]

...and why would she with a bike like hers? Riding a piece of crap like that must be a real chore. ;)

Yeah life's tuff sometimes... ;)

She does get a bit of a complex sometimes at big races and stresses about not being a good enough rider for the bike :rolleyes:

[McBain]

She does get a bit of a complex sometimes at big races and stresses about not being a good enough rider for the bike :rolleyes:If the rest of us thought that, there would be no one out riding. :)

My gf recently got her first "real" MTB - just a simple Kona, but it has already changed her entire view of riding. There's a simple lesson in that - riding borrowed bikes that don't fit or are too heavy will not win anyone over, particularly women (think: saddles).

I do know that she's going to be beating me up the hills, and if early signs continue, probably down them too! Cool :D

[Gronk]

My only question is how come girls only ever seem to get into riding to please or spend time with their boyfriends??? Why don't they do it off their own bat, i.e take the initiative and go try something fun and different on their own, or with other girls?

Not that I care to be pigeon-holled as a stereotyping sexist something-or-other, but from my limited experience this seems to be the norm.

[kerbdrop]

My only question is how come girls only ever seem to get into riding to please or spend time with their boyfriends??? Why don't they do it off their own bat, i.e take the initiative and go try something fun and different on their own, or with other girls?

Not that I care to be pigeon-holled as a stereotyping sexist something-or-other, but from my limited experience this seems to be the norm.

couldn't agree with you more.. you look at other sports like skiing, surfing and even skating seem to have much healthier gender balance..

i think the reason may be that mtb has pretty high set up costs, and often it's difficult to get to/equip for "real" trails.. so before a newbie can get a real taste of where mtb is really at, the hurdles prohibit them from straying far from the paved paths

[scbullit]

My girlfriend's (now wife) first ride ended with her punching me for taking her down a run that was too hard...
Now she rides more than I do and competes in Elite at local races.
She smashes me in cross country races but i've still got her on the downhills!

[Gronk]

Scbullit: perhaps. but it was stillyou who got her into the sport to begin with, right?? :P

Plus I understand set up costs are expensive, but have you seen how much they are willing to pay for a hand bag and pair of shoes these days??? Heheh ok now I know I'm due for a virtual slapping!

[Turner_rider]

My only question is how come girls only ever seem to get into riding to please or spend time with their boyfriends??? Why don't they do it off their own bat, i.e take the initiative and go try something fun and different on their own, or with other girls?

Not that I care to be pigeon-holled as a stereotyping sexist something-or-other, but from my limited experience this seems to be the norm.

I can't really comment on the whole of Aust but I've only found girls mtbing to spend time with their boys a relatively rare occurance - or at best a secondary reason for riding.

For quite a number I know its been a natural progression through other outdoor activities ie climbing etc or because they've grown up riding with their family.

For my gf all it needed was the offer to come riding and borrowing an old mtb from her dad. This led to her quickly selling her motorbike (as mtb was more fun) and buying her first bike and the rest is history.:)

[dain2772]

I think it is the usual problem of there not being many girls in the sport, so girls don't seem interested because of all the blokes.

Maybe we also need to see more pictures of girls in the mtb mags (and I mean girls riding, not 'those' pictures), to show that it is a sport that can be enjoyed by both sexes.

Also, there always seem to be more girls on road bikes and hybrids, so how do we get them on the trails?

[JDB]

I've got my female house mate hooked on mountain biking. She had done a few adventure race events on her sisters bike and really enjoyed the riding section, even though it was just fire trails. She was looking at buying a real cheap rubbish bike from Toys'r us, but I convinced her to shell out and get a Giant Alias, not a bad begineers bike. First ride we hit some sweet single track and she was totally hooked, got over the guilts at spending so much on her bike, and even lashed out on some new riding gear.

It seems her friends are a bit jealous of her new bike, and all the stories of adventures of in the bush and are getting keen on the idea of coming riding. At this rate I might be cruising around on the weekends with a harem. :D

[Mandy]

My only question is how come girls only ever seem to get into riding to please or spend time with their boyfriends??? Why don't they do it off their own bat, i.e take the initiative and go try something fun and different on their own, or with other girls?

Not that I care to be pigeon-holled as a stereotyping sexist something-or-other, but from my limited experience this seems to be the norm.

Until i got with my boyfriend i didnt really know mountain bikeing excisted when i was younger i used to ride bmx all day long. So when my bf would go out for rides for a few hours i said what if i come, got a bike went out and then i was hooked! I would say if i had of heard about trails elsewhere i would of got into it because i used to love riding when i was younger and i guess mtb is like grown up riding:p I am still collecting all my gear i am a student so i dont have much money my boyfriend bought my bike and i am paying him back!
Maybe us girls should organise girl rides to get some of our friends into it. Although i have a feeling most of my friends wont wanna get dirty. Like that adventure race a while back at loftus we were behind a couple n the chick was like freaking out everytime there was a mud puddle :o

[kerbdrop]

Plus I understand set up costs are expensive, but have you seen how much they are willing to pay for a hand bag and pair of shoes these days??? Heheh ok now I know I'm due for a virtual slapping!

incidentally, my partner and i were just debating the virtues of blowing our hard earned money dosh on a LV handbag vs new DH bike...

still a hung jury :rolleyes:

maybe we should just buy both and eat crackers for a few months

[scbullit]

Scbullit: perhaps. but it was stillyou who got her into the sport to begin with, right?? :P

Plus I understand set up costs are expensive, but have you seen how much they are willing to pay for a hand bag and pair of shoes these days??? Heheh ok now I know I'm due for a virtual slapping!


Yep - I introduced her to MTB and now i've created a monster - I think i'm
No.2 sometimes

[cleeshoy]

My only question is how come girls only ever seem to get into riding to please or spend time with their boyfriends??? Why don't they do it off their own bat, i.e take the initiative and go try something fun and different on their own, or with other girls?

Not that I care to be pigeon-holled as a stereotyping sexist something-or-other, but from my limited experience this seems to be the norm.

I think my experience is sort of the opposite. I actually got into MTBing with a little "push" from the girlfriend (soon to be wife). I had always wanted to try it but kept "umming and ahhing" over the time to ride/cost of a new bike. When I first starting going out with the g/f, she had a kick-ass Norco and was keen to get back into it. So off we went to the bike store to get a nice bike for me too :)

It's awesome watching my girl ride, especially when you see some guys getting off their bikes on the technical sections whilst she flies straight past them :-) Some of the guys don't like that so they try to overtake her on the flats, but then she just cruises past them up the hills -)

Since then we have both upgraded our MTB's and we have at least one ride together every weekend - it's something we both look forward to after a long working week!

[TerraNik]

I got introduced to MTBing through my brother, but never had the time or guts to go with him!! Then I met my current boyfriend who loves riding and one day he decided he needed a new mtb (his old one was trashed). While we were at the bike shop I made a spur of the moment decision to upgrade from my crap Giant to something a little more appropriate and I haven't looked back since :)

I would love to ride with other chicks, but ultimately I don't give a damn! Riding is too much fun to give up for something as trivial as a couple of guys having a dig! One day I'll kick their butt... just you wait!:D