Learning to Mountain Bike in Vermont
After a lifetime of saying no I decided to give it a try
I love my road bike and use it frequently. My town doesn’t have any bike paths and lots of the roads are narrow, so I light myself up like a Christmas tree with flashing lights and neon clothing in order to be visible to traffic. I stick to roads that are less traveled by cars and I ride during quieter times of days. My town’s forest is graced with beautiful hiking and mountain bike trails. I’ve hiked the woods many times, but I’ve been reluctant to try mountain biking despite my husband’s encouragement.
I have toyed with the idea of mountain biking mainly because of the allure of not having to worry about being hit by a car, but then when my husband comes home with scrapes and bruises, I decide to stick to the road. He is so gung-ho about it that he doesn’t mind the risk of Lyme disease. He loads up on DEET pre ride, then strips down and throws all his bike clothing in the washing machine as soon as he gets home. My determination to avoid mountain biking was also reinforced when a friend of mine posted a picture of her scraped up, gnarly leg on social media after an encounter with a steep trail and a large branch.
I often bike with one of my closest friends and we reinforce each other’s resolve to avoid mountain biking. Her husband has also suggested that she give it a try. “It sucks to be a beginner at something especially at this stage in our lives,” she says. “Who wants a broken collarbone at our age?” I muse. “Maybe our husbands want to off us?” she suggests.
I have held firm in my resolve for all these years with no reason to change and a close friend to back me up, so why did I find myself agreeing to give it a try on a recent trip to Vermont? I can only chalk it up to our newfound empty nest. Our youngest departed for college this fall, and just like that my husband and I were on our own. No regattas, band concerts or school events to attend, a quiet house and an excess of time and food. This would be a perfect time to break my collarbone!
Thinking about the two of us being together so much after years of raising three kids is unnerving. What are we going to do with each other? Having your kids fly the nest highlights the fact that we are getting older. However, we can’t just surrender to it. I believe we need to keep growing, learning and having adventures to challenge ourselves, and so I agreed to give mountain biking a try.
My husband and oldest daughter conferred with each other and poured over online maps of trails in Vermont looking for the perfect one. They consulted my daughter’s friend who is an avid mountain biker with over 13,000 Instagram followers. (Big whoop – I have 109 followers.) I looked online at some of trails the three of them were suggesting and didn’t like what I saw, so I did my own quick google search and found a picture of a little boy around the age of six wearing elbow and knee pads happily riding along the trails of Blueberry Lake in Warren, Vermont. “This is the place!” I declared. “If this little guy in his dinosaur helmet can do it, so can I.”
My husband looked a little disappointed but ultimately agreed with me. There is nothing worse in my opinion than trying a new sport and going out too strong. Would you take a beginner skier down a double black diamond on their first run?
Blueberry Lake sparkled under the early September sun. The trails are across the street from the lake, so we hopped on our bikes checked out the map kiosk and found our first choice “Tootsie Roll”. I was banking on the belief that you can tell a lot about a trail by its name. Tootsie Roll sounded sweet and cute like all the little kids who must have tried it out before me; none were around because it was mid-week in September, a perk of being an empty nester with flexible work times. Best of all, no one was around to witness my mistakes. Oh yes, there would be mistakes.
Tootsie Roll led us through the woods to an area that was field like. The trail was narrow with tall grass on either side. I was rather annoyed by the narrowness of the trail. Why wouldn’t it be wider to accommodate novices like me? My husband informed me that it was a great way to experience single track. I stopped complaining and tried to enjoy the experience. It was flat so that was a major bonus. After circling around the single-track field area, the trail veered towards deeper woods. I had to look down as I rode over roots and rocks, but it was manageable. My husband reminded me to keep my hips back, weight in my feet and shoulders down. “Oh c’mon! I have to learn a new way to ride a bike?!” I exclaimed. Apparently the answer was yes, especially when it came to more significant hills which, in my opinion, had no business being on a trail called Tootsie Roll.
Keeping up my speed going uphill was a challenge because my instinct was to avoid going gang busters on my first experience. A couple of times I had to stop in the middle of the uphill, and I felt like I was going fall backwards down the hill. Thank goodness I didn’t. Downhill was tricky too because I didn’t want to go arse over teakettle. I felt like I had a bit of an advantage in this area because I have womanly hips to help weigh me down. Finally, an upside to big hips!
We did our first loop of Tootsie Roll, and I was sweating profusely. This was definitely a workout. My husband suggested that we loop around again unless I wanted to try a different trail. No way I was going to venture off Tootsie Roll anytime soon and risk something harder! He gave me a few tips about switch backs, but I honestly can’t remember what to do about those. Speed up, slow down, who knows?
The Vermont woods were beautiful; we passed by streams, crossed over little bridges and only saw a few other riders. I hadn’t clipped into my pedals like I’d normally do on my road bike, and I’m glad I didn’t because I could easily get a foot on the ground if I needed to stop, which was frequently. I was proud of myself for conquering my fears and trying something new. It felt good to push my limits. The big question is would I try it again? I think I would as long as I could seek out easy trails without much vertical. Perhaps my rule of thumb will be to stick to trails named after candy.
GENERAL TIPS:
- Don’t clip in on your first attempt mountain biking
- Wear DEET especially if you’re in an area known for ticks
- Bring water and a snack; you’ll need it afterwards.
- Load the Alltrails app on your phone to avoid getting lost in the woods.
- Wear a good helmet, and consider one with MIPS technology like this one from Smith. You only get one brain (cue eyeroll from my family).
ABOUT BLUEBERRY LAKE TRAILS:
Blueberry Lake is in Warren, Vermont and is part of the Green Mountain National Forest. It’s hard to believe this beautiful and pristine lake was man made. When you drive up to the parking lot on Plunkton Road you may notice a gray fox standing by the edge of the lake. On our recent trip there we had our daughter’s Goldendoodle, April, with us. She sat passively in my lap as we exclaimed about the fox who was stock still in a rather aggressive looking stance. We took pictures and urged April to look; she couldn’t be less interested, which is surprised us. We thought April had poor eyesight or was a little mentally lacking. When we returned home we told our friend who had recommended the lake to us about our excursion. “Did you see the fake fox?” he inquired. Okay, so we are definitely getting eye exams after mistaking a decoy fox for a real one. Also, we apologized to April for thinking she was a dumb dog. She is way smarter than us!
There are a multitude of activities to do at Blueberry Lake including:
Mountain biking
Swimming
Boating and fishing
Paddle boarding
Hiking
Cross country skiing
Snowshoeing
Ice skating
***If you like to read about my adventure biking through Tuscany click here or biking to Jamestown, Virginia click here and remember to subscribe to my blog in the upper right-hand corner so you don’t miss any of my posts.
