Friday, April 15, 2011

Photo Friday: Riding

I appreciate those who bother to check on these updates. I'm SO sorry I've been lazy about posting weekly. 

Thank you for sticking with me. 

The challenge for this week's Photo Friday was "Riding". I had so many awesome ideas in mind for this photo. I wanted to incorporate cycling but not in the typical way. I decided to show riding without actually showing any riding. What are the essentials for a good bike ride, besides the actual bike? The things that are essential to me are my bike shoes, my bike gloves, my helmet and water. One could argue that you could do without one or two of these things but to have a good, safe ride, you should have all of them. 

Then the question was, which style of riding do I show? Mountain or road? I decided to go with mountain. All the necessities are the same, the shoes are just knobbier. I chose mountain biking because it is my preferred type of cycling. 

Yeah, yeah, I got into cycling via road biking (and the MS150 to be exact) but my loverly then b/f (now husband) pushed and prodded and nagged and gingerly suggested I try mountain biking. Eventually I made a deal with him. He had to ease me into it by taking me on the Umstead bridle trails at least 3 times before going with me on the Crabtree Lake trails *by our selves* for my first time on "single track". I think I got two rides in Umstead in before he dragged me to a group ride at Beaver Dam near Oxford. Let me tell you, Beaver Dam ≠ Crabtree Lake. At that time, Beaver Dam was around 10-12 miles long, Crabtree was maybe 5. Beaver Dam has this section called "The Drop Zone", Crabtree....has an optional tricks section. I was doomed.

Luckily that not-so-ideal first try at single track didn't make me swear off mountain biking. After several repeat outings and eventually a new bike (holy crap my Santacruz Blur is my hero) I was good and hooked.

Road biking is fun and all and you can go way faster on a road bike (and typically way farther). But there's just something to playing in the woods that I've always enjoyed.

I think I've yammered on enough. Below is my submission to Photo Friday (though I actually missed the submission deadline).


Now I want to go ride my bike. 

This weekend I'll be attending my brothers wedding shower. I hope to sneak a few photos of the ridiculously happy couple and then maybe I'll share them with you all. 

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

-Liz DiNatale

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