Mountain Bike for Her Issue 4 - Dec/Jan 2015 | Seite 30

finally settled in California.  I spent the
rest of my childhood in the same house
and neighbourhood. Later, I started
mountain biking in the hills behind my
childhood house, and then in my twenties
I moved to my own apartment. I went to
college and lived in a few different places
in the area, but never very far from my
childhood home. I continued riding on
the same trails for few more years until
my husband and I had the opportunity
to move to Colorado. I was unsure of the
move because it would be big change
from where I was currently living, but we
went ahead. We decided it was worth
the risk of moving to a place that we
had never been to, and I had no idea if I
would even like living there. 
At the time I was not very confident
about this move and why not…it was
“over the hills and far away”! Further
thought grounded me in the reality
that Colorado is the mecca of mountain
biking and I am a mountain biker - why
shouldn’t I like it?  There were positives
and negatives about my Colorado move
but in the end I learned a lot, made a
few mistakes, felt the pain of adaptation,
rode cool, new trails and saw places and
things I never would have seen had I not
taken the plunge.
Next was an opportunity to move to
Arizona, which brought its unique take
on living. What an amazing place! Two
years later, I found myself once again
back in California, about an hour from
my childhood neighbourhood. This time
it only took a couple of years before I
found myself longing for new scenery. I
was tired of my area, I was bored with the
same old trails, and I was feeling restless
for new adventures. I found that I was
craving the thrill of a new place to live
and ride; some place new where I can get
an unsettling feeling in my stomach of
getting lost on an unknown trail, have my
heart race as I stare down an unfamiliar
Mountain Bike for Her | P. 30

downhill, where I don’t know every line
and may crash on the way down because
of a huge rut I didn’t know was there.
I realized now the nervousness and
uncertainty I had felt when my making
my decision about moving to Colorado
was actually good for my soul and good
for my riding.
Next time you are on a ride look long
and hard at the trail that lies ahead and
ask yourself does this trail make your
pulse race, palms sweat, and put a stir
in your soul? Even though this is your
523rd time down it? Be honest… it’s
probably not giving you the same vibe
it did so many seasons ago. So maybe
you need to think about changing out
the scenery, moving to the next level. Of
course, moving just because you crave a
new riding spot is neither practical nor
feasible but in a sense the trail represents
your life path: your job, your family, your
sense of well-being. 
The trail is only a part of your new
life, where everything is shiny and fresh.
Perhaps for many of us, becoming too
comfortable, content or uninspired in
our environment can be stifling. People
crave new experiences, good or bad;
we all want to fill our lives with exciting
or challenging activities, which I think is
why we are mountain bikers in the first
place. We are adventure seekers who
love to fly down dirt trails with nothing
but a thin piece of rubber between us
and the ground. We fight gravity to climb
through pain and heat that would make
most people cry, but we only think of
the summit. We love to get dirty and
love to push ourselves to the point of
exhaustion. We crash, get hurt, heal and
come back for more. We mountain bike
because we don’t want to subscribe to
the dull scripted life everyone else seems
to live.
A few months ago, my husband and I
were once again looking hard at the trail