Spreading the Sickness

Sunday I took Elias on his first mountain bike ride to Lebanon Hills Mountain Bike Park in Eagan. The beginner loop at Lebanon is a nice introduction to mountain biking. It is approximately one mile long of really nice singletrack with some tight, twisty turns, short climbs, rocks, roots and a couple wooden bridges.

The trail starts with a slight downhill and some moderately tight turns right off the bat. I got a little nervous as Eli was swerving from one side of the trail to the other, legs dangling off the saddle and feet off the pedals. I was just waiting for him to plant and big fat kiss on a tree. Luckily for both of us he quickly got control of his bike, got his feet on the pedals and just like that he was off. Showing no fear Elias attacked the trail. He stood to power up climbs and leaned into corners like he had been born to mountain bike. There were a few rocks that knocked him off his rhythm and one climb that required a hike a bike, but other than that Elias cruised around the loop like a pro.






After a short bio-break we were back on the trail for lap two. And that was when Elias was truly baptized into the religion of fat tire riding. A two foot log lying parallel in the trail caused Elias to experience his first digger. He didn't go over the handlebars as his uncle has so gracefully mastered, but his front tire did skid out from under him and in the blink of an eye "The Natural" was a heap on the ground. I only laughed a little, then we fist bumped and I told him "welcome to the club."



I dusted Elias off and we continued on our way. The crash didn't seem to affect Elias much as even he commented on how this lap was going "way faster than last time." He managed to tell me this in between stories about how bad his feet stink when he sweats and doesn't wear socks. And wouldn't you know it, Elias decided not to wear socks for the ride...

As we approached the end of the second lap the mountain bike gods decided to test how tough Elias really is. The forest gnomes kicked a rock out on the trail that Eli must not have noticed and he got slammed to the ground. This crash was a little more serious than the first one and the grimace strewn across Eli's face told me I should probably hold off on the chuckles for a bit. I will have to hand it the gnomes, they got Elias pretty good: knocked the wind out of him (quite possibly the worst pain in the world), a skinned up knee, and not one, but two blisters, one on each thumb. After a few minutes of recovery time we finished up the lap and headed back to the car to rest up and see if we would head out again. I was pretty sure we were probably done...



When I asked Elias if he wanted to go out for a third lap or be done he responded "I want to go back out. I have to see if the crashes were my fault or the trails." Nice! We jumped back on the bikes and were off. Elias was understandably a little tentative at the start of the third lap, but he was also stating to pick up on some other techniques: using both brakes, standing on downhills to help absorb bumps with his legs and he got really close to making it up the climb that we had to push up each time. And he conquered the last part of the trail that slammed him on lap two.








I had a great time riding with Elias and I was super impressed with how much he improved so quickly, not to mention how he got up and continued after a pretty wicked spill. Hopefully I have found a new riding partner.