Getting Muddy w/my Trek Fuel EX8

Tiger Mountain (just right down the road from me) has some of the most popular mountain biking trails in the Puget Sound area and I finally succumbed to its lure and bought myself a new mountain bike. I remember my first ever mountain bike - a Specialized Rockhopper purchased way back in the early 90s. Wow, has the technology changed over the years - back then, my bike was hard everything...hard-tail, hard-fork...nothing fancy except the fat tires on a stiff cromoly bike frame. Thank goodness the shifters still operate the same way today so it's one less thing to re-train myself on. But, I remember how I used to lose all sensation on my fingers and counting my teeth at the bottom of runs to make sure they were all intact from all the jostling and shaking.

When I was out shopping for a bike, I thought I could just get away with a hard-tail. "No way" was the response I got from everyone I talked to. I must say, I'm glad I listened to them and got a full-suspension Trek Fuel EX8....I know, another Trek (that's 3) but I also tested out Specialized and Gary Fisher and it was close. I literally picked the one I could go home with that day....and, the Trek was ready. I'm really excited about being able to manipulate the level of suspension on my fork and and on my rear (from full to none). Sweet!

Lately, I've been spending time at St. Edward Park, a nice little park with some short, twisty singletracks where I can brush up on my technical skills like maneuvering around or over rocks, roots, and logs. Today, I met up with the Seattle chapter of the Lunachix and rode Tokul West located in Fall City, WA. OMG....so much fun! We did a lot of climbing....I'm better at that with all the endurance I've built up from road cycling. However, I'm still very tentative on descents and with each ride, I build more confidence. Today, we only did 10-12 miles, but with all the climbing and pedaling at a higher cadence, it was a pretty good workout. The thing that I find more exhausting was just how mentally alert you have to be on your entire ride. When I'm on my road bike, there are times where my body is on auto-pilot and I just pedal while my mind is miles away.

It's been raining a lot this spring so Tokul West was extremely mucky which made the terrain more challenging than it already was. I slipped a lot on the roots and puddles hid a lot of rocks and roots. As you can see, my bike is stark white! I'm happy to report that that is no longer the case. My skills are still very rusty but it's all coming back to me. However, I'm going to have to accept the fact that I am going to have to endure a summer of bruises and cuts on my legs as I shake the cobwebs. But, the full-suspension is a huge difference, and, it's so plush!! The only thing that hurt after my ride were the cuts and bumps on my legs from the little spills I took on the trail.