Something different: Mountain Biking

 So on Saturday I gave mountain biking a crack.

There's a pretty big mountain biking scene here in Townsville, but up until Saturday I'd stuck to the road. Not really sure why I've only been a roadie up until now. I did fall in love with cycling watching the Tour de France, so maybe that flavored my cycling efforts.

I had two good friends, Sue and Lee, who were keen to take me out and show me the trails. So I blagged a hardtail MTB off another mate, and set sail to Pallaranda, a semi-isolated suburb of Townsville wedged between the ocean, the mangroves, the wetlands and the bush. Pallaranda is fertile mountain biking country - a web of trails has been established across the local escarpments, and there's everything from beginners trails through to quite technical terrain. 

Sue and Lee are regulars on the trails, but they took it easy on me and we kept to the beginner friendly terrain. That said, there was no shortage of rocks, gravel and sand, so I got something of a feel for what mountain biking is about.

 

The bike was pretty easy to come to terms with. It was running 3x8 Shimano XT  gearing. It had a set of decent shocks on the fork.  I was running 2 inch tyres, 26 inch wheels. Old school MTB though.

Newer bikes, like Lee and Sue's duel suspension bikes, run larger wheels and much wider tyres (2.4 inch width, Lee's 27.5 inch diameter, Sue's 29 inch). New school gives you a more comfy, smooth and grippy setup. The duel suspension also means you soak up the lumps a bit more nicely.

 Even so, I was quite amazed at what my old school MTB coped and coped well with. There were a couple of gravely bits and rocky patches that I was quite nervous pedalling into, but the MTB just sailed thru. I was still riding like I was on a roadie.  

Lee & Sue also ran 1x12 gearing, which makes loads of sense. When you're dealing with rough terrain, you need your shifts to be crisp and smooth. Not exactly the strength of the front derailleur. I spend the whole trip in the middle ring as I had zero confidence in front derailleur shifting. It just screamed dropped chain.

About halfway through the ride I stopped being quite so worried about the gravely bits and rocky patches, trusted the bike and started enjoying where I was riding. We went from beaches to mangrove swamps to wetlands. Bird life was plentiful. It was, in a word, beautiful. Sue was able to pick out a rather cool Frogmouth when we were rolling through a lightly wooded area toward the end of the ride. All very cool. 

I'd racked up about 22km when we got back to the cars. Mountain Biking (IMO) isn't though about epic kilometers or building your FTP. For me is was about transplanting something I really love into a super enjoyable setting. In this case with two great friends. 

I see more mountain biking in my future.