Guy needing help with a place to take his girlfriend mountain biking

mudmav

Likes Dirt
Hey girls

I read the thread about guys posting in the girls forum and that made me laugh, i promise im not one of those teenage boys trying to pick up!

Anyways, i have been riding downhill and XC for years and i know all the normal places around my area which is south eastern suburbs of melbourne (lysty, yarra trails, westerfolds, doongalla, so on and so forth)

My girlfriend has been doing some longer Rail trail rides with me on her CRX Flat bar road bike and she wanted to start getting into some offroad riding with me.

I have been reading lots about not pushing her to hard and not riding off on her, taking our time and making sure she enjoys herself.

Last week i picked her up a womens 2010 Giant Alias for a ripper cheap deal and now she wants to come trail riding with me.

What i would like to know is can you girls recommend somewhere good to start thats not to techinical as she has basic skills but not alot of confidence and i dont want to scare her off.

I dont mind travelling for the right place and would appreciate anything you can reccomend.


Thanks

Andy
 
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Cypher

Likes Dirt
I would say do two types of rides...

Do long rides on nice single track for the sheer fun of it.

Then on alternate rides do ones where you work sections. Every time she looks like getting of and walking spend time re-doing the section until you ride it. It makes for a stoppy-starty ride, but really helps your skills.

I've been doing this a lot recently for technical ups. You get lazy, and steppy ups are really hard!. Now my partner is relentless. If I get off, I need to go back and give it another go (It's easy for him - he was a trials rider when he was younger). The results are good :)

You'd be amazed at how fast you can go when you don't have to get off (often). ;)
 

Kris_on_1

Likes Dirt
I can give you plenty of suggestions for Canberra, not going to be much help with Victoria.

I'm with Cypher, alternate the rides so she gets used to the bike moving under her and how much fun it can be, and throw in the odd technical section without inundating her with them.

Perhaps a small section of a track you enjoy riding, even if it means taking firetrail to get to it. There's nothing wrong with doing small fun sections over and over to build confidence.

One of the things I've found with the women's rides we've been doing is that women will say they are fit - until it comes time to ride a bike up a hill on the dirt. Completely different level of fitness required to get to the enjoyment factor.

Alternatively, find her a club that has women's rides and suggest she try these to build her confidence away from you to save an potential embarrassment issues. Or since you've gone and bought her a bike, why not go the whole way and find her a skills clinic she could try.

You've got the right starting approach, so she'll be fine.

Good luck
 

lucyg

Likes Bikes
I reckon Lysterfield is a great place to start. Nothing too intimidating, but plenty of smooth single track, and obstacles once she gets a bit more confident. Coffee and brownies from the cafe are a bonus. They also have women's rides which go from Trailmix at 9am every Sunday - it can be more fun getting your confidence up by riding with other girls than riding with a much more experienced, faster partner.

If she is keen, I'd also recommend doing a beginners skills course - I did this when I started riding a year ago and it was invaluable.

Good luck!
 

MrsH

Likes Dirt
Lysterfield is good; the girls ride is great but not just beginners so can be fast (they wait though)
I would say You Yangs also - the Kurrajong trails are easy and fun.
If she is interested in coming out with some girls let us know I'm a fan of low key, no stress rides :)
 

Katdog

Likes Bikes
Yeah the Kurrajong side of the You Yangs is great for everyone. Nice smooth flowy single track that is easy when done slowly, and gets harder (and more fun) the faster you go. There are a few different loops that feed back to the car park so you can do as much or as little riding as you like. It also holds up to wet weather surprisingly well.

Lysterfield is a good option too. Slightly hillier, has a few more logs and can get a bit muddy and slippery compared to the You Yangs.

Logs, rocks, sand, muddy ruts, crowds, tight corners and steep hills can be intimidating when starting out and are probably best minimised until you build some confidence up. These are good things to introduce and work on one at a time with some easy fun stuff in between.

There's nothing wrong with fire roads to start with too.

I think there's a lot to be said for women's trail rides. She may not think so but she will be fine. She has some basics and has a bit of fitness from rail trail rides. That's more than enough to join in on these rides.
 

mudmav

Likes Dirt
Thanks for all the reply's girls headed up to you yangs today and rode the kurranjong plantation with the girlfriend and we both had a great day she really enjoyed herself and is keen to go again.

The only bad point of the day was when Jess got confident enough to take the lead on the way back to the car park and middle of a corner at speed she screams out snake!!!!

I hit the anchors (as she runs over the snake) i stop and end up with an angry brown dnake about 2 feet infront of me!!!

Few deep breaths and a few slow steps backwards and the snake retreated to the bush
 
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