First mountain bike ride:

[Pain Freak]

Where?

Group or solo?

How long?

Anything unusual?

[ShinKen]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

Where? The Loop

Group or solo? SOLO

How long? 7 to 8 miles

Anything unusual?I was lost and didnt know the whole route!! it sucked ass!!

is that what u want?

btw did u hook me up on that one thing?

[LBmtb]

Nice topic, Mike. I'm sure they'll be some good stories.

I was taking a fitness for living class at school and wanted a hobby to help me work out. This was about two and a half years ago. Figured that I liked nature and used to like riding my bike as a kid so I settled on trying mountain biking. Went to Jax and spent an ungodly amount of money on a bicycle ($350). My first ride was El Moro with my trek 3700 and dragging a small belly. On the first climb (fireroad - no dogs?) I had to get off and walk more then a few times and was amazed by anyone who was cleaning it. The challenge and the views took my breath away though, it was unreal.

Then on that one steep downhill with the braking bumps I hung on for dear life but didn't make sharp right turn at the bottom and ate sh!t. Blood was already down to my sock when I got up, and the seat had jammed up into my stomach. Somehow that made me smile though. Perhaps it was the thrill of doing something more adventurous then tennis (although I did tear up my knees diving for a ball during tennis) or maybe just the fact that I had found my current limits.

The singletrack before deer canyon campground painted the biggest smile on my face. Then that steep climb after the campground just awed me. "How the **** can anybody climb this?" It's cool remembering that now because just the other day I accidentally climbed it in the middle ring (thought I was in a different gear, figured my tire pressure was low or something when pedaling took more effort).

Walked just about all of rattlesnake which back then seemed unreadable. And again, it's pretty sweet looking back and seeing my growth as a rider.

Went home that day exhausted, bloodied, and dirty. But that one ride instilled a fire inside me that will never be extinguished and my life hasn't been the same since. I think that's the same type of fire that drives all of us to do the crazy and illogical things we do

[Jordansrealm]

First ever? Would be back in 1988 if I recall in Big Bear. Rented some bikes with the family and did some really simply fireroad type trails.

[Neccros]

Originally Posted by Pain Freak

Where? Santa Ana River trail... to HB though! (not really a mountain bike trail, but I did it on a full suspension!!

Group or solo? Solo

How long? 45 miles round trip

Anything unusual? Just walked funny afterwards!

Why is this message too short? hmm whats up wit dat?

[Innes]

Where?
1996 Trek 850
An old strip mine just south of Pittsburgh, PA

Group or solo?
Solo

How long?
11 miles (Man, I was sore)

Anything unusual?
Oddly enough, I came across a pickup and there was a couple having sex in the bed. I was a little embarrassed and it was the only way by, so I just went for it with a friendly, "Good afternoon. Have a good one." I never went back after that.

[jinks]

sweet thread! My first ride was in '89 when I was in 10th grade. My older brother went on a ride with a friend the week before and couldn't stop telling me how much fun it was, so we went to Performance, and I spent $200 on a steel hardtail, which I still have.

There were quite a few of us on that first ride mostly newbies, and we went up San Juan of all places! I remember having to walk around all the switchbacks and that I was having a blast. We probably didn't ride more than 4 miles up and back total, hehe.

The most memorable moment on that ride was that my brother fell off the trail. I remember watching him tumble down and down and somehow he ended up standing, but the bike landed on top of him. He was fine, amazingly. And we kept on riding. I was addicted to it from the get go!

[gecallo]

First ride was @ Del Cerro on a Trek 4300 (w/ V's)...technically, it was mostly a hike-a-bike, but my ass was on the saddle a fair amount of the time...

For those who are not familiar w/ the Cizzle, there are two entrances into the area from Crenshaw Blvd. (to my knowledge anyway)...Either way, you're starting your ride on a descent...Theres the main gate entrance into the main fireroad, and then theres the ST entrance (just off of Crenshaw Blvd.) which leads to some switchbacks and more ST...

Instead of making my way through the main gate like most people...for my first time ever I decided to follow this one guy through the ST entrance...once I hit the switchbacks, the noob in me was sooooooo evident...@ that time the terrain seemed so steep and rocky...My brakes got a hell of a workout that day...got off the saddle a lot...and by the time I reached the bottom of the descent, I was just physically and mentally drained...not knowing what was in store for me if I continued on the trail, I decided to hike back up and call it a day...oh, and by the way, the hike back up was just as much fun as going down...

[Skeeter]

[FONT=Arial]Well I had this awesome aluminum mountain bike, but I was trying to ride nonetheless around my house on little trails. Thankfully a buddy of mine had this black Gary Fisher lying around and insisted I needed a better bike and I could have this old bike that he never rode anymore. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]So I was pedaling around my neighborhood on little trails, going no more then 3-5 miles on each ride. Unfortunately this was too much for my now wife to handle. She insisted I find some other people to ride with before I kill myself out there.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Then I came across this website called SoCalTrailRiders.org and the people seemed nice and they invited me on this weekend ride. Now up to this point I had put maybe 15 miles on my “new” Gary Fisher, but thought how bad could this be; there’s a whole bunch of people going and I’ve never ridden this trail called San Juan so this should be fun. Fast forward to 5 hours later and we're finally getting back to our cars and I can barely pedal my bike. I covered more miles on that one ride then I had ridden total on my bike before. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]This took place about a year ago and it was TurnerRobs San Juan shuttle ride. It included Rob, Brett, Aldo, Lance, George, Matt and I know some other people but can’t remember all of them. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Ever since that ride I have been hooked.[/FONT]

[FyrFytrRyn]

Where?
loch leven/old 38 on a full rigid specialized.

Group or solo?
group

How long?
like an hour of climbing and however long it took to get down.

Anything unusual?
not being a big fan of water at the time, i took kool-aid. well that was 7 years ago, and i havnt had kool-aid since.

[spookydave]

1986 at Fun Land in PV. That spot is now condos I think. I was riding my old wallmart style bike. Upgraded to a Canyonsnale / cracknfail later on that year.

Of course I rode my 20" orange peeler out in the woods all the time in the '70s if that counts.

[Pain Freak]

Great stories, I was kind of hoping to see this. For myself similar to some: Where: Chino Hills

Group (3)

Distance: about 5 miles up Telegraph

I decided I needed to do something now that I'd quit smoking. My mother had passed away not to long before and it was a direct result of her smoking that led to her death. I also went down and plunked 350 dollars on a hardtail Specialized Rockhopper (was I crazy spending this kind of money on a bicycle?). I had been bugging a co-worker to show me about mountain biking as I had been watching guys ride behind my house where I use to live in Castaic and it looked like so much fun. Well, they got me out there and I showed up with sweat pants (it was a little chilly). My friend asked if I had any shorts and I thought he was nuts. I told him it was to freekin cold for shorts. We started out and I thought this was the hardest damn thing I'd ever done and how was that fat bastard staying ahead of me? I was dying! I was gasping so hard I thought I was going to puke. I didn't think I could do another pedel stroke. I was loving it and I was hooked! That ride lasted 2 hours and I've been hooked ever since.

We saw a bobcat that day along with some deer and a couple coyotes. The bobcat was the first one I'd ever seen in the wild.

That day as he asked what I thought of mountain biking and when I told him I loved it, he asked "Are you some kind of Pain Freak"? And that's what my group called me for the rest of the time we all rode together.

[P-Funk]

Mine's the same as Pain Freak.

Telegraph - up to 4 corners and back. I just about threw up (hard to believe, looking back now)

summer 2000

1999 Trek 8000

Solo

[UseItOrLooseIt]

Aaargh, god, all you guys got these awesome stories, but all I did was meet a guy named ben n rode mt. ashland!

[Flat Broke]

Where?
Fun Zone/Fun Land/ Point Vincente Lighthouse/old target range for the Navy. Back in 88 on my 20 and then 92 on my ol' GT All Terra

Group or solo?
With my super sporticus bud Eric Von Rykenhiemer

How long?
Probably 20-30 trips up and down the roller coasters, a good hour watching Eddie (Crew Jones) Fiola clear a then HUGE gap up on top the fun zone on a full suspension rig with spinergy CF wheels. My buddy and I got turned onto the place by some highschool friends. Some of us raced BMX, others just rode a lot. One of the guys in the group had a Trek mountain bike and I remember teasing him about being a sell out... until he would ride right past me going up to the top of the roller coasters and wipe the floor with me on runs to the suicide jumper spot and back. Shortly thereafter, the rest of us hung up the 20s and started riding Mtn Bikes. It was cool to be able to go faster down hill, but then we needed to upgrade to suspension forks. I blew a months worth of paycheks to get an Answer fork, swap the MCU for a coil setup, and then always have to dick with the stupid caps with the little clips to adjust the preload. But nothing was as cool as the feeling of clearing the tables at the top of each section and flowing that 20 seconds of all out racing to the end of the actual roller coaster part, then linking the line to the little DJ area near the cliff. My first and still best MTB memory. I can still smell the coastal chapparal when I think of it. For many years, we would go through spells of riding the lighthouse a couple times a week while school was out, and late in the evenings during the summer. One of the most frustrating and perspective gaining moments in my life was when we went back after not going for a while and saw that they had started grading for homes. The greed of developers had destroyed a place that was a home away for home for hikers, dog lovers, bird watchers, whale watchers, and a bunch of kids and guys in their early 20s looking to get rad with their friends. I know my buddy and I both felt real bad that we hadn't ridden the spot more immediately before it was developed and lost forever.

If you've got a favorite spot, ride it as often as you can and appreciate each ride as if it's your last. Because if you live in SoCal and aren't riding in National Forest, odds are you will one day have the same feeling as my buddy and I when we found half of our favorite line flattened for a house for some cocksucker who had no idea that his little investment came at a price much higher than his f'ing mortgage... F'n Yuppies.

Anything unusual? Asside from seeing a BMX icon ruling the place on what was then a top of the line MTB rig, and falling in love with riding a bike in a whole new environment? Nah, not really.

Chris

[Pain Freak]

Great story, Chris, thanx.

[dstepper]

When I first got my bike I was riding the pavement around my house to get stronger, then I asked my friends to take me to the dirt. My friends were not kind to me on my first dirt ride. They took me up Cholla, down Rockit, up Mathis, down Links...telling me that they were easy trails....I still have issues.

More evidene that mountain bikers are nortorious liars.

[gurp13]

You know, I'm not sure I can remember my first mountain bike ride specifically. Back in 1994, I wanted a mountain bike. I bought a Trek 830 Mountain Track. I think my first ride might have been at Carbon Canyon/Chino Hills. I didn't really know of other places to ride. I think I rode Seco Canyon in Pasadena. So, rather than a "1st Ever Ride" I can give a collection.

I remember thinking that Northridge was the longest grind ever. I can remember putting down 5-8 miles along Telegraph and Southridge and thinking that was a killer ride.

My first indication that I had some fitness to attain was in January, though. I had started riding again in August '05 and bought my new Stumpjumper a few months after that. Up til then I'd been riding my bike on the road a lot and on the fireroads in N. Fontana. I was in such bad shape when I got on my bike again in August that I rode it 3 miles uphill and it took me almost an hour because I was going so slow! So, by January I thought I was doing better. I took a ride in Marshall Cyn with Epic Mountain Biker after finding this site. We went about a mile and a half doing about 7mph and I thought, "I hope he tires out soon!" No dice. I thought I was going to die by the time we had done 5 miles. Then, I started hearing you guys talking about 15-25 mile rides and I knew I had work to do. Since January, I've put over 700 miles on my Stumpjumper and over 300 miles on my Trek commuter. Good stuff. Thanks guys for a great hobby.

[Schecky]

Great topic!

First Mountain Bike ride ay?
Well, technically my first ride was in the 70s when I rode my yellow Huffy BMX bike down the dirt side of the Seal Beach Blvd FWY overpass (near where Spagatini's now is).
Held on tight and ended up in the bushes.
The guy next door (a rabid roadie) patched my tires afterwards. I ended up with 42 thorn holes in the front and 53 in the rear one.

For a mountain bike:
Where?
Carbon Canyon Park, 1988

Group or solo?
Group. I went with a co-worker who rode a lot. I had been road riding but hadn't hit the dirt yet. My ride was a piece o' crap MTBike that my sister had gotten.

How long?
Hour and half maybe. We explored the pine grove, the dam and the hills around the grass area.

Anything unusual?
There was a bunch of that sugar cane-like weed growing along the base of one of the hills. Big long 7' wide tunnels had been cut that were a blast to scoot through.
A week after the ride that bike was stolen. I went to Buena Park Bike and bought my first real MTBike, a Cro-moly Diamondback.
It was like a light went on.

[royta]

April 1993

Yreka, CA - Humbug Hurry-Up Short Course

Solo

16 miles

I had only owned my brand new 1993 Specialized Rockhopper Comp for a week. It was a rigid steel bike with 24 speed gearing. 12-28 cassette and 26-36-46 rings. I didn't really know the route, other than the downhill dropped off the fireroad to the left. I was 20 and had spent my childhood walking forests by myself when deer hunting, so despite the fact I'd never been in this area before, I wasn't worried about getting lost. The ride starts out with about 2000 feet of climbing on 6 miles of fireroad in the hills to the West of Yreka. I had to walk a few sections. They weren't bad sections, it's just that this was my first climb on a mountain bike. The downhill was crazy. I didn't know to hold the grips lightly, and I suffered massive forearm pump. Still, I was completely hooked, and high as a kite from the experience.

I really want to get back there for a week and map all the routes that got me hooked on biking. I want others to experience the same trails as I did. Of course, they won't get the same thing out of them that I did, but it's still fun to share.