X at Swope

X, the gf, was thinking about doing the Spoke Pony mtn bike race at Swope this Saturday so we headed out there yesterday afternoon to do some pre-riding. She's never ridden any of the hard sections of Swope... so i was a littler nervous. Plus she's only ridden her mtn bike on mtn bike trails about 8 times... so i was a little nervous.

Swope is hard, i think.

I figured that after riding it she wouldn't want to race. I was wrong, kind of.

Long story short, she was doing great and we were almost thru all the hard stuff when she fell and thought her elbow was broken. I quick trip to the ER concluded that nothing was broken, thank god, and she could get back to kicking ass on a regular basis. Well, maybe she needs to baby her sore elbow for a bit so i seriously doubt she'll be racing at swope on Saturday, but she'll be kicking ass again very soon.

With a little more practice she could handle a race at swope no problem. I was surprised at how quickly she picked it up. Maybe she's got the natural skills required to be a good mtn biker, maybe her 29'r makes it easier to get around at swope, maybe it's awesome.

She does have some trouble shifting, which i find hilarious, but i guess if your brand new to mtn bikes and never use those type of shifters it would take some getting used to.

Mountain bikes rule, see y'all Saturday. I feel confident enough out there... but three hours of racing the swope trails is going to kick my a**. If i can clear 8 pin just once without putting a foot down i'll be a thrilled, but i'm fully prepared not to be thrilled.