Fen

I went on a group ride a few weekends ago to open a new trail system. I actually prefer to ride solo or with close friends, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone and give it a try. I'm an ok, but not great rider. I prefer the trails I l know well, and these were new, plus they start with a climb (not my best skill). I emailed the ride leader ahead of time to make sure that all skills levels would be welcome. Ride leader say "Yes! We're going to split into a beginner and an advanced group. Please come!" The person I'm planning to go with wakes up with a head cold and decides to stay home, but I decide to go anyway. (Challenge by choice and all, right?) So I get there and see a few people I know. There's three female riders out of the dozen-ish who are there. Myself, a teenager (who I know slightly, our daughters are friends) and an accomplished trail rider (who I also know, she's taken me out a few times to coach me). There's also an older dude on borrowed MTB who mentioned he's primarily a roadie, and this is his first group trail ride. I try to be friendly and make conversation telling him that I am thinking of getting a road bike.


We start. I'm near the back with the teenager, the roadie, and and the sweep (who I know pretty well). We climb and climb. The teenager gets off to walk. The roadie says "OMG! This is so different from road biking!" and gets off to walk. I get off to walk. The sweep (who knows the trials well) is very encouraging and is calling out warnings. (Mud ahead! Rollover to your right! Stream crossing soon! Log bridge! The best line is to the left! Shift! Steep hill! Sharp curve halfway down!) The faster riders stop at an intersection and wait for the slower ones.


We all catch up and decide to break into three groups. I always knew that I was going to go in the slow/beginner/shorter ride group. The fastest group takes off. The middle group has some conversation about who is continuing with them and who is breaking off to loop around and go back to the trailhead. We all ride together for a while. I get in front of a guy I don't know and apologize when I slip in the mud and make him stop behind me. He's super nice "Don't worry, you're fine. My wife won't even get on a mtb."


The middle group goes on and then it's me, the teenager, the roadie, and the sweep. We're all pretty evenly matched, and take turns in the lead. I joke to the sweep that he's never going to take us out again. He laughs and says that's not true. He's having a great time and getting to practice his coaching skills. The roadie asks if the sweep and I are married. We say no, we are friends though, and and he says to me "Oh, I thought maybe you came on the ride because you were married to to the sweep." (As if I wouldn't just be out on my own?)


Then the roadie starts asking me questions. How old am I? How long have I been riding? Suggests that perhaps I would be better off on a road bike "where you can see what's coming up and prepare for it more." Then says "I see that you can get over the hard stuff, then you stop. You need to keep going." Keep in mind that he 1) had the opportunity to leave our group 2) isn't any better than we are. I resist the urge to say "At least I haven't crashed, but I see your leg's a scratched up mess" (that would be uncharitable, I know)


Anyway, perhaps it's just a chip on my shoulder and my own insecurities, but dang....