This past weekend was definitely an interesting one. It started out a little rough… Allan and I have been sorting through some things in our relationship… figuring out where we need work, where we can be better, and what we can do to improve it. We rarely fight, but when we do it is usually short and sweet. I don’t see fighting or working on your relationship as a weakness… I’ve always seen it as a strength. Although obviously there’s a lot more to it, I think we’re at a place now where we know what we want to improve and we’re taking the steps to do that. Just shy of three years together, I know he’s the one and I’m really excited to see what happens.

So, in the midst of one of our biggest fights ever on Saturday, Allan had the brilliant idea of getting out of the house, getting some fresh air, and taking out our emotions on Mother Nature instead of each other. We called it “throwing ourselves down a mountain instead of at each other”… It was a great idea. It was an absolutely stunning day in Vancouver… blue bird sky, no clouds in sight and very warm.

We decided to go downhill mountain biking. Allan’s been doing it for a while, but me… yeah, it was my first time. It seemed like a good idea in my head. I had an idea of what it would be like, and it seemed like it would be fun. So we grabbed Allan’s bike, rushed out to the North Shore and rented a really nice hard tail downhill bike for me, and geared up and hit up Mount Fromme.

Here I am pretending to have thrown Allan off the mountain. As I mentioned, I’ve never mountain biked before. I’ve also never really BIKED before. Like, street biking. When I was younger, I biked about 4-5 times around the neighbourhood. I bought a cheap bike in university but rode it once. I’ve always felt uncomfortable on a bike and in fact, I’ve told Allan and I would never get into mountain biking with him in the past.

But in the heat of the moment, I did it. And you know what? I loved it. It was really difficult… I went from never being able to even go off a curb on the street in a road bike to bouncing down and off stones, riding “skinnies” (as seen here), and hopping up over roots, rocks and other natural obstacles.

It was a blast… but way scarier than I ever imagined. I thought it would be dirt paths… not huge roots, rocks, and tiny precarious wooden slatted bridges to ride over. Downhill mountain biking is definitely NOT the same as street riding or even trail riding.

Allan was great though. From a relationship level, it was great to have him teach me and communicate with me… we also ended up talking a lot about our relationship and figuring a ton of things out during the experience.

I also learned that fisheye cameras make your chest look great. LOL.

I loved the bike that I rented.

I still have a lot to learn. I know it’s not going to be as quick a learning curve as snowboarding, but I know I can do it. You really need to be able to conquer your fear and go fast… you can’t just inch along… you have to just go for it and accept that you may crash (and hopefully be wearing the appropriate gear to handle a crash).

I rented my bike from an amazing bike rental shop on the North Shore called Endless Biking. They only rent out top-end bikes and have a great selection. They really take the time to custom fit you and make sure your bike is appropriate for your size and skill level. Allan and I drove around a bit on the North Shore looking at different bike shops… but we both realized how ridiculously expensive it is to purchase a brand new bike. For a low-mid range bike, $2000 barely covers it… even if you custom order it yourself off eBay, Craigslist and build it yourself. At least for the kind of bike I want. So what I’ve decided is to continue renting from Endless Biking. The bike they rented me on Saturday was a $4000 custom bike kit, and at $35 a pop for 4 hours, it would take me over 100 bike rentals to make up the cost of the bike. It’s a freakin’ amazing bike. And let’s face it… Allan and I won’t be biking 100 times a year when we have surfing and snowboarding to do. So for now… it seems like a good solution until I decide I am ready to buy a good quality bike.

Do you do any mountain biking? Where do you normally go? What kind of bike do you have?

On Sunday, we did a bit more biking and then returned the bike to the shop. Then it was off to Mother’s Day festivities! We picked up some simple flowers from Thomas Hobbs for mom and grandma.

Then we headed over to the UBC Golf Course for Sunday Mother’s Day brunch with Allan and the family.

It was great to spend some time with my family and my mom… I’m so thankful to have her in my life and I know she’s sacrificed so much to raise my brother and I. So thank you Mom, for everything. You’re amazing.

And here’s my wonderful 94 year old grandmother. She’s absolutely incredible. I hope to be like her one day. She still gardens, goes lawn/carpet bowling a couple times a week, goes to church and walks around all the time. Amazing at her age! She’s so healthy, happy and kind. Thank you Grandma for being a wonderful Grandma!

How was your Mother’s Day?

Tags: biking, downhill, Endless Biking, freestyle, grandma, mom, Mother's Day, Mount From, Mountain Biking, North Shore, Sunday brunch, trails, UBC Golf Course

This entry was posted on Monday, May 10th, 2010 at 11:44 am and is filed under Mountain Biking, Vancouver. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.