Okay, so I’ll admit it. Before you think I am some burly girl that was cranking up a dirt climb, I wasn’t. I was on my feather-light road bike with smooth asphalt, so it shouldn’t have even been that hard. The grade was steep in parts, so I guess I can feel good about that. But I just grabbed onto the hoods and put my full body into it, so having something like bar ends does help.

Regarding dancing and mountain biking, thanks for a great idea on a blog post! You’re so right about different styles depending on the instruction and terrain. I will connect the two in the future. About clips, I can’t live without them…road and mountain. They have changed my pedal stroke immensely, and bring so much more power. Even changing from mtn. clips to road clips on my mtn. bike made a difference because of the bigger pedal platform.

I’m glad you’re on the mend. Dancing is so therapeutic no matter what, where or how. I have a friend that I go dancing with to “get lost in motion”. It fills me with a joy that heals and energizes. Makes me happy to be alive…

My road race is Memorial Day. 50 miles mostly climbing up two mountain passes to Silverton, CO. I hope all this hard work pays off. Thanks for your support!

-tell me you have bar ends at the tips of your bars for using during such serious climbs….you have them right? So often when I come out and rent bikes out by you they do not have them already on the bikes. I can send a picture of what works for me, should you be interested.
Similar to when I got into Swing dancing in the late 1990’s ( as the whole country did after getting pumped from watching the GAP Swing commercial) there were lots of different styles of the same dance depending on what part of the country you were in, I think there are different approaches to this sport of mountain-biking.
2 things that help on climbs is being clipped in with those shoes that merge you to the bike (if not these, then you must have toe clips) as these give you the ability to propel the bike on the up stoke as well as the down stroke and bar ends. When you grab onto the bar ends on an ascent, you create torque as well as it pushes the back wheel into the ground for more digging power.
Thanks for sharing you jubilation re: your achievements, with riding, in nature, as, as you know, I can relate. I have been a little under the weather the last few days but broke out of it yesterday and had a similar feeling of being reborn….Oh, and I actually was dancing around my studio to loud music as part of that too now that I think about it. -it felt like how eating feels right after fasting for a few days.
So let’s both take out new found energy and apply it to propelling us towards our current goals. When is your race?

-good luck, E.