Well, it's 2007 already. Last year went past really quickly, as they seem to do! girl+bike is getting along steadily, but we've got some big and exciting plans for the coming year.
travel... trips... interviews... women's specific skills camps... loads of fun and more. We are looking forward to sharing it with you all. And plenty of riding in there as well - of course!
Today was my birthday, and to celebrate this girl plus her bike, and her boy plus his bike went to check out the recently opened Eagle Mountain Bike Park on the outskirts of Adelaide. With kilometres of nicely winding singletrack, the park is a huge asset to the bike community in Adelaide, not to mention the wider community, making it easier for people to get into mountain biking in a purpose-built, fun environment. Trails are rated green (=easiest), blue (=moderate) and black (=hardest) making it great for riders of all levels of skills and fitness to find a trail that they can have fun on and gradually build up their skills.
I was excited to take my new Specialized Stumpjumper Women's FSR Comp (check it out here ) out to play, and it (Bella) had a great time too. Compared to the men's Stumpy, which I had previously been riding, the women's design is a bit shorter in the top tube, and has a slightly shorter wheelbase which I find much better for handling. It climbs well (pity I don't at the moment!) and it great around tight, twisty tracks. I used to feel like I was constantly wrestling with the men's Stumpy (in the same size as my new women's model) where my new one feels much more intuitive and glides along the trails.
The park has some great XC singletracks, as well as a DH course and a couple of other technical runs, all of which I will have great fun exploring in the coming months... looking forward to it, that's for sure.
I'll post some pics up soon of my new Stumpy!
Until then, good times and happy riding.
Don't forget to check out www.girlplusbike.com if you haven't already, and tell your friends about it too!
