This page is not for those that get out and jump rocks and or shred trails. It is more to encourage those that are older and fatter to get out and give this sport a try. It is more fun and less dangerous (done right) that you might have thought.

I used to ride these same trails with my sons when they were kids. Long before it was called "Single Tracking". It had been over 20 years since I was on that trail.

October 2017 I went Single Tracking in Castlewood State Park with my oldest son Tony, youngest son, Jesse, and grandson, Eli. I hope I did not slow them down too much, because MAN! THEY CAN SHRED! They were Hoppin' Rocks (JUMPING HIGH!) Mastering HILLS! And cornering like mad! Oh it was fun! Now I want a bicycle with Full Suspension!

As soon as we got home from riding with the kids in Castlewood, we started shipping for my Mountain Bike and Deron and I started building trails on our South Dakota property. Here are some photos of our walk out to look at the trail to use that our horses and goats put in. You can see that our ATV went straight up that very steep hill, we will be cutting into it on a slant with our bicycle.

With the just over 1 mile we walked, plus if we go up our driveway (and it is steep too 1/4 mile long), around our Ski/Snowshoe trail, that will put us at about 2 miles with the Lollypop trail we scouted. That should get us going. Since it is Gumbo Soil...wear us out.

I had, for a while, pondered if a Fully Suspended Bicycle would stop some of the knocking around I was getting out here on the Prairie when we ride it. This is the weirdest soil...and when washboarded, and hard, like torture! So I started talking to Bike Shop Salespeople about just what a Fully Suspended would do for me, how they work and such.

We went to a Bike Store and really started looking at Mt. Bikes.....HOLLLLLY CATS! Prices, from $2100 - $15,000! Yeah, you read that right. SOME OF THEM YOU HIT A BUTTON ON THE HANDLEBAR AND THE SEAT GOES DOWN! HIT IT AGAIN AND IT GOES BACK UP! Hydrolic! Why? To get it out of your way to get your butt down over the back wheel and to lift up on the handlebars to go over stumps and logs and such.

They had a KOOOOOL Mt. Bike on sale, marked way down, a LIV Red/White/Blue......LOVED IT! Deron said it was painted like a Super Hero! $2100! Yeah..... a No. I was looking for the.....$400....seems those are now outdated. <sighs> Like me I guess!

Still looking. Deron is doing the research and reading on line reviews.

I went back and made a low offer on the new, but 2016, LIV. No counter offer. Besides. I had looked at another and thought I liked it better anyway....that was not to say, at that point I was not going back to make another, higher, offer on the LIV. So we went to the next Bike Shop and made an offer on the Scott I had fallen almost in LOVE with....counter offer made.....here we go...

2017 Scott Spark 720 Contessa!
Yes. It is mine! And. It has the 'Lock Out Shock Shift on the Fly' AND! the 'Seat Post Dropper'. Features I did not know I needed til I tried them!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ME! from Deron!

This Scott has Orange Trim, so although mine came with pedals, I am probably going to be replacing them with an BRIGHT ORANGE SET! It already, now, has a BRIGHT ORANGE Water Bottle Holder.

Wanna Know What Stinks! It was raining when we bought it, so I have not ridden it since we bought it (written later in the day 11-1. I had ridden it the day before around town in Rapid. We stayed over night, then I rode it again the next morning, just on the sidewalks again, before the sale and the rain came (during the sale) again! DANG IT!

The shocks were adjusted for my body weight.....he told us why.....Deron heard him......I heard.....'blah, blah, blah', like in the Charlie Brown cartoons for adult voices, I was/am so excited.... Seems Deron now needs a new tool (along with a new Mt. Bike, ey?).

Here I am with MY New Bike, Why am I not riding? Town Clothes, good/new Coat, and rain.....I did not want the permanent marking from the wet streets up my back.

So there you have it, my new Rocking Chair......I am NOT chasing my youth!.....I AM ENJOYING IT! I could live to be over 100! You never know! The old and true, "Use It Or Lose It!"!

And. I bought this guy for the Handlebars (It's a Mt. Bike, so....cockpit). I am going to pull his guts out (stuffing), and make a bicycle bag for spare tubes and tools.

A couple/few years ago Bicycling Magazine sent me a booklet on Mt. Biking. I read it. I read it again. I learned a few things. I sure wish I could find that now. I would like to read it again....but I can not. I saved it for sure.... Well? You know how that is...

So I bought this book, in the photo. We shall see what is inside of it.

Early Nov. 2017, Deron and I went for our normal bicycle ride in Rapid City on the Bike Path, then veered off onto the Mt. Bike Trail, M Hill. We did not ride it long...before I was out of breath! We were on our Fat Bikes.

We only rode...just over a mile or so, maybe two....AND IT WAS A LOT OF FUN! We had already ridden over 10 miles before we hit the Mt. Bike Trail....we are old, we usually ride about 12 miles when out.

The Trails are wider, much wider, on M Hill in Rapid City South Dakota than in they are in Castlewood State Park in Missouri, but still challenging. Castlewood also has more obstacles, trees, rocks and stumps and roots.

Yesterday we took my New Bicycle back to Rapid City to ride M Hill. There is also this area with more 'technical' type riding....we went there too.

My poor bicycle! It is so disappointed. It was hoping for a 'Rad' College Kid.....not a Grandma!

HOOOOWLLLLING CAAAAAATS! This Bike WANTS to Jump. The front wheel not only comes up super easy, it comes up without asking it to on Alley Oooops (what Deron and I call those hills after hills).

I learned something about Mt. Bike riding on those Mt. Bike Obstacles......Keep your mind on what you are doing. Don't let your mind wonder to, "Oh ^&%# !, I did not bring my elbow and knee pads!!", and or, "I need a Mouth Guard, I really REALLY need a Mouth Guard!". I did NOT go down, but could have. But I Stopped. But then I backed up, cleared my head and continued......kinda half (she lying, 3/4's) scared!

OH MY GOOOOOODNESS! THAT BIKE! MONEY WELL SPENT! OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE! THAT DANGED BICYCLE! Talk about feeling like a kid again!

I CAN NOT WAIT. I CAN NOT WAIT! That is. After I buy that Mouth Guard, TO GO BACK AND DO IT ALL AGAIN AND AGAIN!

Finding Big Foot in the woods is what a lot of people look for! I found mine at Cabelas, on sale!

I thought he would be adorable on my Handlebars/Cockpit holding, in it's belly my Spare Tube and a Few Tools.

I split it's back open with scissors, shoved as much stuffing as I could into it's hands and legs and head (so that it stays upward, not hanging), and pulled the rest of the stuffing out of the body.

I pinched the body side of the arms and legs, sideways, and stitched them by hand. The long fur was not being nice to my sewing machine. Sideways so that the legs and arms would be more outward than downward.

I took a small piece of fabric and sewed it into place, by hand, to hold the stuffing up into the head.

And added velcro closure to each side of the hole I made by splitting the seam of the stuffed animal.

I will use a longer piece of velcro around the handlebars to hold the Big Foot in place. I will not cut the pieces too short or sew them to the stuffed animal. That will allow for more, or less, items inside the body for the rides.

The area should hold a Spare Tube and a few Tools inside the body of the Big Foot.

We took a trip down to MO to see the kids and were lucky enough to get to ride with them, even if only a few miles, on the Castlewood Trails.

Please join us in the Yahoo! groups discussion for Does My Butt Look Big In The Saddle.

-- The Does My Butt Look Big In The Saddle Team
Wed, 08 Nov 2017 11:52:45 -0500