Outdoor Beginner tries mountain biking for the first time

Before a recent work trip to Fruita [FYI this is my day job], the grantees we were meeting enthusiastically offered to take my boss and me mountain biking. We were going there to learn about a trails project we helped fund, and let’s be real, maps and schematics around a conference table only go so far.

Except I’ve never been mountain biking, and I’m kind of a scaredy-cat.

Sure, I bike to work on what could technically be classified as a mountain bike. But I ride on pretty flat, and more importantly, paved surfaces. Also, I don’t like going downhill quickly.

Being an anxiously polite person, I didn’t want to say no, and I definitely didn’t want to back out since I’d already said yes to a bike ride (because, like an idiot, I assumed he meant on a paved bike path.

Being an East Coast transplant with a complex about not being a “real” Coloradan, I didn’t want to wimp out. Being a person who works for an outdoor recreation-oriented organization with a very high standard of customer service, I didn’t want to turn down our grantees.

But I also didn’t want to make an ass of myself.

So obviously I said,  “Yes, of course, we would love to go mountain biking!!!!” and asked my MTB-experienced coworkers what the likelihood of me breaking my collarbone was. I also crossed my fingers that my boss would not fire me when she realized what I had just signed her up for since she had not ridden a bike since third grade.

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Spoiler alert: We both survived, collarbones (and pride) intact. It certainly helped that we had some of the most genuinely delightful people to ride with who were eager to help us learn, which is all any beginner can hope for.

They made sure we knew not to ride the left-hand brake lever, since that wildly increased our chances of flipping over. Much to my chagrin, they also emphasized that you need speed to get over rocks, and lack of speed also increases your chances of flipping or falling.

This was actually exactly how our grantee’s wife had flipped her bike and broke her elbow. Which she told us the story of as we drove to the trailhead [cue me getting fear-sweats in the backseat].

Despite the harrowing tale of the shattered elbow, this woman was a literal godsend. I would argue she was the sole reason I got through my white-knuckled four-mile loop and was pretty sure I had a great time. Her enthusiastic cries of “Trust the bike! Trust yourself! You’ve got this, you’re doing great!” buoyed me through the rollercoaster of emotions I experienced, ranging from:

“This scenery is stunning and I can’t believe I am here.” (Everywhere I looked)

“I’m going to die, I’m definitely going to die.” (Anytime I went downhill, around a turn, or over a large rock)

“I am such a badass.” (Immediately after not dying in any of the above circumstances)

“This is so fun! I totally get the appeal.” (Flat surfaces with minimal turning)

Fortunately, I ended on “I’m really proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone and for trying this.”

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Willing to babysit me through my first mountain biking experience AND take pictures that make me look 1000% more hardcore than I am? Guardian angels are real, y’all.

I’m not sure I have the… gumption to really get into this sport. But I also thought I would never be one of those idiots who ran up trails instead of just walking, and now I genuinely enjoy trail running.

Which reminds me, just like in trail running, mountain biking’s best-kept secret is that they walk too! The phrase “If you aren’t hiking, you aren’t biking!” was uttered more times I can count, and there was a section of trail that no one in our party biked because it was over their heads.

The biggest learning curve in mountain biking is all the mental effort that goes into it. Steering, shifting gears, maintaining momentum, picking your lines – it’s a lot to think about. When you run, you can just zone out for the most part and put one foot in front of the other. Not so much with mountain biking.

Oh, and my boss? The one who I thought was going to strangle me for suggesting this hair-brained idea in the first place? She crushed it!

The very last part of the trail we rode was a lot of rolling, sweeping turns that were mostly downhill. I was freaking out for most of that section because, as I mentioned before, I am a big baby about going “fast” downhill [see: the number of times I’ve cried while learning to ski].

My boss had a blast and was totally into it, while I was still trying to figure out whether I had enjoyed what we just did or was just riding an adrenaline rush from doing something that pushed my boundaries. We could both agree on one thing, though. Mountain biking is totally badass. And we never want to leave Fruita.

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Campground Guide: South Rim at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

I became obsessed with going to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park because of a poster in my office (this sounds weirder now that I’m writing it down) so I made it one of my first stops on a road trip around the state. It’s one of the few national parks where you can still reserve a campsite in late spring/summer and remains one of my favorite hidden Colorado gems.

Black Canyon is just outside of Montrose in western Colorado. It has stunning scenery and is easy to drive to, close to civilization, and for some reason, not very busy.

Directions

From Denver, the park is a five-hour drive. The drive along 285 and 50 is beautiful, and totally manageable even for those who are new to mountain driving. If you’re already flying to Denver, you could consider a connecting flight to Montrose but it’s typically quite expensive.

Campsites

We chose to camp on the canyon’s South Rim because it’s where all of the driveable scenic overlooks are and is the side most easily accessible from the highway. We camped on the A Loop, which is for non-electric sites. Our campsite was super private, although didn’t have much shade (which turned out to be okay for us since it was cloudy). There was a great tent pad, picnic table, and fire ring.

You should absolutely use the bear lockers provided, but they aren’t at each campsite so you have to share. We just used an empty one at an unused campsite so I didn’t have to go through the horror of making small talk with a stranger.

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Campground Fees and Reservations

Since Black Canyon is a national park, you have to pay to get into the park and pay a separate campsite fee ($16). If you’re planning a trip to multiple national parks in one year, get the annual pass instead of a one-time pass.

When I booked in April, there was still a ton of availability for the entire summer, which is virtually impossible to find at most national parks. Even when we showed up in June we could have easily nabbed one of the first-come, first serve sites.

Toilet Situation

She’s basic. Just vault toilets. So bring your hand sanitizer and headlamp! Vault toilets rarely have lighting or windows, and are literally just a toilet sitting over a hole in the ground. Don’t EVER look in the hole. But don’t forget to close the lid when you’re done to keep the campground from stinking!

Nearby Activities

South Rim is pretty close to the Visitors Center, which is incredibly nice. There are plenty of short hikes you can do right from there, or you can ask a ranger to help you pick out some other options. We decided to just go to all the short hikes for the overlooks, ending with the 1.5-mile Warner Nature Trail that lets you stretch your legs a bit more.

Other Intangibles

The stargazing at Black Canyon is also supposed to be some of the best. It’s a designated as an International Dark Sky Park, meaning it has basically no light pollution and you can see a bonkers amount of stars. I wouldn’t know, because as I mentioned, it was cloudy the night we camped and we saw literally four stars. I’m not bitter, I promise.

Stop at the store at the intersection of 50 and the road that takes you up to the canyon. It’s your last chance for supplies, and looks well-stocked. It closes early, so we didn’t actually go in, but they have an honor system for firewood so you can just leave cash at the door and take what you need (not kidding, I love small town Colorado).

The only drawback of small-town Colorado is very limited cell reception. There is actually a pay phone at the park, but we never ended up using it. You shouldn’t need it unless there’s an emergency, which is unlikely.

If you really get in a bind and need something, Montrose has everything you could need and is only about 30 minutes away. If you’ve hit a wall and don’t want a meal from a campfire, go to The Daily Bread in Montrose and get the Palisade peach shake. Their food is SO. GOOD.

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Overall Impression

The South Rim Campground is one of the few that still have any availability by spring, and it’s not for lack of quality. With practically no crowds, super-private campsites, and great beginner hiking, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is one of Colorado’s hidden gems.

You can also check out a video tour from Campground Recon here on YouTube.

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When will you become Outdoor Intermediate?

I get this question a lot.

I started this blog three years ago, and to some, it might make sense for me to want to move on from the beginner stage. To climb a 14er, or ski some blues, or to at least stop calling myself a beginner now that I know how to pitch a tent on my own.

There’s been a lot of wonderful momentum for making the outdoors more welcoming, but I often feel as if being a beginner is only okay when it’s a stepping stone to being EPIC. Being a slow hiker is fine because it’s how you get to be a fast hiker and how you gain the experience to backpack or run ultras or climb massive mountains.

For me, being a slow hiker is fine because I like to stop and take a lot of pictures. I like to take in the view along the way. I just like a leisurely stroll to be honest (and for the record I’m solidly middle of the pack now, but that makes me slow for Colorado).

And maybe it’s because I live in Colorado. World-class athletes live, play, and compete here, making even my fellow weekend warriors pretty hardcore.

My gear may be getting better with time, but my aspirations to be epic haven’t quite kept pace. Some weekends I just want to sleep in and sit on my couch. And no that’s not a great way to get better, faster, stronger, more adventurous, whatever, but I’m happy with where I am.

To be honest? I’m not sure I ever want to be epic (at least in the Instagram sense). I really like going hiking…for a few hours. I like to trail run too, but half the time I decide to walk instead. I am not sure I like camping enough to do it multiple days in a row. I may never ski anything but an easier blue.

And for some reason, that doesn’t feel like enough. It feels like I’m the only one. I know there are a ton of great groups out there doing good work to give newbies a welcoming place to get started.

But the key word is to get started – you’re not supposed to stay at that beginner pace forever. You’re supposed to move on to climbing mountains, or go backpacking for a weekend, or ski blacks.

I don’t feel uncomfortable because I think I’m not welcome, or because I worry about slowing people down. I feel uncomfortable because I’m perfectly fine with being a perpetual beginner, and I actually don’t want to lose that.

Tone It Up didn’t work for me

Let me begin with a quick disclaimer — I am in no way denouncing all the hot new fitness communities. If they work for you and make you feel good, great! They didn’t do that for me. And I felt like I was the only one in the world that felt like shit about myself while trying to be a Tone It Up Girl. And I don’t want anyone else to feel that alone, so I wrote this blog.

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Good reasons to work out? Because I genuinely enjoy being active and doing things that are physically demanding. Because I want to be stronger so I can do fun things like trail runs and ski and ride my horse. Because I want to be healthy. Not so good reasons? Because I want to “look good” in a bikini.

Despite the positive and self-loving messaging of Tone It Up, I couldn’t help but get sucked into a negative thought cycle. And hating myself for not working out everyday or for eating cheese was no way to live.

I first found Tone It Up through a girlfriend’s social media. I actually started it while I was in a boot for tendonitis. Since I couldn’t hike (or really walk around anywhere outdoors thanks to snow and open-toed boots not mixing well) I thought I could at least workout in my apartment.

At first, their ready-made workout schedules and positive attitudes gave me the structure and support that I needed to start being a bit healthier. At first.

But I got out of the boot, and my ankle wasn’t holding up to the high-impact workouts that are a hallmark of Tone It Up. But each new fitness challenge that came around was my chance to do it right, to finally follow through, to not be a quitter, and to keep up. And look good in a bikini.

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Credit: The Toast // Kendra Wells

I started a special TIU Instagram account to hold myself accountable. I got back on board with the daily workouts. I started eating chia seed pudding and other TIU-approved meals. And really quickly, I actually started feeling worse about myself.

It’s actually really difficult to work out every single day when you work full-time and have other hobbies. When I started falling behind on workouts, even just missing one out of seven for the week, I felt like a personal failure.

Because look at all these other women that were doing it! Women with harder work hours, kids, and way more complicated life situations than me. The community that was supposed to be offering me support and building me up was instead making me feel like a failure for not being able to keep up with them.

Instead of feeling good that I was eating healthier and getting more physical activity, I just stared in the mirror and hated everything I saw. I had scrawny legs. My arms were equally lanky. I had a stupid bum ankle. I was skinny fat.

Almost every meal became a vicious cycle of deprivation, then eating Oreos until my stomach hurt, and then feeling like an utter failure for binging. Pretty soon, I wasn’t actually eating better because I was so obsessed with what I “shouldn’t” be eating that I just binged on those foods anyway.

And I was exercising because I needed to stick to the schedule or I was a double failure. I needed to look different. I needed to look amazing in that theoretical bikini and I was going to be a fatass AND a failure if I didn’t workout today!

I don’t want my life to be driven by an article of clothing or ideas of what my body should look like. I want to workout because it gives me joy, because I like getting stronger, because doing even just one thing that’s physically difficult gives me an incredible feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Credit: Upworthy

Working out as an act of self-love is actually one of the biggest messages I got from Tone It Up, but for some reason, it became twisted into something very different for me.

Fortunately, I ultimately realized enough was enough. Instead of continuing to blame myself and feel like a failure for falling off the wagon, I realized that working out every day is not realistic for me. Three times a week was a more realistic goal. And that was okay. I realized that food was not the enemy, but something that gave my body fuel to do cool stuff. That my measure of success as a human was not a before and after photo series in an effing bikini.

TIU has helped thousands of women feel like a better, more empowered version of themselves. And I’m genuinely so happy for all of them. But if it’s not working that way for you, that’s okay too. You’re not alone and you’re not a failure. You may not want to quit cheese, and you can“quit” Tone It Up.

Beginner’s Trail Guide: Winter hiking at Paint Mines Interpretive Park

Winter means most Coloradans are headed to the mountains to strap on skis. If you’re still in the mood for outdoor recreation but don’t want the 4 a.m. wake-up call that comes with a mountain trip, head east instead of west to Paint Mines Interpretive Park.

How do I get there?

Paint Mines is a free park about an hour and a half southeast of Denver. The drive is super easy, with just the last road to the park not paved. It’s dirt and a little bumpy but does not require four-wheel drive or high clearance.

Where Do I Go?

The entire trail loop around the park is 3.6 miles, most of which is flat, so even if you get crazy and do the entire loop it’s totally doable for beginners. Don’t be intimidated by the massive hill that is the very first part of the trail, just be prepared emotionally to go uphill both ways (just like your parents did in the snow on the way to school, amirite?)

If you’d like a shorter route, head straight to the geological features for an out-and-back. Trail markers are sparse, but follow the blue icons and head right when given the choice.

You can walk into several areas of hoodoos (the geological features), each with varying degrees of “paint” and all very cool. The further you go, the larger the features get and more vivid the colors are. This entire section is flat, and each hoodoo area is a dead end, so you don’t have to worry about getting in over your head or getting lost. You do have to worry about how many times you can say “hoodoo” without your family wanting to kill you.

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One hoodoo dead end. A little bit of snow but a lot of Colorado sunshine.

The entire loop would also make for a great beginner-friendly trail run – you would be able to see the prehistoric area that I missed on our hike. Since I didn’t go there, I can’t vouch for it, but the woolly mammoth trail marker looked pretty intriguing.

What should I wear?

As usual, plenty of sunscreen and a hat. There’s no shade at Paint Mines, making it the ideal winter hike and probably not a great idea for summer. Plus, in winter you don’t have to worry about rattlesnakes which is, you know, kind of nice.

It’s a bit icy in some of the crevices around the hoodoos at the time of year I hiked it (Christmas), so trail runners or hiking boots are ideal. You can definitely get away with regular sneakers, though. The trails are sandy in some spots, but otherwise not technical at all and very easy to traverse. If it has snowed recently, that sandy trail will be muddy, so just wear shoes you don’t mind getting dirty.

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Not all of the hoodoos are colorful, but they are all gorgeous. This guy makes the view nice too.

Is it crowded?

You probably won’t be totally alone, but it certainly isn’t crowded since you’re over an hour from Denver and the nearby town of Calhan isn’t exactly a booming metropolis. Plus, the prairie gets no love in Colorado! Hopefully, this post changes your feelings about amber waves of grain.

There were four to five other cars in the parking lot on the December Saturday that we went, but we didn’t run into any people after we got away from the entrance. You don’t have to worry about other trail users – bikes and horses aren’t allowed, so it’s just you and other pedestrians. Also, dogs are not allowed.

Anything else I should know?

Calhan is a super tiny town, and Paint Mines is located outside of Calhan. There is one vault toilet and a map at the trailhead, along with a trash and a picnic table (again, no shade).

While you’re in Calhan, hit up Roosters Grille in town for lunch. They have everything and actually do it all pretty well. Also, you can be reminded how ancient the youths think you are when you don’t get carded by the 14-year-old serving your table.

Paint Mines is a great beginner hiking spot that’s definitely worth the drive. The geological features are one of only four of their kind that can be found in Colorado, and the wide open spaces of the Colorado prairie lend themselves perfectly to winter hiking.