“Airbnb’s are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get” – Not Forrest Gump
After Hamilton, New Zealand, our next stop was Rotorua, about an hour and a half drive to the southeast. Even though staying at Airbnb’s is sometimes a crapshoot, we were fortunate enough to stay at a lovely guest house on a farm in Rotorua. Even better than the guesthouse that had a view, loads of animals and fresh eggs in the mornings, was our helpful and accommodating host that would check on us every morning to see how everything was going.
Early one evening, we had started chatting with our host Margie about what we had experienced so far and what we were hoping to accomplish on our short stay in Rotorua. Margie, an avid outdoors adventurist, mentioned that mountain biking in the nearby giant redwood forest was not to be missed.
As she continued to talk to us about it, you could see her face gradually light up with excitement all culminating at offering to take us out for a ride, “If we were up for the challenge” she said through a grin.
Always up for a challenge when it comes to trying new things, I fearlessly raised my hand as if I was sitting at a desk in school. Just some background information:
- I had never gone mountain biking in my life.
- The last time I even rode a bike was probably a few years ago
- I had no way of knowing how intense this ride would be
You know that saying, “Just like riding a bike?” Yeah, that doesn’t apply here.
The time had come to meet my new friend for our mountain biking expedition into the forest high above the town of Rotorua. Margie luckily had some extra bike shorts (the ones with the butt pads!) so I totally looked like I knew what I was doing. Suited up with my butt pad shorts, special sneakers that clipped into my fancy borrowed bike, and a lovely helmet with the essential GoPro attachment (Charlie insisted that I wear it to get footage of my ride), I was ready to take on the mountain!
Slowly my naive idea of our “fun and easy-going” trail ride started to fade away as I realized what was to come.
This nice little ride in the beginning wasn’t even the trails yet…it was the road to get to the shuttle that takes you up the mountain where you start your descent.
Realizing we were about to miss our ride, we raced up a hill just barely catching the shuttle for its’ last trip up the mountain for the evening. I tried not to look at the almost full bus of riders anxiously awaiting to start their ride as they were detained even longer by us trying, rather tiredly on my end, to toss up our bikes onto the trailer
My holy shit moment was as I plopped down next to Margie wiping my forehead from the exertion I had already endured in just the first 20 minutes of this experience. “I need to work out more” I audibly huffed speaking to no one in particular.
After a much-needed rest on the 20-minute ride to the top we retrieved our bikes and hung back letting the experienced riders ahead of us. While hanging back, I noticed a little girl with her parents, no more than 1 ½ years old, in her own little baby helmet about to take on this mountain. My thoughts were, “Oh cool! I wonder what kind of baby seat they have for her?” and how maybe I should look into biking more at home and could even bring Emerson along.
As I looped around the lot trying to psych myself up for the ride ahead, I looked around to see what kind of cool seat they have for their baby. Holy Moly, I was floored at what I saw. Yes, the baby did have a “seat” but it wasn’t the kind that I thought she would have. Attached to her father’s bike on the frame near the handle bars, a little baby bike seat was there and her own little handle bars coming off of the bike.
My mouth had to have been gaping wide open at my surprise, and to be honest I envied how cool this baby looked. She looked like a champ who mountain bikes daily. Just hanging out on her seat with hands properly placed on her own little handlebars and ready to charge the trails.
Then there I was, a grown woman feeling nervous about this bike ride in the woods and riding around a parking lot talking to myself, “You got this, you got this.”
Finally, ready to get this show on the road, Margie picked out a Grade 3 trail for us delightfully named “Corners”. Creeping up to the start of the run Margie gave me a few words of encouragement and then we were off. Right off the bat my left hand squeezed that brake as I eased into my first downhill slope, and subsequently my hand stayed there the entire time I rode down.
Feeling the dirt slide beneath me as I reluctantly rounded each corner, I kept telling myself “don’t fall over”.
Picture if you can trails that are no more than 2-3 ft. wide and all that lies between you and the cliffs’ edge is a nice little mound of dirt. As I started to gain a little confidence and I would pick up speed and momentarily feel a sense of exhilaration, but then was promptly met by terror and a need to slow down. A roller coaster of emotions to say the least.
Knowing how far down we still needed to ride, I took a deep breath and decided this mountain wouldn’t beat me. I was finally getting the hang of it! Like most things, it’s a balancing act of speed, brakes, body position, and trusting the bike to do its job. My humbling moment came when a rather large turn approached and I rode up the turn bank and forgot what to do next. I proceeded to fall backwards and flip the bike over on its side. It felt like I was almost in slow motion, and I’m sure I looked graceful as well.
Taking a moment to sink in what just happened, I couldn’t stop laughing. Luckily, I wasn’t hurt at all and once I got that fall out of the way, the rest of the ride went smoothly. I was able to relax and enjoy the immensely beautiful scenery all around me. I will never forget everything I saw and felt that day, one for the books for sure. Besides the utter exhaustion by the end of the ride, my first mountain biking experience was a success. With all of the ups and downs (literally), I must say it was one of the most exhilarating things I’ve done in my life. Thank you Margie for a great ride! Needless to say, I’m hooked on mountain biking for sure and maybe one day I’ll look as cool as that one baby.