News

Jul 11, 2023

Betty Diaries: 50 first mountain bike dates

Opinion Opinion | Aug 3, 2023 [email protected] If you live in Park City and are single, the odds are good that you’ve had some kind of first date that involves the great outdoors. Last winter, I

Opinion Opinion | Aug 3, 2023

[email protected]

If you live in Park City and are single, the odds are good that you’ve had some kind of first date that involves the great outdoors.

Last winter, I tested that assumption when I wrote about the phenomenon of the ski date. I talked to friends and friends of friends, male and female, straight and gay, married and single. And the ski-dating stories came in hot.

After that, I figured ski dates aren’t the only hot topic in Park City. What about mountain bike dates?

I put the question out to my friends.

My friends told me, if you want to meet a guy, you need to downplay your mountain bike skills. OK, fine. So I had a date with this new guy and we decide to go mountain biking. I told him it was my first time …

“I would never go on a first mountain bike date,” one of them said. “Of course, it’s been suggested, but I always suggest something else.”

“I avoid them at all costs,” said another. “At least until I can keep up. Give me a year.”

But not everyone shies away from shredding outside their comfort zone. So, stories … I got stories. Like before, they’re all true. But the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

BIG GUMMY ENERGY

It was the morning after a big night on Main Street. We were riding up Armstrong and I ended up throwing up on the climb. Yeah, I was hungover. Yeah, I know — classy. He gave me gummy energy pieces so I would feel better. That was the first and only date.

BE THE BIKE

This guy I knew was visiting Park City and wanted me to take him mountain biking. I got him all geared up at White Pine and we headed out. We took Skid Row up from the Rail Trail. He was pretty winded. But, to his credit, he made it up. Then, I lost him on the downhill. I told him the key was to pump the brakes and let the bike take him over the rocky parts. I waited at the bottom for awhile and eventually went back uphill to search for him. I found him walking the bike down. To this day, he claims I was trying to kill him. Thirteen years later, we still ride together, but we stick to paved trails.

JUST KIDDING

My friends told me, if you want to meet a guy, you need to downplay your mountain bike skills. OK, fine. So I had a date with this new guy and we decide to go mountain biking. I told him it was my first time. He rented me the bike, the helmet, he even got me clothes. We start riding and he’s all excited, saying “Don’t worry, just do what I do. You got this!” He takes me up the easiest trail you can take. At the top, he says, “Now there’s gonna be a downhill and I’m gonna film you!” So he goes down and gets set up for the video. There’s like five guys at the bottom and he says, “Listen, I’m trying to teach this girl mountain biking, so when she comes down, can you please clap for her?” So I start ripping and one of them goes, “Dude, we know her! She’s a professional downhill racer!” He was not amused.

YOU’RE WELCOME

I really liked this girl and took her mountain biking on the Bobsled trail. I’d just moved here and that was the only trail I knew. Unfortunately, that was way over her head for a first mountain bike ride. She pretty much walked the whole way down. And a year later, she came out of the closet. I’d like to think I had a hand in that.

GET UP, GET DOWN

For the first time in my life as a 37-year-old man who’d previously dated women, I met this guy and completely fell in love. He knew that I also loved mountain biking and talked all the time about how much he loved it, too. So we decided to go up and ride the trails at Park City Mountain. Long story short, he was the worst mountain biker I’ve ever seen. So I said, Why don’t we put the bikes down and go for a hike instead. From there, let’s just say we got lost in the woods. I mean, he couldn’t get down the mountain, but he sure could get down with me.

MY BRAIN IS MUD

So I really liked this dude I met online. In his profile pics I could see he was an awesome mountain biker. I was super intimidated, but agreed to a mountain bike date on one condition: we would need to shuttle. So we left my car in the parking lot at Snow Park and drove with our bikes in his car all the way up to the parking lot at the Mid Mountain trailhead. It started to rain as we were riding through the woods and that was actually so romantic. Then it started to pour. I wiped out on one of the berms and we were both covered in mud when we reached my car at the parking lot at the bottom. He kissed me and I remember thinking, This is the best mountain bike ride I’ve ever been on. I reached in my pocket for my car keys and that’s when I realized it. I’d left them in the back of his truck at the top of the mountain.

SO THIS IS LOVE

This was more of a MTB phone date. I’m new to the sport and was out on a solo ride. I got lost and was bushwhacking on private property. To be honest, I freaked out. I called my guy Jim, who happens to be a professional mountain biker. And basically, I’m babbling stuff like “I’m in the middle of the effing woods, I saw a snake and I think — a bunch of bear crap. Was on some private property and crashed. Somehow I avoided a second crash but I got air and my foot unclipped and I fell on my lady parts. Then I screamed out loud when two trucks passed me. Then it was stunning (this is where I literally texted him some pics) and then I stopped taking pictures because I was in the thick of it. I’m walking up some super steep single track because I thought I’d crash again.” And then I did crash again. And he’s like “Victoria, you need to chill out and control your mind. You’re in it and there’s only one way out.” The best advice ever, just not in that moment. He tells me ass back, head up, weight in the pedals. He tells me I need to be prepared. He tells me I need to be in control of my mind. He also tells me I suck on the bike. I guess that’s love, right?

As the Belgian pro cyclist Johan Museeuw said, “Crashing is part of cycling as crying is part of love.” One minute you’re up, the next you’re down. There are risks. You put on your helmet and knee and elbow pads, but there’s no bubble wrap to protect your heart. Still, that doesn’t stop you from putting yourself out there. Because there is always another mountain to climb. And another dizzying, glorious, sometimes incredibly messy descent.

Aug 3, 2023

“My friends told me, if you want to meet a guy, you need to downplay your mountain bike skills. OK, fine. So I had a date with this new guy and we decide to go mountain biking. I told him it was my first time …”

Aug 2, 2023

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