The Vicarious Experience of Photographing Mountain Biking

Local mountain biking group offers events for riders with wide variety of experience

I don't have a mountain bike. It's probably a good thing seeing as 1) I regularly wreck my road bike on straight, paved, and unobstructed trails; 2) I already don't have time for the bajillion activities I already do; and 3) they're expensive and do I really need another expensive hobby? But McCrae mountain bikes and I'm always jealous and slightly terrified of the bent wheels he brings home from rides or the insane Rampage videos he likes to show me to simultaneously make my skin crawl with fear and my eyes go wide with excitement.

So recently when I got the chance to take photos of mountain biking at Lake Crabtree that anticipation and excitement welled up. On Saturday there was a TREK Demo Day where riders could show up, put on a helmet, and take a fancy new bike for a ride. I caught some action shots while McCrae pedaled around on a bike that he maybe kinda sorta definitely wants for Christmas now.

And then on Tuesday evening after work I met up with a crew of riders from Triangle Off-Road Cyclists (TORC), which is the local mountain biking group. They were having a women's specific ride at Lake Crabtree and by the time I rolled into the parking lot I was breathless with excitement to meet up with them.

Y'all. I have never met a friendlier group of awesome female adventurers. This was a crew - a group of advanced, intermediate, and beginner riders who laughed and smiled and stuck together throughout the ride and who welcomed me warmly. They talked me through the trails and features they planned to hit up - some of the single-track trails, the pump track, the jumps, and the ETD (elevated trail design, aka cool berms and rollers) - and they were awesome the whole time on the trail. Intense. Expressive. Excited. Exciting. I am thrilled to offer these photos to Wake County for their revamped parks websites and brochures, and I'm so excited to share these photos with TORC and the rest of you. Enjoy!