Phillip Barron
The Herald-Sun
DURHAM — Susan Crosjean of Raleigh practices “popping” her front wheel off the ground again and again. Once she’s comfortable with the move, she aims her bike at a tightly packed row of logs, each 12 inches in diameter. Riding toward them, she gathers speed. She’s cheered on by her friends and encouraged by spotters, who are there just in case.
She lifts her front wheel, then the rear, and rolls gracefully over the stunt.
I ask later whether she’s ever cleared that stunt before. “Never,” she says, “but I don’t let anything stand in my way. I do it again and again until I get it.”
This is a typical evening for the women of GRID.
Just over a year old and more than 100 members deep, GRID — Girlz Riding in Dirt — is a Trianglewide, all-women’s mountain bike club. Last week, GRID founder Peggy Dodge let me tag along at Lake Crabtree County Park with 10 of the club’s members.
I’ve never ridden with a more excitable bunch. Riding through the woods, you’ll hear just as many “Yahoo!” shouts as supportive words. This group hits the trails to have fun.
Experience levels among GRID’s members run the gamut, from newbies to racers.
Right now, “GRID primarily caters to the less-experienced crowd and intermediate riders,” Dodge says. “Let’s face it, for a beginning rider the trail can be very pushy and intimidating.” Membership benefits include “no-drop rides, weekly mailings, bike maintenance and skills clinics, group trips and a great time! It’s very social.”
Lisa Schell of Cary adds another benefit: “It’s nice to be around people who understand it’s OK to have three bikes.”
Encouraging riders like Crosjean to improve their skills in a noncompetitive, friendly, confidence-building environment is exactly what GRID specializes in.
Many of GRID’s riders started mountain biking within the last three years and choose to ride with the club to develop technique. Paula Frost of Holly Springs sports the new woman-specific Specialized Stumpjumper. “Peggy got me into mountain biking,” she says. “She’s very positive; a good teacher.” Three years and four bikes later, Frost says she’s riding ’til she’s 50.
“What? I’m not stopping at 50,” shouts Schell.
Amaris Guardiola, a hard-tail rider from Graham, has been mountain biking since 1996. Echoing a sentiment I heard repeatedly that evening, Guardiola says she used to ride alone, but started riding with GRID for the companionship.
“Everyone’s just so encouraging,” she said.
Schell says her riding improved after her first GRID ride. She raises her voice to announce, “Hey Peggy! Two days in a row, I didn’t fall!”
Yeah… I was the only one who tumbled on the trail Tuesday night.
The guys can join in the fun on any of GRID’s co-ed rides, but Dodge keeps the club focused on women. “I actually established GRID for selfish reasons… I wanted to ride with other women and not just the boys who were so much stronger and more skilled than me,” she told me ahead of time. “Women are more cautious while men approach their riding more aggressively, facing the consequences later.”
If I’d listened, maybe I wouldn’t have ended up face down on a switchback.
Dodge would also like to see GRID expand by developing a team component to the club, “to have an individual who can establish a race program and build membership by recruiting more advanced riders.”
Back at the trailhead, we stand around swapping stories, discussing the benefits of clipless pedals and bashguards, and sharing riding techniques. Just like any other group bike ride, the conversation inevitably turns to pizza. The camaraderie never stops.