I Am a Mom of two in Rural North Carolina—and I Discovered Freedom on a Mountain Bike

Rising up in western North Carolina, within the Qualla Boundary—also known as the Cherokee Indian Reservation— was very similar to rising up in any small, rural mountain city. We discovered to like one thing about each season. We harvested ramps in spring, caught lightning bugs in summer season, ate chestnut bread on the Annual Cherokee Indian Honest every fall, and begged our dad and mom to take us sledding off the Blue Ridge Parkway in winter. A lot of my summer season breaks from college have been spent digging for crawdads underneath creek rocks and tubing lazily down the Oconaluftee River. 

This space—about an hour west of Asheville, within the Nice Smoky Mountains—can also be a haven for mountain biking. Although I’ve lived right here all my life, I by no means thought of strapping on a visored helmet till eight years in the past, after I was effectively into my thirties. I had two children, and was 60 kilos obese, depressing at my job, and struggling to publish my first novel. I had additionally been recognized with anemia. At the urging of buddies, I turned motivated to attempt a brand new sport (I’d been a longtime basketball participant, however my knees couldn’t take it anymore). So, across the similar time I began getting common iron infusions, I took up mountain biking. 

At one level, I instructed a nurse to not fear if my pulse was elevated—I had simply gotten off my bike. “Mountain biking? That appears so scary,” she mentioned. I scanned the ready room; many of the sufferers have been hooked as much as IV strains and oxygen tubes. Virtually each different particular person was combating most cancers, simply as my mom had years in the past—earlier than it took her. I couldn’t assist considering: No. That is what’s scary.

Many individuals consider mountain biking as an excessive—and male-dominated—sport, and it definitely could be. However I got here to like it for what it gave me: freedom. I bought right into a routine, belting out glam-metal songs like Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” On the market on my bike, alone, there was nobody to care if I sang off-key or set free an occasional whoop of pure elation.

On the path, I used to be now not outlined by my relationship to others, as mom, instructor, daughter, or spouse. I used to be outlined as a substitute by how sweaty I bought climbing uphill, and how briskly the wind blew throughout my physique on the way in which down. My favourite place to experience was, and stays, Fireplace Mountain Trails, an 11-mile community within the city of Cherokee. The packed-clay paths wind via a forest of tangled mountain laurel and rhododendrons that come alive with pastel colours within the spring. Outfitted with handlebar lights and a headlamp, I got here to like evening rides, which frequently featured sightings of owls swooping for prey.

I used to be lucky to have many native bike and kit retailers, like Trade 9, Cane Creek, and Movement Makers, to assist with repairs. Many retailers, together with BCOutdoors, in Cherokee, additionally provide leases, so guests are capable of hit the paths as effectively. When it’s time to hop off, I like to go to Innovation Brewing, in Sylva, for a beer and food-truck burger, or BCOutdoors, which additionally has a taproom. 

Two ladies, colleagues from college, taught me to experience. Every week, we might meet on the paths, distant from the stresses of labor. Ultimately, I made extra buddies and discovered the worth of a using neighborhood. The realities of contemporary life and conflicting schedules typically imply grabbing a solo experience every time I can. A good looking factor about these trails is that they’re secure sufficient to experience alone, and social sufficient that you’ll typically run into buddies alongside the approach.

Whereas I cherish my adventures with fellow cyclists or on my own, the sort of experience I treasure most is with my two sons: 12-year-old Charlie and 16-year-old Ross. I watch nervously every time they navigate a rocky edge. However after they scream with delight as they catch a bit of air, I’m reminded of the liberty I first felt on a mountain bike. To listen to my son shout, “This is superior, Mother!” could be the biggest present these trails have to supply.

Mountain biking isn’t scary, like I used to assume. However it’s excessive. Excessive pleasure. Excessive residing. It’s excessive sufficient that I can hurl myself headlong down a slope, lose a bit of management, mud myself off, and carry on going. 

A model of this story first appeared within the June 2025 situation of Journey + Leisure underneath the headline “Journey Just like the Wind.”