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 faculty had 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 be a haven for mountain biking. Though I’ve lived right here all my life, I by no means thought-about strapping on a visored helmet till eight years in the past, once I was nicely into my thirties. I had two youngsters, and was 60 kilos obese, depressing at my job, and struggling to publish my first novel. I had additionally been identified with anemia. At the urging of pals, I grew to become 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 identical time I began getting common iron infusions, I took up mountain biking.

At one level, I informed 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 had been hooked as much as IV traces and oxygen tubes. Virtually each different individual was combating most cancers, simply as my mom had years in the past—earlier than it took her. I couldn’t assist pondering: No. That is what’s scary.

Many individuals consider mountain biking as an excessive—and male-dominated—sport, and it definitely might 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 an alternative by how sweaty I bought climbing uphill, and how briskly the wind blew throughout my physique on the best way down. My favourite place to trip was, and stays, Hearth Mountain Trails, an 11-mile community within the city of Cherokee. The packed-clay paths wind by way of a forest of tangled mountain laurel and rhododendrons that come alive with pastel colours within the spring. Geared up with handlebar lights and a headlamp, I got here to like evening rides, which regularly 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 in a position to hit the paths as nicely. 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 girls, colleagues from faculty, taught me to trip. Every week, we’d meet on the paths, distant from the stresses of labor. Finally, I made extra pals and discovered the worth of a driving group. The realities of recent life and conflicting schedules usually imply grabbing a solo trip at any time when I can. A wonderful factor about these trails is that they’re secure sufficient to trip alone, and social sufficient that you’ll usually run into pals alongside the means.

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

Mountain biking isn’t scary, like I used to suppose. However it’s excessive. Excessive pleasure. Excessive residing. It’s excessive sufficient that I can hurl myself headlong down a slope, lose somewhat 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.”