Why do I keep going back? Lots of reasons, but the main one is that I get
something out of it every time, something more than I had in my riding than
before. The skills and drills and progressions are essentially the same,
but as you become a better rider, you find yourself in a different place in
a skill set than you were before, and more ready to put different parts of
it into practice. At this stage of the game there's more a sense of finesse
and fine tuning, as compared to just getting through it all.
This years group was smaller, so the gals were subdivided into three, not
five skill levels. I was with the "c" group, which turned out to be a lot
of young, go for it Canadian gals with a lot of enthusiasm and mostly big
bikes. This was fine, and then I did the mental mistake of doing the math: I
am more than old enough to be the mother of a few of them.
I was really tickled to see a "mini-snake" in the straight line riding
section. Let me explain. Last year, we did a ride on a trail called Snake
which has a twistly turny ladder 2' off the ground, that I fell off of
three times. In the feed back section, I suggested more of a progression...
and lo and behold, they built mini snake out of 2x8's - a twisty turny
portable stunt, about 8" off the ground that was most excellent. I had a
blast and was doing really awesome until I went off the edge of the teeter
they had set up- I should have just ridden off the edge but somehow my wheel
caught on the base of it and took the handlebars in the chest. Eeeeeeeeeee
that's the sound you make when you can't breath. But I was OK, shook it off
and kept on going. I have a really interesting bruise on my chin. I
tackled one move I wouldn't do last year, off a ledge and down a slope that
has a claustrophobic entry. Since I'm on an XC with a lower BB than a lot of the bikes, it took me a couple of tries
to not hit my pedal on the edge but then I cleaned it, whoo -hoo.... I liked
being able to go back this year and do what I would not do last year.
Then a yummy lunch, and off for the after noon ride. I decided I felt OK
after my crash, and wanted to stick with the same group so we headed off to
"whisky", with coach Deb MacKillop. The cruxes on this trail are primarily rollable
rock faces to ride down, with multiple lines. We had a couple of really
awesome enthusiastic gals on big bikes that took the big line, every time
and were just nailing them... very fun to watch. It was cool that at times
there were multiple lines, so you could go big, go small or not at all. I
was happy there was another gal who is more like me... not into the "big "
scene, but really liking the technical part of kind, and slower. No air
here, just bikes on rock so picking your line, followng through on the exit
and body position are the important parts.
The hardest part for me is just putting it all together... the committment,
the entry, the
line, the exit, blah blah... how to put it all together and yet not think
too much about it. So I do my best. This results in an endo at one point
into some soft moss. Back on the bike, and nail a granite ridgeline thingy
perfectly... but I didn't look down the trail at the end of so into the
bushed narrowly missing a tree stump down the trail . This is getting
intense. I spend a lot of time doing deep calm breathing, trying to keep
that center that is body centered, not brain centered. I know I am my own
worst enemy. There is a lot going on for me: adenaline, nerves, self-talk.
Stopping a lot on the trail, which is part of how these training rides are,
is hard because of lack of flow. Stop and go.
We ride on the flowy part of the trail some which is good just to get back
to center. I appreciate that while there is tons of encouragement, there is
no pressure. I get my groove back, some, but I am beginning to be very,
very tired. I come to the conclusion that it's just silly for me to attempt
the skinnies on the trail, seeing as there is nothing like that at home, and
I need to stick with the no-penalty ones, which there are none of on this
trail.
I'm also appreciating the flat pedals, the no brainer effect for starting a
line, that much less to distract me.
But whew.... that was awesome, and the one thing that sticks with me is that
even if I didn't have a lot of success on this ride, I really gave it a go
and most importantly, I've got things to take home with me and work on, on
the similar rocky terrain we have at home. It's a kick in the pants to roll
just about anything, and I know that I'll have fun this summer using these
tools.
That evening, we are treated to a fantastic tapas dinner and an over view of
the morning skill sessions with video analysis. All gals are equal with the
video cam.
Then sunday. I wake up tired, but feeling good. I know exactly what I want
to work on today, as we have the option to choose our skills. So I spend a
lot of time working more on body position, and what is called bike/body
seperation, which can really come into play for cornering. The finess and fine tuning part of this whole thing. I'm
actually working with the "a" group, more novices but this is ok, as I need
to back off today. I am just taking it to a deeper level that some of
the gals I am with.
For the afternoons ride, I choose to step back a bit, a mutual decision made
with Cindy D. and myself. The C girls want to go big and hard and fast,
and I am not there at all. I felt fine about this choice, as I was having a good day,
but was extremely tired. I wanted to be able to ride with more flow and success, and yet challenge too. So we hit Cemetary and Bones. This was a challenging ride for the A girls, and a typical walk in the park for anything I usually ride, so I made the most of it. This
means, that anything that required attention or finesse or that I might have
snuck a dab it, I did it until I got it absolultey "right". In some ways, I
was showing off for the novices, or more like showing them how it could be
done, what to strive for. For the rocky rooty climbs, picking the line and moving myself up the hill. There were lots of switchbacks, so I worked on
taking really nice lines with good body position and speed control. Instead
of bumping over big roots in the trail, I made a point to unweight and do
front wheel lifts. There were a few easy ladder/stunt things, and I hit
everyone one of them most of them first time out. If I missed any of this
stuff I went back and did it again until I got it right. At some points in
the trail, there were advanced "c" lines - Cindy and Myra say, "hey,
Penny, here's a line for you!" And I clean them. An afternoon spent with
Cindy Devine is time well spent, trust me on this.
My friend Brenda brought her 14 year old step daughter, Julia. Now, here's a
girl who just went for it. I never got to be in the same group as this
little darling, but she was tackling everything in front of her, and go
bumped up a level for the second day.
And here is it Monday. I have a hideous green bruise on my chin, and I ache
everywhere. I wouldn't trade it for the world, tho. ;-)
pics to follow.
