For some reason I ended up not riding a mountain bike for over 6 months this year, and cunningly timed my reintroduction to dirt to match the rising Spring temperatures. It's been a struggle to get my mojo back but I've also tried to use the time to re-assess my basic skills like cornering, using sites like this as a guide. I've simultaneously been seeing a physiotherapist to sort out my long-standing back issues, and between the two I think I'm starting to see results. I can ride for longer and more regularly without back pain, and when I am riding I feel more involved with the ride instead of just sitting on top of the bike watching the trail roll by underneath me. Don't get me wrong - I'm still talking 18km dirt rides and granny-braking twitches around corners - but it's slowly feeling better.
After Saturdays pump track session I was keen to get back out on the trails and see if anything from the jump park translated to the dirt. I'd ridden around 40km on Wednesday night to sample beer & compare beards so my legs were a bit tired on Thursday morning, but I left work early and headed out anyway. It was a little disappointing because I didn't seem to have any 'flow' and things felt stilted. After a bit I stopped worrying about it and just rolled around , pulling over to let other riders pass whenever I saw them (Note to the trainers out there - a thank you would be nice when someone does this!). As the saying goes, a bad day on dirt is still a good day. But surprisingly when I got back to the car it turned out that I'd ridden around half of the sections significantly quicker than I ever have before (based on the readings of a GPS plotter that I started using a few months ago and which will remain nameless). Of course speed isn't everything and a GPS plotter may capture the miles but not the smiles, but it's interesting to view my progress objectively. It's a long, slow and highly enjoyable process...
After Saturdays pump track session I was keen to get back out on the trails and see if anything from the jump park translated to the dirt. I'd ridden around 40km on Wednesday night to sample beer & compare beards so my legs were a bit tired on Thursday morning, but I left work early and headed out anyway. It was a little disappointing because I didn't seem to have any 'flow' and things felt stilted. After a bit I stopped worrying about it and just rolled around , pulling over to let other riders pass whenever I saw them (Note to the trainers out there - a thank you would be nice when someone does this!). As the saying goes, a bad day on dirt is still a good day. But surprisingly when I got back to the car it turned out that I'd ridden around half of the sections significantly quicker than I ever have before (based on the readings of a GPS plotter that I started using a few months ago and which will remain nameless). Of course speed isn't everything and a GPS plotter may capture the miles but not the smiles, but it's interesting to view my progress objectively. It's a long, slow and highly enjoyable process...
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