Sunday 20 November 2011

Fall

In the American sense that is. Luckily I've been staying upright for the past few rides. It's the season for cold, crisp and occasionally rain soaked riding at the moment. Over the past few weeks we've been hitting our favourite haunts. An awesome, speederbike-esque ride at Annadel with Jaime and his new uber-lite S-Works hardtail. A fantastic shred at Skeggs where Dave broke in his new Enduro. And a cheeky Tamarancho loop where Chris demo'd (and subsequently put on order) a sexy new Yeti SB66. So, the crew is getting tooled up with sweet new rides and the burning enthusiasm for the sport gets ever stronger. Last week we hit 'rancho for a night ride and amassed 7 riders! Aubrey came along too and was still cranking even after a mid ride puke stop!


Yesterday we hit Pine Mountain. A training ride ahead of next week's Thanksgiving mass ride. Zach introduced us to some epic singletrack. Tight and flowey with some rooty technical sections and severe switchbacks to test the skills. Our plan is to go back and session them some more. We hit some rocky stuff too. I tripod legged most of it. My mojo has definitely suffered on the bigger, sketchier stuff. My ankle fracture is completely healed, but my brain needs to get the memo. I keep pulling up short when I see big, rocky trails and it's frustrating. I've done stuff like it before - no worries. I've worked hard to see lines through that kinda shit and not freak out, so I know it's just a mental funk I'm in. Humbling, but annoying that I have some work to do to get back to where I was before.


Still, I'm slowly improving in other areas of my riding. Each weekly loop around 'rancho is improving my technical Kung Fu. Every solo ride at China' helps my cornering and flow. Im slowly taming the Nomad steed and making it my own. And those epic, runaway train descents induce the best grinning lunacy, leaving me excited for the next opportunity to hit dirt and keep on learning. :o)

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