After a month of saying farewell to all my family and friends over food and copious amounts of alcohol I’d only been out for a couple of rides and was vastly unfit. I was a bit worried about getting out in new terrain with someone I didn’t know. I was going up with a friend of a friend named David. I didn’t want to ruin his day by being too slow but I needed to get out and am always keen to meet new people. So had readily agreed. But once I was getting ready to go I started getting very nervous. In retrospect I was also still jet lagged and uncertain about leaving everything behind so was over analysing every move (this means it’s time for a ride for sure).
David had organised our own shuttles. 2 cars, a trailer, some couch cushions and a piece of rope. This defo helped me feel better in regards to my fitness and slowing him down. We started with ‘mega mission’ 1.5km 196m descent single track orange downhill. AKA DH1. Its mega fast, flowy with big berms and jumps/tabletops. The overall flow of this trail is a bit jolty. But this track is built for speed, and in some sections, when you fully commit it’s a constant wrestle between fear and exhiliration and really, that’s why we do it.
Run 1: 8mins 56seconds
I felt out of control. I was stiff and tense the whole way down making me wobbly and jerky on the coward levers (brakes). This track does not let you go slow so I was wimping out on every turn and feature. In the end I was quite disheartened and felt like a fake, I have literally quit my job and left everyone I love to mtb the world, what a joke. I’ve only been riding a year and I didn’t expect to get here and be suddenly amazing. But I definitely thought I was better than this.
Run 2: unknown – I forgot to restart strava, but slow
I didn’t really enjoy this run either. I was still stiff and wobbly and feeling a little bit embarrassed about thinking I could ride haha.
Run 3: 4mins 37seconds
This one felt better. I had more flow, letting the track dictate my speed rather than my nerves. I got some (minimal) air and was letting the bike move under me. This track has several features with drop zoffs and rocks where you can opt in or out. The side changes (rather than opt out always being on the left) so I never really knew which was was opt in or out so each run was different. Knowing what the track was throwing at me and knowing I had managed the ‘opt ins’ I was starting to relax.
Run 4: unknown
As I had felt better on the previous run we started looking at other trails. I felt bad making David do the same trail over and over. I wanted to make sure he got what he wanted out of the run too. Plus I was keen to check out the other trails. We mosied over to ‘on the pulse’ 679m 155m descent. This one is described as highly technical downhill with boulder fields, drops offs and jumps. The initial drop in was a pretty serious rock garden. However the drop in to mega mission is a bit gnarly and I’ve only ever walked it. I thought on the pulse would be the same. I was so wrong. I couldn’t get down and if I couldn’t do the first 20m I had no chance for the rest of the trail. We bailed and walked towards a natural built trail thinking I would fare better there – less rocks. This was also a mistake. This was a beautiful downhill trail in pine needles with roots and drops and tight twists through trees. I don’t have a lot of experience with roots, especially wet…tehe, well actually.. no wait. Mum will read this, never mind. Any time I started braking I was just gathering needles under my wheels and dragging them down with me. I’m not super confident with the width of my handlebars so was nicking trees and then over compensating and then it was all just a farce. Once I lost my balance the slipperiness of the roots combined with the incline, I couldn’t get back onto my bike with weight distributed correctly so I walked. Part way David was waiting, we decided I’d cut to the second half of mega mission and he continued on the trail we were on.
Run 5: 5mins 30secs PR: the exit 1min03
Knowing this was literally the only track I could ride I unleashed. The strava time is misleading. I think it picked me up at the top before I had started. Anyway, I know I was fast. I was really starting to pump in and get air on every table top. There was one tight left sweeping into a right after a fairly steep tabletop, you couldn’t see the turns until you were in them. This caught me every time and I think this is the run I really had to brake hard to stop from sliding over the edge into a tree. Good times.
Run 6: 4mins 24secs: PR: DH1 4mins24, Mega mission upper 0.56secs = 6th fastest all time, DH1 middle 1min52, DH1 lower 1min22
The times say it all. I was comfortable with the track, I was trusting myself and the bike and I was relaxed. This is what I love and this is what I am here for.