What to do when it is raining?
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I generally have to look at something at least twice before I'll ride it. Once I ride it though, I usually hit it ever time. Confidence is a wonderful performance enhancer!
Funny how confidence works though.
I rode with riders that were at my level or lower for a few years. Just last year I started riding with people leaps and bounds more skilled then I am. Now this year I am riding with lots of people that are better then me and I am really coming along. There are moves I would never do before, now I am picking them off one by one. Heck, if it hadn't rained like crazy I was gonna hit about 5 moves on the Concord Hospital trails that I haven't ever cleared. I was planning on trying them over and over until I either cleared them, became exhausted, or fell enough to give up.
I rode with riders that were at my level or lower for a few years. Just last year I started riding with people leaps and bounds more skilled then I am. Now this year I am riding with lots of people that are better then me and I am really coming along. There are moves I would never do before, now I am picking them off one by one. Heck, if it hadn't rained like crazy I was gonna hit about 5 moves on the Concord Hospital trails that I haven't ever cleared. I was planning on trying them over and over until I either cleared them, became exhausted, or fell enough to give up.
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I have a big one.
Let me describe.
the section starts off with a two foot off camber rock face. As soon as you get over the face you need to make a hard right to get onto another three foot rock face. Did I mention there is loose rock everywhere. Also you are climbing as this is happening.
another HUGE point is that I broke my ankle on this very spot two years ago in a crash.
This adds up to very little confidence for this section.
Well after avoiding this section for a long time. I finally stepped up to it last weekend. Didn't clean it but attempted it for real. Monday I cleaned it after almost a two year mind freeze.
I ride some stuff that makes this particular section look like a cake walk. It is all a mind game. Mind over matter.
Greg
Let me describe.
the section starts off with a two foot off camber rock face. As soon as you get over the face you need to make a hard right to get onto another three foot rock face. Did I mention there is loose rock everywhere. Also you are climbing as this is happening.
another HUGE point is that I broke my ankle on this very spot two years ago in a crash.
This adds up to very little confidence for this section.
Well after avoiding this section for a long time. I finally stepped up to it last weekend. Didn't clean it but attempted it for real. Monday I cleaned it after almost a two year mind freeze.
I ride some stuff that makes this particular section look like a cake walk. It is all a mind game. Mind over matter.
Greg
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Pretty much the same thing happened to me, (the difficulty level was much less though!)yogreg said:
I too a bad spill off one of the log rolls in Yudicky and for 2 years I walked it. At the beginning of this year I said enough of being chicken
and tried it. It took a few times, but now it is not a problem. As Greg says: it's a mind game.Some things of course are just beyond my skill level, but the one I could do but don't is log down hill thing in FOMBA. That's the big-bad-boogie-man thing that I have not been able to over come.
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There is a five foot drop on third hill at Aggie that I totally tanked last year. I hit it a little to slow, didn't pull up enough, and over the bars I went. Killed most of my confidence last year. There is also the rockies here in Sanford that I can't seem to clean the whole trail without dabbing somewhere. I would also like to get better on tall skinny bridges like the one at Clifford Park and the one on the River Trail in Portland. I plan on trying some stuff at Fort Rock that I haven't been able to do yet on Saturday.
So I decided to try some of the moves that have freaked me out at the Concord hospital trails tonight. I got some new tires today. I put on the leg and arm pads and decided to try to full face for the first time. Took the pig bike out.
Well although all the trails were soaked I slogged through the woods to each difficult spot.
I nailed the first two moves pretty easily.
It took me a bit to hit the third. Took one easy digger.
The forth was cake.
The fifth move is this narly rock with jagged edges on it and wierd off camber slopes. Not a big rock, maybe 5 by 4 and a foot high. Well I made it barely the first try. The second and third tries were failures, didn't get on the rock. The forth I bit it wicked hard. Landed with my hand into my ribcage on top of the rocks. Even took a dinger off my new helmet. Nothing too exciting. After I caught my breath, I tried again twice but didn't make it. Maybe on a dry day.
I avoided the next move. Its a two foot high wall that I can't throw my bike up onto yet.
I hit the next two moves with ease.
I then avoided the last two moves for fear of slipping off them.
All in all I although not smoothly, I hit multiple moves I have never even attempted before. Amazing how much confidence ARMOR gives you. Soon enough I'll be doing all these moves like any others on my Instinct with no special armor. For two years I have just walked these areas.
One cool thing I found, a 2.35 Kenda Nevegal with the Stick-E compound hooks up like crazy. Never been so impressed with a tire in the wet.
Well although all the trails were soaked I slogged through the woods to each difficult spot.
I nailed the first two moves pretty easily.
It took me a bit to hit the third. Took one easy digger.
The forth was cake.
The fifth move is this narly rock with jagged edges on it and wierd off camber slopes. Not a big rock, maybe 5 by 4 and a foot high. Well I made it barely the first try. The second and third tries were failures, didn't get on the rock. The forth I bit it wicked hard. Landed with my hand into my ribcage on top of the rocks. Even took a dinger off my new helmet. Nothing too exciting. After I caught my breath, I tried again twice but didn't make it. Maybe on a dry day.
I avoided the next move. Its a two foot high wall that I can't throw my bike up onto yet.
I hit the next two moves with ease.
I then avoided the last two moves for fear of slipping off them.
All in all I although not smoothly, I hit multiple moves I have never even attempted before. Amazing how much confidence ARMOR gives you. Soon enough I'll be doing all these moves like any others on my Instinct with no special armor. For two years I have just walked these areas.
One cool thing I found, a 2.35 Kenda Nevegal with the Stick-E compound hooks up like crazy. Never been so impressed with a tire in the wet.
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I'll trade you a bruised rib for a compressed spineSeverum said:
and I'll ride the rock that pogo'd me off my head tonight just to show that rock who's boss 1 - 11 of 11 Posts
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