In that first race I recall passing almost everyone in sport going downhill, which I thought was remarkable being a rodie. Shortly after my ego-boosting descent I did an endo and chest plant into the mud. I felt my rib cage compress like a coil spring, which fortunately sprung back instead of breaking.
Until three years ago when I decided to go all-in and switch from road to mud sucker (instead of wheel sucker), the MTB was all about getting out in the bush for some fun. Now it's all about fun and building performance. Today was my first race in "Comp" which in Manitoba is the upper level of our huge Sport category. So, really I'm still in sport..
The race was in Pinawa, was pretty flat, and had plenty of Canadian Shield rock and some mucky, sloppy single track.
I came in dead last. I expected this result when I did my warm up lap. Wet rocks and I don't get along very well, although we're starting to warm to each other a little.
Of course I took no race pictures. Why would I do that? Pictures would be perfect for a blog entry of a race. In fact, most blog entries about mountain bike races are pretty useless without pictures.
After the race I did some sight-seeing around Pinawa. They have a suspension bridge and an old dam.
Like how I managed to capture the edge of my finger in that last one? When I was young we had a true 100% professional quality dark room in the basement. Back in the olden days we used film in cameras to take pictures, and developed the film with special chemicals. My mom was a pretty serious photographer, hence the dark room.
It seems I didn't pick up the "don't put your finger in front of the lens" cardinal rule of photography.
In mountain-biking I had failed to employ bike handling cardinal rules such as:
Turn wheel and lean bike to get around corners
Stay on the trail- don't ride into trees (related to first rule)
Continuing to pedal allows you to ride over things.. Stopping peddling and panic-braking usually results in swearing, then walking over technical sections that 13 year old girls from Kids of Mud ride over while giggling
Over the last couple years I've managed to apply some of these basic skills with some limited success. I came in second place in the first race this year, and won the second race. My lap times were fast enough to move up to the next category. And yes, I did giggle like a 13 year old girl when I finally rode over stuff that had me verklempt for years.
Actually, I must confess.. I did technically win the second race, but the two people who were kicking my butt in front of me both had mechanical failures allowing me to pass them.. Nevertheless, my lap times were still good enough to move up a category.
Lucky for me my first race after the move up was on wet rocks. I don't mind coming in dead last, I rode everything on the course.. not all in one lap mind you. Last year I would have walked nearly the entire course so this year riding the entire course felt pretty gratifying.
So now I can ride most of the technical that shows up on a cross country course, but can't always ride it the first time.. er, or sometimes the 10th time.. soon I'll be able to ride this stuff faster, and by soon I mean in a couple years..
By that time I should be able to move up to the Expert category :-)
