Learning to MTB ish - Nicole Stylie!
Home from Majorca and it was time for me to take a break from training. My approach to my break this year was a little different to usual. I generally take off as much time as it takes me to want to start training again, plus another week. Last year this was about 5 weeks, this year, I am now into my 9th week and slowly getting back into the swing of things. But taking a break hasn’t meant sitting on my arse (ok, there was a fair bit of that). Instead, I did things for fun, and one of those things was learning to mountain bike.
I’m not exactly new to mountain biking, but its never really clicked and definitely wasn’t on my list of favourite things to do. I don’t think having a husband who has mountain biked for years and can’t comprehend your fear at even just looking at a rock or a root and thinking it is going to kill you helped, but he is slowly learning that if he takes me down a black run I will most definitely cry. Determined not to be beaten though, this winter I decided I was going to give it another go, this time starting from the basics.
The first step was to buy a mountain bike that I actually liked. Now I have no idea about mountain bike specs, what is an expensive frame, what is a good fork or shock, etc.etc. but that doesn’t mean I am not fussy. I hired a bike out in Majorca that I really got on with so of course, nothing else would do. When we got home, Doug set up his mountain bike, a carbon Ibis Ripley, full suspension 29er to exactly the same measurements as the bike I had in Majorca for me to have a go. Despite his best efforts though, it wasn’t the same bike, so I hated it. New bike time! Wooo! A week later I am the proud owner of a Canyon Neuron Al 6.9. So it wasn’t a fancy carbon bike but it was the one I got on with and trusted not to throw me off so step one was complete.
Step 2 was to learn some skills. I’m not an expert but my skills on a mountain bike aren’t terrible, what lets me down is my tendency to look at something and decide I can’t do it. Doug took me to the bmx track in Bath and I spent a bit of time learning how to pump and how to lift and control my front wheel. Getting pretty excited, this turned into trying to jump some of the table tops. Don’t be fooled, these were very small! But even after just 30 minutes, this made a huge difference to my confidence.
Step 3 go riding! I have spent the majority of my weekends for the past 2 months at a trail centre in Wales. Afan, Cwmcarn, bike park wales, forest of dean… and loving it! I’m no longer thinking about ridiculous consequences if I get something wrong (if I hit that tree, I’ll fall off down that drop, smash my head on that rock and most certainly catch fire!) and even though I’m riding things a lot faster, I’ve got a lot more time to think about what I’m doing and am enjoying throwing little jumps in here and there. However with the added speed comes the potential to really hurt myself if I come off.
So step 4 was to invest in some knee and elbow pads. I don’t notice them when I’m riding and I’m not worried about falling off. It probably helps that I don’t have a Paralympic games coming up for another 4 years so the consequences if I break something aren’t quite so big. Either way, I am loving the off road riding and it means that now I’m starting back into a training routine again, I have some bike strength and fitness without even realising that I was putting any effort in!
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