Stepping it up to National Level

[downhillingdemon]

Sunday

Downhill day! I spent a fair bit of time getting some tuition from a riding buddy. It's really made a huge difference to my understanding of body positioning on the bike...when you first learn everyone tells you to 'get your weight back' as soon as you start descending. But, in fact, this can have an adverse effect on the handling. Hopefully I will be able to put into practice some of the tips he gave...eventually. At the moment though, I'm just waiting for the snow and ice to melt. Unlike the guys, I really don't like the unpredictability of the white stuff too much, it makes me supernervous!

Still, got some great pics on Sunday and got to ride with another vegan (Johnstuff from here)

Here's a couple of the better ones.....



Johnstuff cornering....



On the whole, thought, it mostly felt like there was heck of a lot of pushing, snow seems to make everything twice as hard. We're just a big bunch of wuses in the UK when it comes to the white stuff!

[downhillingdemon]

Well, this snowy weather has done bugger all to help my plans to get superfit over the winter in preparation for the summer's dry trails. Last week looked something like this:

Monday - Rest Day

Tuesday - didn't manage to get out (although did walk the dog over the hills a couple of times). Work took up all day, and, although normally I love nightriding on my own, even I'm not stupid enough to do it in minus 10 degrees without ice tyres.

Wednesday - More dog walking STILL no riding *sigh*

Still, dog walking here isn't so bad



Thursday - Still too much snow to get out on a solo nightride. However, I did brave a night run. It was absolutely amazing. The snowy hillsides were all lit up by the town's lights and the views to Malvern were spectacular. It only took about 10 minutes to be able to suss out where the drifts were, and where the trodden snow was...so I got a good hours running in. My hamstrings and ankles were shot by the end of it - from running on uneven ground in the dark. But it was worth it. Oh, it was definitely worth it!

Friday - Another rest day - although lots more walking, it's just not enough to keep my fitness up.

Saturday - 2 hour snow ride. Very hard going in the fresh snow as it kept grabbing my front wheel and I'm still trying to suss the best way of riding in the deeper stuff (maybe there isn't a 'best way' !!). But it was fantastic to get out, and we even found an exciting new piece of switchbacky trail.





Sunday - 10 mile urban ride on the ice. The rain came - I have never been so happy to see rain in all my life....it seems like the big defrost had started. It was strangly grim in an appealing way to be back in the city. And just nice to get out, even though it was yet another weekend away from the proper trails and the proper epics. I just can't believe how this winter has turned into a non-riding event. I just want to get out on some huge rides and battle through for days in the wilderness.......but at this rate I'm gonna loose so much endurance it's going take some time to build back up to the big epics.



Today - Figured work would be taking up way too much of my time to get out on the bike, so I managed to get up early and run. 3.2 miles on slippy slidey slush and ice. It felt good to beat the weather! Lifted weights this evening - just shoulder press, squats and abs, but again, felt good to just be doing some activity as I know work is gonna take ALL my time up this week.

[downhillingdemon]

So, as predicted, last week was a killer work week, with 12-16 hour days on site in freezing temperatures carrying out intrusive surveys and investigation work (aka as manual labour). Stupid thing is, I actually enjoyed most of the week, I so prefer the active physical side of my job than the reporting. It always feels like I have actually earnt my money rather than 'pretending to' like most capitalist jobs seem to feel!

Anyway, despite the long hours, I was pleased to make a nightride on Thursday

The snow was trying to melt, but still hanging around and deep in places....the difference between 'types' of snow and ice was, erm, interesting to deal with - I never really knew whether my front wheel was going to grip, bed in, or slide out. The descents felt like the flat and everything took loads of physical effort. It was great fun though and a good workout, despite only being out for about an hour and a half. I was also pretty surprised with my fitness as the two guys I was riding with are roadies and train pretty hard very often....and I never struggled to keep up. They were probably taking the pace very easy, but it's still a good feeling to know you can ride with good riders

Saturday

I had a fantastic night out in Manchester on Friday with my bestest mate in the whole world....which left me not really in a fit state to ride on Saturday! However, despite lacking a wee bit of sleep, I decided to get an evening weights session in. It went pretty well - lots of pressing and front squats. Oh, and I even did some disco curls (ssshhhh).

Sunday

Downhill Day at Stile Cop. We met up with some mates (including the-fantastic-advert-for-vegan-dh that is Johnstuff!) at Stile Cop for a bit of DH. I hated the first few runs - for a start I had a new tyre on the front and couldn't work out what the hell it was gonna do in the swampy thaw-left mud. However, after a break, I realised I just had to implement the same policy as I had for lifting heavy...and figured I needed to 'ride-like-I-meant-it'. It worked, I gradually found my flow again. Feels like I am a way off of my best at the moment, but I am constantly trying to implement new skills so hopefully it will all click again soon!

Here's some pics of me (in the wonderful Vegan Cyclists top!)...I have been trying to bring my weight much further forward on the bike and keep it more central when going off drops etc. It feels strange and kind of right, and wrong, all at the same time!







And here's some other piccies from the day...

My O/H doing his stuff...


This is Johnstuff flying down to the first drop


And a great pic of Johnstuff (pic of the day) taken by my O/H.

[Big Good Wolf]

Looking good in the Vegan Cyclists jersey.
The present Mrs Good Wolf, "The Rose of the Wyre", marshalls for Pearce Cycles on their downhill series.
Every time she sees a picture of you airborne she says you should be racing. Go for it.

[downhillingdemon]

Looking good in the Vegan Cyclists jersey.
The present Mrs Good Wolf, "The Rose of the Wyre", marshalls for Pearce Cycles on their downhill series.
Every time she sees a picture of you airborne she says you should be racing. Go for it.

That's very flattering of her Unfortunately a picture usually paints a thousand (untrue) words heh heh. You know me and wet roots, afterall

In all seriousness, I am back again to considering racing - but not DH in the standard sense - I'm just not mentally cut out for it! I really admire anyone who can just go and have a laugh etc - but that aint me and it's never gonna be so I'm not gonna beat myself up over it. However, I really fancy some DH enduros (like the Fort Bill one) and also am still uming and ahhing about a 24 hour (prolly MM)...

(I'm even considering getting rollers but don't tell you know who )

[The Duke]

I watched some of the Fort William DH last year.

Awesome stuff. Have you seen / tried the course? It makes me palms go a litle sweaty when I consider riding it. Every year I say I'm going to do it but never pluck up the courage!!!

Some of these guys were putting in 3 or 4 runs an hour (it's important to do well in the initial climb so that you are not in the queue for the lifts).

There were a lot of girls there and I did wonder if one of them was you. Checked around for Wolfies LR too.

The log flipping vid I did was taken at the bottom of the course.

There is an easier course off to one side too (same descent but over a longer distance and with no vertical drops.

I could post a few pics if you want.

[downhillingdemon]

I watched some of the Fort William DH last year.

Awesome stuff. Have you seen / tried the course? It makes me palms go a litle sweaty when I consider riding it. Every year I say I'm going to do it but never pluck up the courage!!!

Some of these guys were putting in 3 or 4 runs an hour (it's important to do well in the initial climb so that you are not in the queue for the lifts).

There were a lot of girls there and I did wonder if one of them was you. Checked around for Wolfies LR too.

The log flipping vid I did was taken at the bottom of the course.

There is an easier course off to one side too (same descent but over a longer distance and with no vertical drops.

I could post a few pics if you want.

I've seen the course and spoken to a fair few people about it - we we're supposed to head up last year to ride it, but never managed to get around to organising anything. This year will be different though! I'm not worried about the course as such (my understanding is that it is very brutal physically, but not as technical some of the other major DH race runs). I figure I can always stop on the way down a few times if the agony in my arms gets too much! It'll be more for the 'experience' than anything and we'd probably get up there to check out the course before the actual Enduro anyway, so I could make a final decision then.

If you could post pics, that would be great

Yesterday Training
Erm, not a lot - took the HT out to test out the reduced front end height (how can shifting a 10 mm spacer make SOOO much difference? )....but my GD decided to start playing up and wouldn't lock either up or down. By the time we'd got home and sorted the problem, it was just getting too late to get back out for a decent ride. Ah well, win some, loose some!

[virago]

I know this sounds silly, but as a super-ultimate-beginner MTB-er, it cheers me up to read that you guys (who inspire me with your courage, skills and knowledge) get scared too. It makes me feel like less of a dork for being so scared going downhill on my bike

[The Duke]

Just a couple of snaps of the FWDH. Unfortunately you can't see the course just the end!!!


Le Mans start ...




The first group coming down after the hill climb.

[downhillingdemon]

I know this sounds silly, but as a super-ultimate-beginner MTB-er, it cheers me up to read that you guys (who inspire me with your courage, skills and knowledge) get scared too. It makes me feel like less of a dork for being so scared going downhill on my bike

Courage, skills and confidence? It's more like stupidity, luck and praying for me!

It wasn't that long ago I was an ultimate-beginner...I don't think I'm any less scared now than I was back then. All that happens is, as you get more skills, you end up riding bigger/harder stuff, so stay just as scared as you were when you started!

There is nothing wrong with being scared, it's how you deal with it that matters. TBH when I first started I found it much easier to 'be scared, but have a go anyway' than I do now. Too many costly and painful offs have reigned in my confidence a HUGE amount to the point where it has probably gone too far in the sensible direction now.

Just a couple of snaps of the FWDH. Unfortunately you can't see the course just the end!!!


Le Mans start ...




The first group coming down after the hill climb.

Thanks for posting! I suspect I know the guy in the red and white top in the middle of the top pic from another forum I use. That rocky jump/drop thingy on the bottom picture looks like awesome fun, doesn't it just?

[downhillingdemon]

Well, for the first time in ages, I managed to catch a cold this week and thus ended up taking it pretty easy.

Got to ride today though - on my attack trail with his newly fixed forks. Without a doubt, he is BY FAR the easiest bike I have ever ridden and lets me ride like I almost know what I'm doing....almost being the imperative word (slow speed cliff drops are not quite there yet, much to the amusement of the two BMX'rs watching this almost-middle-age woman rollling endo after totally arsing it up ).

I'm still working on keeping my weight more central and popping/bunnyhopping (rather than weight shifting which only works if I am carrying enough speed and there is a good run in/out) the bike off bigger drops. It's still not feeling natural as I'm not used to feeling like the bike is falling away from me - I'm trying to undo all the damage of learning to ride in SPD's. Damn feckin clipless pedals - I'd be a vastly better rider now if I had started off MTBking with flats rather than moving straight to SPDs and picking up a load of nasty habits which I now have to undo

But, on the whole, it was a great few hours practice. It was great to be free of ice, even with the swampy mud, there was LOADS of traction. Everything felt 10 times easier than last week and all the nice little roots/stumps/drops were visible to hop off

[downhillingdemon]

So last Sunday I managed to ride with the dissident guys again - it's great being out with them, I get to chat about vegan stuff and don't get offered non-vegan food all the time!

We were at Hopton which was vastly improved by the thaw. Had a bit of a difficult time to start. I normally have to take it slow for about an hour till my brain gets in DH gear, but I was struggling not to stop over the roots and even managed to hit a tree at 2 mph. I thought it was just me being a 'tard, but turned out that a) my bars were totally wonky and b) my back brake was stuck on

So once they were fixed (and after I had crashed from starting a run with death grip and only realising when I hit the bend that I had NO BRAKE AT ALL ) things started feeling a whole lot better. We got some video - I'm just waiting for my bf to upload it. Johnstuff and Seitan were flying, and, actually, even I wasn't doing too bad. All that snow riding really paid off - them muddy roots felt like nothing compared to the ice

Here's a few piccies:

Johnstuff posing in his vegan shirt:


Johnstuff and Seitan pushing up



My bf and seitan clearing a rooty section




Me trying to keep my weight central whilst going off a sweet little jumpy tree stump


So now I am trying to work out how I can afford a new DH bike.........unfortunately, my plans may have to be put seriously on hold as I am a little worried about my job and I can see big changes afoot this year

Ah well, at least I am lucky enough to have ridable bikes and still get to go places to ride them at the moment. Just hope it lasts *crosses fingers*

[The Duke]

You can't post pictures of Seitan!!!!

What are you thinking of, woman!!!!!! He is an unperson.

Think of the outrage.

If you must post piccies of him you should only refer to him as "He who shall not be named".

Excellent pics as usual. Very high standard.

[downhillingdemon]

You can't post pictures of Seitan!!!!

What are you thinking of, woman!!!!!! He is an unperson.

Think of the outrage.

If you must post piccies of him you should only refer to him as "He who shall not be named".

Excellent pics as usual. Very high standard.

I know, he doesn't really exist under that helmet - think of him as a vegan version of a ringwraith

[downhillingdemon]

As promised, here's a brief video from Hopton - wasn't the best/fastest run of the day, but you'll at least see how much fun the trails at Hopton are....looks out for the near miss at 1:10 (not sure how I stay upright there )

Well, last week consisted of, erm, a run Monday morning and that was it. Another week of very long work days and a whole load of work stress left me little chance to get out.

However, have made up for it this weekend!

Went to Westwoods on Saturday for about 4.5 hours and spent LOADS of time practising corners. It really seems to be paying off and I really feel like I have already made improvement. I think, if I can actually get cornering dialled properly, I will see significant improvements in speed. They are probably my biggest weakness, I just never realised it until I spent some time trying to sort them out.

Here's a few pics (sorry not the best quality, it was SO dark in the conifers!)

Johnstuff flying out the bombhole


My bf dropping off a tree stump


Vegan fitness shirt posing by me




Still a bit of snow about


My fav pic of the day - just love the sun coming through the trees - it'll soon be spring!


We we're both knackard after DHilling - I particularly have noticed I've not been able to get out in the week much...so we had an easy few hours on the hills today before going to the vegan3counties lunchtime meet. It was really great - great weather, great (hardpacked frozen) trails, great riding, great to be back on the hardtail

..and I even managed a bit more cornering practice!