2010 Blogs
Oh petrified lameness. The purpose of having a website is what? The purpose of having a blog on a website is probably to update and talk about random happenings...happenings pertaining to the website. So I should talk about me...mememe. I started and finished my inaugural season as a mountain biker...swallowed a lot of dirt, fell off the bike too many times, rode some amaaazin' trails, changed my bike position 3 times, and learned a metric-sh*t-ton about myself, the mtb, different lines, balance, cadence, looking ahead. It was like learning to ski race all over again, but on 2 wheels instead of 2 planks and on dirt instead of ice.
Road racing was different. Fitness was key, as were tactics and being able to think when you have turned your brain off; being able to outsmart your competition at the correct moment, in the moment. I loved that. But last season's gaps in the schedule allowed me to dabble on my mtn bike, and that's when I realized that I also loved that the trail could become a tactical wizard in itself. I liked that I could curse a rock garden instead of my time trial bike. So I took a leap into another world of bike racing.
Naively I think I started the season with the mentality that I would pick up mtn-biking as quickly as an organic strawberry turns bad. But in fact, I'm one of those tasteless gargantuan conventional strawberries still sitting on your counter after 2 weeks. I wonder how many preservatives are in that strawberry? And I wonder how long I will preserve my rookie-ness? I was frustrated after many-a-weekend, but I was moved, intrigued, and hooked on the learning curve. Honestly I believe every ride on my mountain bike I learned something new.
I was humbled by my teammates, I was blown away by my teammates, and I felt like a 1st generation compared to my teammates. But I also feel crazy-fortunate to be able to learn from such class-acts. Georgia quickly took the Pro XCT lead and I traveled with her to each of the races...trying to keep up in the check-in line at the airport, at the bag claim, dragging luggage to the nearest taxi, to the coffee shop, and following her lines through the pre-rides. Tough act to follow, eh? I observed, I asked questions, I crashed, I burned, I tried, I got frustrated, I crashed, I learned. I was sad to end my season my last weekend in Granby...mostly because it's never fun to end a season pedaling backwards. But my energy last weekend also highlighted my need for a break.
And so the next day I went water skiing. Two planks but on water...not ice or dirt.
Road racing was different. Fitness was key, as were tactics and being able to think when you have turned your brain off; being able to outsmart your competition at the correct moment, in the moment. I loved that. But last season's gaps in the schedule allowed me to dabble on my mtn bike, and that's when I realized that I also loved that the trail could become a tactical wizard in itself. I liked that I could curse a rock garden instead of my time trial bike. So I took a leap into another world of bike racing.
Naively I think I started the season with the mentality that I would pick up mtn-biking as quickly as an organic strawberry turns bad. But in fact, I'm one of those tasteless gargantuan conventional strawberries still sitting on your counter after 2 weeks. I wonder how many preservatives are in that strawberry? And I wonder how long I will preserve my rookie-ness? I was frustrated after many-a-weekend, but I was moved, intrigued, and hooked on the learning curve. Honestly I believe every ride on my mountain bike I learned something new.
I was humbled by my teammates, I was blown away by my teammates, and I felt like a 1st generation compared to my teammates. But I also feel crazy-fortunate to be able to learn from such class-acts. Georgia quickly took the Pro XCT lead and I traveled with her to each of the races...trying to keep up in the check-in line at the airport, at the bag claim, dragging luggage to the nearest taxi, to the coffee shop, and following her lines through the pre-rides. Tough act to follow, eh? I observed, I asked questions, I crashed, I burned, I tried, I got frustrated, I crashed, I learned. I was sad to end my season my last weekend in Granby...mostly because it's never fun to end a season pedaling backwards. But my energy last weekend also highlighted my need for a break.
And so the next day I went water skiing. Two planks but on water...not ice or dirt.
