I was riding really well on Friday evening. Just three of us. In the first half hour I cleaned two sections on which I average well under .500. I was floating over the bike, flowing with the terrain. On the last turny and undulating section I was drifting in the loam and the pine needles like a downhiller: chin and shoulder diving into the turns, head up, knee out, bike leaned way over, unconcerned about the skipping and skidding due to my excessive speed. I just knew that the knobbies would hook up and I would be good. And I was.
This morning, only 36 hours later, I again rode with two (different) friends. What happened to my Friday skills? It was like I hadn’t ridden in a year. Instead of friendly stars flying by excitingly at warp speed, the saplings were scary and hard and out for blood. I had to scrub all kinds of speed to keep them at bay. I went down twice in the first half hour because of stupid errors. The first time I braked hard for a sharp left that I was late for. Once around the turn, a small hole faced me immediately. Routine. But instead of letting go of the levers altogether and pushing the fork down into the hole so it could roll out nicely, I managed to grab some panicky front brake, forcing an instant graceless dismount. A few minutes later I came around a tight uphill corner with several greasy roots underfoot – a corner I’ve ridden a hundred times. I was feeling confident and strong. I leaned in hard – not just the bike but my whole body. Predictable result: The bike skated and I went down fast and hard on my hip.
Why does this happen?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Stars don't align? No pre-ride banana? Providence is sympathetic to less-skilled fellow riders? Mojo fell off handlebar?
Because you're not in the zone. You have to first get there, and not want to be there too much ... And for me, if I were trying to keep up with some jamokes and if they were going at all fast, then I could maybe never hope to get in the zone.
Otoh, if I were on my own, or didn't need to keep up w/anybody, and I just started ... having fun, THEN and only then could I ride well. And wind up in the zone. For some, getting zonked on lobotomy weed does the trick, but not me ...
Post a Comment