December Riding Update December 13, 2009

As we get closer to the end of the year, time mysteriously disappears in a whirlwind of social functions, along with the gift-buying frenzy that takes hold of most of the population. Last weekend was spent doing a mixture of the above, and combined with bad weather on the Sunday, I never made it out for a ride.

This weekend, I was determined that it was going to be different. So yesterday morning, I headed out for a lap of the South Island XC Cup track at Bethunes Gully/Forrester Park. The weather hadn’t been playing ball throughout the week so the tracks were a bit greasy. I had the realisation as I was out there that it was the first time I’d actually been out on a MTB ride by myself in a couple of months. As much as I love riding socially, I quite enjoyed being out there on my own for a change. There’s something strangely appealing about only being able to hear the sound of your bike and your breathing as you move through singletrack. It started raining half-way through, and so at the end of the lap, I cruised on home in a muddy but happy state.

In the afternoon, I headed back to Forrester Park to attend a BMX coaching clinic. The clinic was taken by Ted Lucas, a BMX NZ coach, and I was eager to learn about the basics of BMXing. Up till this point, I had really only made it around the track with some basic fitness but very little actual skill. Ted taught us the basics of pumping, manualing, and gate starts over the course of 2 hours. By the end of it, I was feeling rather overwhelmed by all the information, and slightly embarrassed that everyone could manual on their first attempt except for me!

Determined to practice what I’d learnt the day before, I spent a couple of hours today at the BMX track to practice pumping. The final straight of the Dunedin BMX track is a series of small rolly things (Scotty’s gone out for a ride right now so I can’t ask him what the technical term is!), which I’d been struggling with all season. After repeatedly riding that straight this afternoon however, I think I’ve finally mastered the art of pumping them! Yay! I also worked on the first straight and am getting to the stage where I’m a bit happier with my wheels off the ground on the tabletop and double.

I finished off my little practice session with five laps around the BMX track, timing each one to see how much faster I could go. It was reminiscent of the Magic Carpet intervals I used to do at Makara Peak in Wellington, and it was quite cool feeling out of breath and slightly broken at the end of it! Of course, how fast I can get around the track means nothing without the context of other riders. I’m looking forward to the next BMX club night to see if the coaching and practice has paid off!