Today marked the first day back in the gym. My last season was over two months ago before I left for Canada. And my body let me be well aware of this.
Despite being in an effective off season, I have not been keeping the bikes locked away in a dark room. I have for a long time ceased trying to pretend that I am anything apart from a complete mountain bike addict and endurance junky to boot. So my ‘off season’ involves more riding than many people on season. But I only ride if I feel like it, which is nearly every day.
For example the day after stepping off the plane from Canada a mere four days after I finished what was by far the hardest and most intense race of my life, I went for a ride. Although I was riding an Ellsworth Rouge with eight inches of silky sponginess.
One of the areas that helped me to my under 25 world 24 hour solo title was my descending. The downhills in Canmore were nothing amazingly hard compared with what I have ridden here in NZ. But they sure got a whole lot more interesting when the rain streamed down them. In the early part of the race when the track was dusty I was not making huge time on the descents, but certainly not holding anyone up. But when 100mm of mud was layered on top there was no one who I could not lose down the rooty sections. So the years of playing in the mud and coming home and having my Mum threaten to hose me off outside paid off.
I have wanted for a while to have a dabble in freeriding. But for over a year I have been training or racing. This meant that I could not risk doing dangerous new stuff at the risk of injury and loss of training time. Therefore upon my return to New Zealand, post the biggest race of my life, was the perfect time to get some airtime.
So I borrowed a six inch travel trail/light freeride bike and headed out with my mate to do some sweet jumps. We started with some not so small jumps and worked towards linking an entire track together. It involved several sections of jumps as well as drops and structures. The first time I did anything, naturally, was terrifying. Even though I have spent a large chunk of my life on bikes I don’t often depart the earth on them for more than micro seconds. But the rush of more hang time was awesome.
More recently I have been enjoying the improving weather and hitting the trails. Both my Ellsworth and Niner have been regularly out cruising the Redwoods. Not far away is the Whaka 100km single loop race that I am really looking forward to, having missed it last year. I was busy getting ready to attend my first international race at the Scott 24 in Canberra.
Despite being in an effective off season, I have not been keeping the bikes locked away in a dark room. I have for a long time ceased trying to pretend that I am anything apart from a complete mountain bike addict and endurance junky to boot. So my ‘off season’ involves more riding than many people on season. But I only ride if I feel like it, which is nearly every day.
For example the day after stepping off the plane from Canada a mere four days after I finished what was by far the hardest and most intense race of my life, I went for a ride. Although I was riding an Ellsworth Rouge with eight inches of silky sponginess.
One of the areas that helped me to my under 25 world 24 hour solo title was my descending. The downhills in Canmore were nothing amazingly hard compared with what I have ridden here in NZ. But they sure got a whole lot more interesting when the rain streamed down them. In the early part of the race when the track was dusty I was not making huge time on the descents, but certainly not holding anyone up. But when 100mm of mud was layered on top there was no one who I could not lose down the rooty sections. So the years of playing in the mud and coming home and having my Mum threaten to hose me off outside paid off.
I have wanted for a while to have a dabble in freeriding. But for over a year I have been training or racing. This meant that I could not risk doing dangerous new stuff at the risk of injury and loss of training time. Therefore upon my return to New Zealand, post the biggest race of my life, was the perfect time to get some airtime.
So I borrowed a six inch travel trail/light freeride bike and headed out with my mate to do some sweet jumps. We started with some not so small jumps and worked towards linking an entire track together. It involved several sections of jumps as well as drops and structures. The first time I did anything, naturally, was terrifying. Even though I have spent a large chunk of my life on bikes I don’t often depart the earth on them for more than micro seconds. But the rush of more hang time was awesome.
More recently I have been enjoying the improving weather and hitting the trails. Both my Ellsworth and Niner have been regularly out cruising the Redwoods. Not far away is the Whaka 100km single loop race that I am really looking forward to, having missed it last year. I was busy getting ready to attend my first international race at the Scott 24 in Canberra.
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