got in an even more epic ride today. 3 hours 45 minutes of epic-ness. we moved a lot faster, covered more miles. my body seems to have gotten the hang out of extracting oxygen from mountain air, and my heart rate wasn't nearly so spikey today.
i've had several of those "ah ha! i get it!" moments on the bike the last 2 days. finally figuring out what all those wise words of advice and encouragement folks have tried to give me in the last couple years actually mean and feel like.
#1. i have an accordion middle. climbing up short steep losing my balance hills yesterday - i was flopping all over like a fish, and for some reason i thought "activate your core". and hey, ya know what - it works better when your upper and lower body actually work together. note to self - actually do core exercises and listen to the PTs who say your core is weak.
#2. look where you want to go. i'm a total dork about getting down twisty turns - like switchbacks where i would normally be looking at my front wheel or down the cliff where i'm sure i'm going to plummet to my death. for some reason today i said "get yer head up and look where you want to go!" ... and guess what - my bike went where i wanted it to go!
#3. you don't need to moving fast to be balanced. yup, i've always had a fear of - if your feet stop moving, you're screwed, better try to unclip before you crash - and i would normally crash trying to execute this maneuver anyway. today i swear i came to a stand still in a steep little up section, my feet quit moving. it was like everything went in slow motion. i felt my front wheel start to lift. my brain stayed calm (?!?!?!), i shifted my weight forward, my feet started to move, and i peddled to the top. COOL! lesson learned!
#4. just like in the weight room, grunting helps.
#5. i still hate bridges, especially bridges that aren't running in exactly the same direction as the trail. i'm trying to get over this fear. today, on a particularly scary bridge entrance, i said, "be strong, go for it!" i got down the big root step, maneuvered through the tire width of a crack between the two big rocks, got my front wheel up on the bridge ... and ... panicked. judging by where my bike and i ended up, i think i just let go of the handlebars and attempted to bear hug the log handle rail. i earned a few scrapes and some dirt in my shoe from this - but i've lived to tell about it. maybe i'll conquer a few more less scary bridges and build some bridge confidence before trying that bridge again.
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