"Group" ride
Let's just call them "Shonny, Katerina," and "Julien."
By reputation they are the former US national XC champ, the current national XC champ of the Czech Republic, and the now 4x world XC champ - not to mention the defending Olympic gold medalist. Shonny and Katerina are also key members of the LUNA pro mtb team. Then there was me. Pudgier, out-of-shape by comparison, and the slowest of them all - something I have not experienced for a long time.
I get to do a lot of cool things as a freelance writer within the bike industry and riding with this small group of cyclerati was certainly one of the coolest experiences I've had in a while. It's very hard to get to know the pros on a personal level since it's usually all business when we talk at races or exchange comments for articles etc. The best way to get to know pro bike racers is to ride with them, since riding is at the core of their existence and everything else only goes to support their lifestyle. I would have liked to ride with them too, if only I could have kept up with them.
We met at Outdoor Demo, an expo for the bike industry that takes place in Boulder City, Nevada during the two days prior to Interbike, the annual industry trade show. My objective was to try out different linking systems on dual suspension bikes. Orbea, the bike sponsor for the three superstars, had something new to offer and Shonny invited me to try out one of the new bikes.
I am lucky to have worked with each of these racers in various capacities, otherwise I would have truly been blinded by the star power. Nevertheless, when it was realized who I would be riding with, I started to quake and I felt like I was going on my first mountain bike ride ever. You can get away with feeling like a first-timer on a road bike but it's not so easy on a mountain bike when faced with precipitous descents and scree-strewn climbs that fall off into thin air if you make only the smallest error. I survived the first loop - a small, easy demo loop set up by the event organizers expressly for testing products. The only way the demo loop becomes difficult is if you try to go fast. Alison Sydor, a Canadian pro who may soon reach legend status, once said that "Everything becomes technical at speed," which becomes so true once you have to start making split-second decisions and hope for the best.
Craving more, our little group headed up into the canyon to a trailhead for two trails. The name of one escapes me, the other will be branded on my memory for life. I looked a little wistfully at the nameless trail, since that was the easier of the two, and will instead remember Shonny saying to me over her shoulder, "I guess we're going to take Mother!"
It is important to get your ego trampled every now and again. How will you ever know your weaknesses unless they get nakedly exposed? "Go and have a failure," was Garrison Keillor's advice to the Phi Beta Kappa members of Harvard's graduating class of 2001, "for only through failure will you experience success."
Mother was a 30-minute sustained climb up the canyon walls of Bootleg Canyon. Once the rainbow stripes and Olympic rings on Julien's jersey became barely visible and little Katerina became just a spec in the distance, they would stop and wait. It didn't matter that Julien's bike weighed a full pound more than his regular bike or that it didn't fit him well. Even with those handicaps and me riding a single pivot dual suspension Orbea with carbon monocoque frame and aluminum swing arm, the gap between us yawned cavernously.
I survived this ride too with everything intact, although my ego was a little chipped from the experience. I unknowingly got caught up on the frame a couple times, which left a few angry claw-like marks on my left thigh. Julien asked if I "had a leeetle crash?" No, I'm just not as talented as I thought I was.
It really helps to be reminded of what it's like to be the slowest and sloppiest rider sometimes since it becomes easier to identify with the fears that new riders have. Everyone has been there. The whole point of our LUNA team is to get more women and girls on bikes and that objective could get easily lost through intimidation.
So go out, have a failure and bare your weaknesses. Then go ride with someone less experienced and show them something new. To derive confidence from failure is likely one of the hardest mountain bike skills to teach; master it and realize its value when it's applied to just about every other aspect of life.
By reputation they are the former US national XC champ, the current national XC champ of the Czech Republic, and the now 4x world XC champ - not to mention the defending Olympic gold medalist. Shonny and Katerina are also key members of the LUNA pro mtb team. Then there was me. Pudgier, out-of-shape by comparison, and the slowest of them all - something I have not experienced for a long time.
I get to do a lot of cool things as a freelance writer within the bike industry and riding with this small group of cyclerati was certainly one of the coolest experiences I've had in a while. It's very hard to get to know the pros on a personal level since it's usually all business when we talk at races or exchange comments for articles etc. The best way to get to know pro bike racers is to ride with them, since riding is at the core of their existence and everything else only goes to support their lifestyle. I would have liked to ride with them too, if only I could have kept up with them.
We met at Outdoor Demo, an expo for the bike industry that takes place in Boulder City, Nevada during the two days prior to Interbike, the annual industry trade show. My objective was to try out different linking systems on dual suspension bikes. Orbea, the bike sponsor for the three superstars, had something new to offer and Shonny invited me to try out one of the new bikes.
I am lucky to have worked with each of these racers in various capacities, otherwise I would have truly been blinded by the star power. Nevertheless, when it was realized who I would be riding with, I started to quake and I felt like I was going on my first mountain bike ride ever. You can get away with feeling like a first-timer on a road bike but it's not so easy on a mountain bike when faced with precipitous descents and scree-strewn climbs that fall off into thin air if you make only the smallest error. I survived the first loop - a small, easy demo loop set up by the event organizers expressly for testing products. The only way the demo loop becomes difficult is if you try to go fast. Alison Sydor, a Canadian pro who may soon reach legend status, once said that "Everything becomes technical at speed," which becomes so true once you have to start making split-second decisions and hope for the best.
Craving more, our little group headed up into the canyon to a trailhead for two trails. The name of one escapes me, the other will be branded on my memory for life. I looked a little wistfully at the nameless trail, since that was the easier of the two, and will instead remember Shonny saying to me over her shoulder, "I guess we're going to take Mother!"
It is important to get your ego trampled every now and again. How will you ever know your weaknesses unless they get nakedly exposed? "Go and have a failure," was Garrison Keillor's advice to the Phi Beta Kappa members of Harvard's graduating class of 2001, "for only through failure will you experience success."
Mother was a 30-minute sustained climb up the canyon walls of Bootleg Canyon. Once the rainbow stripes and Olympic rings on Julien's jersey became barely visible and little Katerina became just a spec in the distance, they would stop and wait. It didn't matter that Julien's bike weighed a full pound more than his regular bike or that it didn't fit him well. Even with those handicaps and me riding a single pivot dual suspension Orbea with carbon monocoque frame and aluminum swing arm, the gap between us yawned cavernously.
I survived this ride too with everything intact, although my ego was a little chipped from the experience. I unknowingly got caught up on the frame a couple times, which left a few angry claw-like marks on my left thigh. Julien asked if I "had a leeetle crash?" No, I'm just not as talented as I thought I was.
It really helps to be reminded of what it's like to be the slowest and sloppiest rider sometimes since it becomes easier to identify with the fears that new riders have. Everyone has been there. The whole point of our LUNA team is to get more women and girls on bikes and that objective could get easily lost through intimidation.
So go out, have a failure and bare your weaknesses. Then go ride with someone less experienced and show them something new. To derive confidence from failure is likely one of the hardest mountain bike skills to teach; master it and realize its value when it's applied to just about every other aspect of life.
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