ChrisCowan.us

I’m in slide with a handful of brakes and that uneasy feeling that something bad is going to happen in the next point five seconds. Where did I go wrong? When did I miss my line and end up on the panic express train to Wreckville? Was it the socks I was wearing? Did I not eat enough for breakfast? Did I not get enough sleep? Why can’t I keep the bike in the sweet spot? How much is this mistake going to cost me this time? These are all the thoughts that go through my head during the point five seconds before imminent wreckage occurs.

I thought that superstition was only for crazy pro athletes and witch doctors. But when you loose your game you will try anything to get it back. Mountain bikers are just as crazy. We always resort to spending more money on our bikes to figure out what went wrong on the last bad ride. It was those damn tires they keep losing traction. I think I need to get Product X, that would have saved me! Or I’m just not confident in my brakes, I will replace the whole system.

Many times it’s just your head. A bad thought will creep it’s way in and mess up your rhythm. It happens to everyone on the trail at one time or another. The only way to make it through the funk is to fix your head. Forget about those rocks and the loose dirt on the sharp hair pin turn that your taking at 20+ miles an hour. Don’t hit the brakes, if you where going to slow down you would have done it on the straight way. Now all you have to keep you safe is the traction from your spinning wheels, the perfect line and some good old fashion body English. You have to visualize yourself past the turn and see the line. Don’t look at the rock or the side of the trail otherwise that will become your reality.

If that doesn’t work then put on your lucky socks…

Photo by Scott Mosher

I regularly visit MTBR.com NorCal’s forums and I came across a post titled ‘Oops, did i forget to mention Aug is 10,000ft month?’ The author challenged everyone to ride more then 10,000 feet this month. So I started to calculate my totals thus far. I’m at 14,000 feet! My Tuesday/Thursday ride is 2400 feet and my weekend rides are usually around 2000 feet. Here is a list of my rides with their approximate elevation gain:

• 1/1 - Fremont Older - 2400
• 1/3 - Fremont Older - 2400
• 1/6 - Sequel Demonstration Forest - 2000
• 1/8 - Fremont Older - 2400
• 1/10 - Fremont Older - 2400
• 1/15 - Fremont Older - 2400

I have two more rides planed this week, one at 1400 feet and the weekend ride at 3100 feet. I still climb huffing and puffing every inch of the way… they say it never gets easy.

Chris, they guy who rides me, woke me up this morning started checking me out to make sure I’m ready to ride. He shifted my gears, turned my knobs, stroked my pedals and squeezed my tires. I love it when he does that cause it means only one thing. IT’S RIDING TIME!.

Today was a little different cause we got a later start then usual and he wasn’t rushing to get out of the house. I could only assume that meant it was just going to be me and him. I like it that way. It’s just us alone in the woods together, man and bike. We can go at our own pace and I don’t have to get all jealous when he ogles other bikes, or even worse when he takes them for a spin… I get so steamed when he does that.

Our usual routine on the weekend is to load me up and head for the hills, today wasn’t any different. He strapped me to the car and we head down the road. This is about the time I start to doze off. I think it’s the hum of the road or something. Chris says he can always tell when I’m dreaming about riding cause my rear tire spins, it’s a lot like a dog who twitches when they dream about chasing a rabbit. He’s right, today I dreamed about riding some sweet single track. I only hoped when we got wherever it was we where going my dreams would come true.

Once we finally arrived I woke up and began to realize my dreams did come true! WE ARE GOING TO RIDE DEMO! THIS IS MY FAVORITE PLACE. ZOOMING SINGLETRACK AND FUN LITTLE RUTS TO HOP OVER! I CAN HARDLY CONTAIN MYSELF!

I was ready to go… he always takes his sweet a** time putting on his gear… stretching… checking to see if he has his keys… checking again to see if he has his keys… let’s go already!

After he the whole obsessive compulsive key checking and stretching bit (which gets real annoying) we started down the road, or should I say up the road. Not exactly the most exciting thing, but it’s a means to the end.

After a short climb up the paved hill we finally got my tires dirty. Man I love dirt. It feels so good between my knobbies! Especially in the summer time when it’s all silky smooth… the wet stuff feels good too… heck I love anything that’s made of earth!

Here is some more fire road. Not quit single track but it beats sitting in the garage.

After a while we came to a gate. I think that gate is sexy, big, strong and beautiful. Everything I look for in a gate. I like it’s sign the most. NO EVERYTHING, except bikes!

Here’s a photo of me taking a quick nap while Chris chats some poor guys ear off about his single speed. I hate those guys with their one gear. I mean come on what’s the big deal? Plus they don’t have any suspension in the rear, that equals sore but! They make me so jealous cause Chris always gets this twinkle in his eye when he sees them… I’m surprised he didn’t try and get a test ride out of the guy. I’m sorry, just really sensitive about my gears ever since my derailleur got broke in the stick attack last week.

We finally arrived at the trail head for the single track. No need to look at the map. I know where we are going.

I was on that guys ass all day. I think he was a Santa Cruz or some other boutique bike… I’m not sure they all look the same to me.

I would have totally cleared this section if Chris would have just tried harder and shifted me in the right gear. It really yanks my chain when he screws this stuff up… I forgive him as long as he keeps taking me to these sweet trails.

We had to take this photo op… YAWN!

Now this is what I live for… SINGLE TRACK!

I RIPPED THIS UP TODAY! I probably looked cooler in my head then real life but that’s the nice thing about riding by ourselves… it’s more epic! Chris had a pretty big smile on his face too…

I thought it would be nice to get a picture of just me and nature. Man I love being outdoors!

After the single track we had to climb up the fire road. I think Chris needed the break. He was squeezing my grips pretty hard through some of the switch backs and faster sections. ME… I was loving it… I squealed like a girl getting tickled on a roller coaster (or maybe that was just my brakes getting too hot either way I loved it).

Once we got close to the parking lot I could see some tents set up for demo rides. I made Chris ride past them and get straight back to the car. I didn’t want to get in a fight after such a great ride.

Once we got back he loaded me up and we took off. It would have been fun to have a BBQ with some other bikes and shared tails of the trails but that’s the price I have to pay to ride alone with my buddy.

I feel asleep on the way home. He always thinks it funny to take pictures of me when I’m sleeping… maybe next time I will throw him over the bars to pay him back. Just kidding!