My excitement to learn more skills has been boosted further by the news of a field trip.

A first for me 25 Jan the iBikeride.com meet at Swinley Forest.

Back to the woods and my training run. We left me doing run after run in the woods with Stan and Guido concentrating on one aspect at a time until it becomes instilled in me.

Run 4:

Slightly different this time, I stood on the inside of the corner and watched Stan and Guido race down the bumps, approach and through the corner.

If you are looking to learn this is something you might like to try. Invest the time it is worth it in the end.

They have very different riding styles. The both adopt the classic Attack position when riding conditions require it. The attack position is; pedals level, knees and elbows bent (to cushion the bumps), bottom off the seat, head steady and looking forward about 10-15 feet in front of you.

Stan seems to be more intuitive and seems to move a lot more than Guido. Actually Stan reminds me of Steve Romaniuk if you have ever watched The Collective or Drop in TV. Stan gets his arse left side of the bike on a right handed turn; this can lead to a tendency to skid the rear wheel if you aren't careful.

Guido looks more aesthetic to me (but what do I know). Guido's bike does the leaning and whilst he seems to stay upright.

Neither style is wrong they have just adapted differently (probably based on their body types...but we wont go there either). I just have to find what works best for me.

We did the run a few more times and I managed to not use the brakes on the last two runs.

Well Chuffed!

Then as is usual with most things comes the reality check. We tootled off to do a few more runs a bit further on and happened to come to one of Stan's favourites a singletrack through the gorse and bracken. Suspicious co-incidence I thought later.

Order of the procession Stan, me and Guido. All was going well till I burst through a blind right hander with high gorse on either side. I nervously braked (just a little feather - old habits die hard you see) to avoid the unknown and that sat the bike up and I couldn't adjust for the following left hander and my right foot caught a stubborn sapling and dislodged my foot from SPD and chain from its ring too.

A post mortem of the event was held immediately. Guido pointed out my braking track in the dirt with a tut-tut. In my defence I politely pointed out that it was the correct foot that had caught the skinny excuse for a tree (if my wrong foot had been down I might have gotten away with it). A good training example, we agreed, and a classic example of looking where you don't want to go. For those who haven't heard, the theory says look where you want to go NOTY where you don't want to go. In this example I was thinking "Don't hit the tree, don't hit the Bang!" What I should have been thinking was "Commit to the corner, your speed will do the rest."

Points taken on board.

***Note: Speed is your friend and when cornering the outside foot must be down.

I twice revisited the training run and the scene of the chain off the following week. Without company to provide feedback and encourage it felt weird but I diligently practised the runs and cornering. All the time I was playing back the previous sessions in my head. With each run I tried for more and more speed and control. It felt like I am making progress.

Next week read about my Swinley Forest visit and find out how I learnt to commit to corners.

Written by :

Buster

 

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