i am tired. i did not want to ride much, but have to cram in whatever i can Tues and Wed cause we are traveling again this weekend. did i mention i was tired? and bloated and unmotivated and still possibly hungover, behind at work, behind on fixing things, i am even somehow behind on Heroes as it went from Season 2 Episode 1 to Episode 9 fuck fuck fuck!
i am determined to take advantage of the weather, my work locale while it lasts, and to break up horrible workdays with riding when i know the workday will be horrible. G helped me buff the scrapes in my fork stanchion this AM, and not much to her displeasure, so the Heckler was ready to go.
On the trail by 3:40 not bad, armored up because now i have em and feel like i gotta use em, and a bit ornery. i just didn’t exactly want to hit National again. after a ride where you take your falls but learn stuff, sometimes its better to fall somewhere else to let all the learning sink in. Up Javalina steadily and began to clear my head, at which point i decided what i really needed was to stretch myself on Geronimo. cool, some excitement and challenge to fire me up, put some of these skills to use and make baking in these pads worth the climb. What a great idea!
What a terrible idea! I hadn’t been on Geronimo in 2.5 years since coming back from Moab in ’05 all sharp and skilled. Yeah i knew on paper it was just a tad harder than National and i was a far better rider on a far better bike, but what kind of idiot feeling sluggish just on a lark rides a DH trail by himself in fading light when no one knows where he is going?
the kind of idiot needing motivation and a scare, to force himself into improving. So that was the theme for the next hour as I worked up Mormon and up National. I committed to my lifts, and got all but the very last tiny lift on the Upper Waterfall in one stretch (and i get that all the time, i was just tired and didn’t fight hard enough flush with my success thus far). I thought about calling Beckie or Byron so someone would know where i’m going, but that seemed annoying, and after a short stop at the saddle above BV to put my sunglasses away, too much effort to dig out the phone again. the pressure was good.
So off i went, and it was not bad. It was easier than i remember, and while i was a far better rider on a far better bike, i tried to just get comfortable and not let fear even creep in. when the comfort zone expands, the fear stays out, and riding gets easy. but sometimes you have to fake it, and more importantly, sometimes you have to practice and earn it. this was good practice, and fun. i just rolled in control and stayed off the left brake if it killed me. though not as fun as National – it rolls and creeps, down mild slots and staircases, but nothing really ass-over-the-back-of-your-seat or freeride fun. its steady with some challenges and switchbacks, and at the end its a long stretch of rockface best not to stop let alone fall, as you will skid down the rock slots, but i handled it all well. i never really let it rip cause i was on a DH trail by myself in fading light when no one knew where i was going, but following someone would have been faster for sure — i was comfy! be cool honeybunny. I dabbed on several switchbacks, a combination of riding conservatively and not being sure what was around the next bend, but on the whole a very good job i should likely clean it all next time.
on the ride back i was inspired to work on my yurination:
yurination
— noun
- stringing together ridiculously local sections of knowledge to avoid cars and have a great ride.
- a route that assembles aforementioned sections.
Yuri and his pals likely have a better phrase for this, or more tease-worthy uses of this phrase. But until i am so enlightened, it is so dubbed in recognition to the still-warm feeling i have from that fun day and the fine gentleman who put it together, and its continuing mileage as a source of punnery. a back street through the Boy Scout Camp to South Mountain drive to 28th St., then a canal til about 42nd. There is better canaling to do cars were not on the north side near the office, and i think i can get back on Javalina at 46th St…another goal for the next time on this route!