fear overcome. mostly.

Chicago Skyline

Last Friday I hit the road with two fellow female cyclists to go to Ray's MTB Park for Women's Weekend in Milwaukee.  We left before sunrise, managed to get through Chicago traffic, as well as various bike rack dilemmas in order to ride with a women's only crowd with some awesome coaches. Once we arrived I realized that I lost that screw cap and spring thingy that holds the spindle and the front tire on, so I went over to the one of the resident bike mechanics and a replacement one was quickly found. Such a little item, so very necessary.  I then got suited up with additional elbow and knee pads, which I was oh so thankful for later. Time to ride around and warm up! Ray's is located inside of an old Menards store, so there is plenty of room for a lot of bike pathways (cross country loops), pump tracks, ladder sections, jump sections, foam pit, etc. As I cruised through the park, and only on cement at this point, I looked around and wondered how I might actually get the courage to do some of the obstacles they had in the park. I passed a simple log obstacle and shuddered a little. Single track has never been a strong suit of mine, which is one reason why I wanted to come. I was hoping to gain some confidence with my technical skills on the bike.

Leigh coaching at  Women's Weekend

Leigh Donavan, 1995 World Mountain Bike Champion, 2001 World Cup Mountain Bike Champion, and 9x National Mountain Bike Champion was there to share her expertise. She has great energy and a great enthusiasm for bringing more women into this sport. She started off the day with a big welcome and an explanation of events. We then split up among the 7 or 8 women coaches on hand by experience levels and spread throughout the park.  I started out with the beginners, but after realizing that yes, I know not to use my front brake when going down a hill among a few other things I thought I would venture out to some of the beginning ladders in the park. 

Each ladder path had a different challenge. Some had large rocks to go over, logs, rock gardens, teeter totters, skinny pieces of wood to balance and ride down, and sharp turns. I rode down a few of the easiest ladder runs without much problem. Then I felt the need to start taking some risks, although I didn't feel I was ready to roll over a big rock that was a foot off the cement floor just yet. I cruised through the cross country track a few times, which is a lot of fun with some quick downhills and uphills and a few obstacles along the way. It brings you up to the second floor where you ride along an elevated platform at times with wooden railings to keep you from falling down below. 

I made my way over to the pump track and observed some women for awhile. This is the first time I had seen a pump track, and it looked like a blast as well as terrifying at the same time. There were a few little hills to "pump" over and then a steep berm that looked nearly vertical to me to ride around to the next set of hills. You aren't supposed to pedal, but just push and pull (pump) your bike in a way over the hills to gain momentum. I watched one woman who had never done it go out but she didn't commit (rule #1 learned ALWAYS COMMIT) and she slipped down the berm since she didn't have enough speed. I watched and watched and grew more anxious at the thought of trying it. The fear was there, and I hated it. Finally I just went for it, heart pounding like crazy. I went over the first hills easy enough, made it to the first berm but had to pedal a few times to keep my speed up. Next set of hills and I start looking straight at the berm and felt myself slowing. The coach on the floor began yelling, "Look ahead! Look ahead!" and I realized what I was doing and forced myself to look down the track and it felt like my bike began to move on its own again. Relief, I made it through the second berm.  (Rule #2 learned LOOK PAST your obstacle). More hills and I pushed it harder to get my speed around the third berm and made sure to look past the berm down the track. Went better! One more berm to go and I landed back on the platform. Whew! I had made it and most of all I had beat my fear. That felt awesome. Knowing that I could do it I tried it a few more times, having more fun and feeling more confident each time. 

Over and over throughout the weekend, this scenario played out. I grew frustrated and angry with myself and the level of fear I had to complete some of these ladder runs. I'm no stranger to crashes, but the thought of crashing on wood and cement was awful.  I would work myself up, then finally go do it, and realize, "Thats it? That wasn't so hard!"  By the end of the first day, I was happy that I got past this and was able to hopefully develop some great new skills to use on the trail. 

Day two I got to ride more and the park was open to the public. No more coaches (although a few were there riding), just a chance to ride and practice the skills I learned. I was more confident, but yet had the biggest crash of the weekend. After going over a rock my tire veered left and hit the platform just right and my front tire got stuck and I endo'd. (Rule #3 learned, HOLD YOUR LINE!). A vision of grace as always, I was sprawled upside down with my bike on top of me and my water bottle dripping on my head. A lounge full of people was directly next to me I managed to push my bike off of me, right myself, and walk away like I meant to do that. I had one other crash on a twisty turny track with a little narrow bridge that I attempted to go over. I slipped off and fell to the right with a pretty loud smack, since my hard shelled knee pad hit the wood, and of course, next to a lounge full of spectators. (Go back to Rule # 2, LOOK PAST your obstacle). With a loud, "I'm OK!", smiling and nodding, I got up and noticed my derailer was bent. Saving me yet again, I meet with the mechanics, who were able to fix it enough to get me by for the rest of the day. Thanks so much to the staff at Ray's, Ray, Leigh and all the coaches, and all the women who came and made this weekend so awesome. Yeah, I fell a few times, and it was stressful, but it was worth the drive, because I was riding a bike! And I can't wait until enough snow melts and trees get cleared out of the way of our bike trails to try out my new skillz. :) 

And if you have nothing better to do, you can watch me conquer the pump track. It is much less dramatic that described above, and this movie must be in slo mo, because I swear I was ripping up that track.