Finding Flow

So this morning I was up with the chirping birds....again. Doing a Han ride. You know....Han Solo.

I drove out to Bear Mountain again to get in a little more DH track time and see where I am time wise on a top to bottom run.

It is amazing the lines you discover while walking up a trail. I now understand why walking a track is so important to racing. Once I was at the top I geared up, started the watch and rode the trail top to bottom. I had a reasonably clean run, was a little tired at the end but flowed the sections sections I had been practicing last week really well. My time was a little slower than I had really expected, but it was faster than my race run last year, I had just completed the climb, and was wearing my water pack with tools and gear.

I then pushed back up 2/3rds of the trail to get another couple turns dialed in. On my initial walk up I saw a sweet outside line on a turn that let me stay off the brakes and I just had to give it another go. You just gotta love flow.

So by this time it was only 8am but I had my fill of Bear, so I headed to The Woodlot.

Once there I immediately started my climb up. I ran into some trail runners that were running on some of the lower trails. Funny thing is, I was pushing my bike up a nasty trail with my water pack and full gear as fast as they were running up (I guess I am actually in okay shape for a mid 30's guy).

I pushed up to John's new trail and put on my helmet for the ride down. Even though it is a fall line trail that eats up precious vert really quickly, I really like the trail.

I then rode over to Snakes and Ladders which ripped quite well and then over to Bloggy Style. Riding the Legend on these trails is a touch overkill, but it really shows that the bike is versatile as a DH bike and can be ridden on the skinnies. PLUS it gets me used to pedaling in rocks an roots with a low BB height.

Bloggy has seen better days, but it is still rideable and it actually makes you use your bike's suspension and skills to ride fast. Straight into Shotgun for a rip down to my car and I was on my way home around 10am.

Overall I had a great ride and had some good training for racing.

It all comes down to flow.