sessioning

Am I shredding* yet?

~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

Happy New Year, lovely readers! I hope that you all had a lovely holiday despite COVID’s unwanted presence. Here in Phoenix, “winter weather” means “awesome,” so I currently have the privilege of enjoying beautiful weather whenever I want. As I mentioned in my last post, I really enjoyed the mountain bike clinic I took in November and since then, have been inspired to ride my bike a lot (for me, which is 3-4 times a week). As a result, I am riding trails and “cleaning” (i.e. successfully riding/completing) obstacles and sections of trails that I was way too scared to consider before the clinic. For example, recent successes on my bike at South Mountain include:

  • just trying things out and “sessioning,” or practicing things, like the Javelina, Mormon, and National trails!
  • riding the first 2 (of 3) “challenges” along the Desert Classic trail [Note: there is a more inappropriate name for the 3 challenges…if you really want to know what that name is, leave me a comment!]
  • cleaning the Lower Corona trail up and down
  • cleaning the north side descent of the “old” Beverly Canyon trail.

I’m also meeting a lot of ladies who ride, which is something I’ve been lacking. It’s way easier to get outside and ride my bike when I have people to do that with me! I’ve even set a riding goal: 30 miles per week. That doesn’t sound like much, but for me, as long as I pursue this goal, I’ll be riding way more than I have in the past 5 years combined. [Note: 30 miles per week x 52 weeks = 1,560 miles this year. Not bad!] And, last but probably not least, my SAT (self-appointed trainer) is thrilled that I’m riding more. I’ve also noticed he’s giving me more “riding tips” (usually unsolicited). Sigh. Some things never change.

What? I’m SMILING while riding my bike?

*”Shredding” refers to riding a trail at a skillful level, riding a trail really fast, and/or just plain having fun while riding.

Trying some new stuff

~ reluctantroadie ~ 1 Comment

Today, my SAT (a.k.a. self-appointed trainer and my husband) and I went on some different local mountain bike trails. Instead of riding the same (easy) trails, we did one trail backwards and one entirely new trail. I don’t tend to do the same trails backwards because I like doing what I know in the direction I know. I found that doing the one trail backwards was….harder. But, I got one obstacle on my first try and have another obstacle to work on for next time. The new-to-me trail is a wee bit out of my comfort zone, but still within my reach. There are about 3 obstacles on the uphill I need to work on….but, I “cleaned” (i.e. complete a section of trail on the first try) the downhill! In addition to doing new stuff, I “sessioned” things I didn’t get on the first try, which means that I repeated the sections I didn’t get until I did get it. It’s similar to practicing a hard part in a piano piece until you master it.

Anyway, I thought I’d document my first (and only, so far) session ride of 2020 for posterity. I have to admit that being able to do harder things is cool. Yes, the practicing part is work, but the concept is something with which I’m familiar from years of piano practice. Stay tuned for more skill development on the mountain bike from yours truly. 🙂