Group Ride
I started this week’s Wednesday group ride by snapping my bike chain literally 30 seconds after getting on the bike to warm up. As the start of my warmup, I rolled onto a small rock from which I planned to drop off on the rear wheel; however, the instant I pushed down on the pedal to lift the front wheel, the chain snapped. Fortunately I wasn’t trying to drop off something up high. Thankfully I had a spare chain and tool and was able to actually ride. I guess I shouldn’t have procrastinated on putting on the new chain that I’ve had for at least a year…
Day Pond is always a fun place to ride. After a few minutes warming up by the dam, we roamed around from spot to spot, taking turns sessioning different features and lines. One theme from this week’s ride was the “three rock challenge”, of which there were several.
A mere month ago I had a solo ride at Day Pond. During that session, I spent some time trying to do a gap from a stone wall to a rock, which took quite a few tries to finally accomplish. I also did some clumsy drops from the wall, which were a bit scary at the time. Flash forward to this past week: I did the same drop with no hesitation and cleaned the gap first try – and that was just the warmup! I also noticed that my balance and control, as well as the height of my pedalups, has improved just in the last 1-2 weeks. I love seeing noticeable progress like that!
Solo Ride
On Saturday, I rode at home, practicing in my backyard trials area. The goal was to focus on basics and small features to improve my technique and control.
I’ve been seeing definite progress in my riding this year, with noticeable improvements sometimes on a weekly basis. I still struggle with many of the seemingly simple lines in my home trials area, but I practice on it periodically and definitely see progress in my skills, balance, control, and consistency. This edit attempts to give a glimpse at the process.
With this edit, I tried to liven things up a bit by showing many different camera angles, including some closeups. The goal is to improve my ability to tell an interesting story visually. Part of that process is selecting camera angles, part of it is planning ahead, part of it is the editing process, and part of it is learning how to use more features of my tools – i.e., the camera and the editing software.
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