What’s all that yelping? Oh, just ignore that, it’ll stop eventually…
A pack of coyotes must’ve made a kill pretty close to where we were riding, because at one point they started going crazy with all the yelping. Of course Jim yelped back at them. Fortunately they were busy enough with their dinner – or whatever was going on – to come investigate our goose-honking trials bike brakes.
Anyway, that’s not really what this is all about. This is about trials biking. Obviously, right? I assume that’s why you’re reading this. Right. So let’s talk trials.
Trials isn’t about getting every line on the first try. It’s not always about big powerhouse Jack Carthy moves or crazy smooth Danny MacAskill lines. It’s about the journey, the process of figuring out how to ride certain lines, and time spent with friends. Sometimes we get a line or an obstacle on the first try, but if it was always like that, it would be boring as hell, and utterly un-rewarding. No, trials is hard. And being so hard is what makes it fun. Yes, I know it sounds crazy. If you’re a trials rider, you know exactly what I mean. If not, well, you just have to trust me.
Usually trials trials videos show just the successes and the best moves. They don’t always show the struggle, the progress, and the process of figuring out how to do the lines and moves. If you’re new to trials biking, you might wonder after watching all the videos why it looks so easy and why you just can’t seem to nail everything first try. Well, I’m here to tell you – you’re not alone. We all go through that, all the time – and honestly, if you don’t, you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. So sometimes I think it’s important to see the whole process: not just the best parts, but the stuff that you don’t usually get to see.
This video takes a look at the process of working through several different lines. In some cases, one of us (usually Jim) would get a line on the first try, but usually we had to make multiple attempts and try different approaches.
For this ride it was just Jim and me, so the dynamic was a little different from a typical group ride. While I absolutely love the group ride vibe, I also really enjoy the more intimate nature of the interactions when there are just two of us. This ride was a great example of that type of dynamic.
0 Comments