M
Monique Y. Mudama
Guest
Tonya Laffey, pro racer, taught this clinic. Read more about her and
her team here: http://www.mtbchick.com/
I heard about the clinic from the Singletrack Sistahs group. More info
here: http://www.singletracksistahs.com/
This was ostensibly a four-hour beginner's clinic, from 9 to 1. I'd
never been to white ranch park before; I thought I'd left myself plenty
of time, but got to the Western parking lot at 9 on the dot. Two other
students were there; Tonya never teaches more than five at a time by
herself.
What can I say? It was a really good clinic. Tonya's husband and
mechanic, Troy, tuned up our bikes as we talked about our experience
levels. Tonya strongly encouraged me to switch to my clipless pedals,
so I did ...
This experience was really good. While I don't think anything she told
me was news, it really helped to have an expert standing there,
watching, encouraging me. I always feel guilty when my friends have to
wait for me because I'm trying something; this way, all of us students
were in the same boat, and we knew that Tonya was there for us. There
just wasn't any pressure to hurry up and move on.
So, let's see. I got some actual air beneath my wheels during bunny
hops -- 5-6", which, while not exactly airborne, is much more than I
have in the past. I even cleared some little waterbars with bunnyhops,
implying that I might have developed a sense of timing.
I cleared a series of four uphill waterbars; the trick was to go all the
way to the outside for each of them, so you go far right, then left,
right, and then left again, hitting the shallow edge every time. Took
me four tries and an upshift, but I finally got it.
The only major trauma was this one downhill waterbar. It was at a 45
degree angle to the trail, right after a series of roots and rocks that
made things rather difficult. I still had Tonya's "go perpendicular to
the water bar" mantra in my head, so I tried to achieve that ... and
ended up in a rather awkward lump on the ground. My leg was pretty
bruised; my arm was too muddy to tell, but something was probably
bleeding. Up, I go again, and down I go again. Sigh. Several tries
later, though, I cleared the damn thing.
I won't bother to tell you about all the spots I *didn't* clear =P
After getting back to the parking lot, Troy cleaned up the cut on my arm
as best he could. He gave me something squooshy to grab while he poured
alcohol. ARRRGH! Then he spent over an hour addressing a complaint I
had about my brakes while Tonya went off riding. What an awesome guy.
He showed me everything he was doing, and while I can say with
confidence that I couldn't demonstrate what he did, I think I learned
something about the whole process.
After we were all done there, I called Eric, but the reception wasn't so
great. So I pretty much just told him to buy some gauze and hydrogen
peroxide and that I'd be home in an hour. Then I drove home as quickly
as I could.
Well, it turns out that Eric was a bit freaked, given that I hadn't said
I was okay. (I had figured that, if something were really wrong,
someone else would have had to call him -- so by definition, if I
called, I was okay. Apparently not.) He bought the supplies, though.
I burbled on happily about the clinic while devouring a cheeseburger,
then showered and let him at the cut.
Hydrogen peroxide hurts worse than alcohol.
Anyway, the plan is still for me to play hockey tonight, and I have a
private hockey lesson tomorrow, so hopefully I can deal with the pain.
As for clipless, hrmph. I do like them for some purposes, but when the
going gets technical, I'm always out of them. I've ordered Zilla's
suggestion, the shimano multi-release cleats, so we'll see if those help
matters. Certainly, parts of the trail we did at white ranch were much
more difficult than the stuff I normally do.
Oh, and, after seeing how easy it was for Troy to get at my bike using a
stand, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna buy one. He uses one made by Ultimate;
I think it's this one:
<http://www.beyondbikes.com/bb/ba/asp/ic.AC-TOO-brs-80r/ab/Itemdesc.htm?link=bestwb>
Can't really afford it this second, but it's on my list.
--
monique
her team here: http://www.mtbchick.com/
I heard about the clinic from the Singletrack Sistahs group. More info
here: http://www.singletracksistahs.com/
This was ostensibly a four-hour beginner's clinic, from 9 to 1. I'd
never been to white ranch park before; I thought I'd left myself plenty
of time, but got to the Western parking lot at 9 on the dot. Two other
students were there; Tonya never teaches more than five at a time by
herself.
What can I say? It was a really good clinic. Tonya's husband and
mechanic, Troy, tuned up our bikes as we talked about our experience
levels. Tonya strongly encouraged me to switch to my clipless pedals,
so I did ...
This experience was really good. While I don't think anything she told
me was news, it really helped to have an expert standing there,
watching, encouraging me. I always feel guilty when my friends have to
wait for me because I'm trying something; this way, all of us students
were in the same boat, and we knew that Tonya was there for us. There
just wasn't any pressure to hurry up and move on.
So, let's see. I got some actual air beneath my wheels during bunny
hops -- 5-6", which, while not exactly airborne, is much more than I
have in the past. I even cleared some little waterbars with bunnyhops,
implying that I might have developed a sense of timing.
I cleared a series of four uphill waterbars; the trick was to go all the
way to the outside for each of them, so you go far right, then left,
right, and then left again, hitting the shallow edge every time. Took
me four tries and an upshift, but I finally got it.
The only major trauma was this one downhill waterbar. It was at a 45
degree angle to the trail, right after a series of roots and rocks that
made things rather difficult. I still had Tonya's "go perpendicular to
the water bar" mantra in my head, so I tried to achieve that ... and
ended up in a rather awkward lump on the ground. My leg was pretty
bruised; my arm was too muddy to tell, but something was probably
bleeding. Up, I go again, and down I go again. Sigh. Several tries
later, though, I cleared the damn thing.
I won't bother to tell you about all the spots I *didn't* clear =P
After getting back to the parking lot, Troy cleaned up the cut on my arm
as best he could. He gave me something squooshy to grab while he poured
alcohol. ARRRGH! Then he spent over an hour addressing a complaint I
had about my brakes while Tonya went off riding. What an awesome guy.
He showed me everything he was doing, and while I can say with
confidence that I couldn't demonstrate what he did, I think I learned
something about the whole process.
After we were all done there, I called Eric, but the reception wasn't so
great. So I pretty much just told him to buy some gauze and hydrogen
peroxide and that I'd be home in an hour. Then I drove home as quickly
as I could.
Well, it turns out that Eric was a bit freaked, given that I hadn't said
I was okay. (I had figured that, if something were really wrong,
someone else would have had to call him -- so by definition, if I
called, I was okay. Apparently not.) He bought the supplies, though.
I burbled on happily about the clinic while devouring a cheeseburger,
then showered and let him at the cut.
Hydrogen peroxide hurts worse than alcohol.
Anyway, the plan is still for me to play hockey tonight, and I have a
private hockey lesson tomorrow, so hopefully I can deal with the pain.
As for clipless, hrmph. I do like them for some purposes, but when the
going gets technical, I'm always out of them. I've ordered Zilla's
suggestion, the shimano multi-release cleats, so we'll see if those help
matters. Certainly, parts of the trail we did at white ranch were much
more difficult than the stuff I normally do.
Oh, and, after seeing how easy it was for Troy to get at my bike using a
stand, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna buy one. He uses one made by Ultimate;
I think it's this one:
<http://www.beyondbikes.com/bb/ba/asp/ic.AC-TOO-brs-80r/ab/Itemdesc.htm?link=bestwb>
Can't really afford it this second, but it's on my list.
--
monique
