T
Trentus
Guest
Our local youth group decided to run a "Bike-a-thon" around the 6km ride around our local lake. I
got roped into running around it on the tail, mopping up break-downs, flats, de-railled chains, etc.
Not a bad way to spend a beautiful sunny day, but the best part came after the 2 hour ride (best for
the day was a youngster doing 7 laps in the 2 hours) when we discovered that there was a small beach
area with a wall around it, that varied in height from a few cms, to about 3 feet! What a buzz,
blasting down the path, and dropping off the wall onto the beach.
It was just what this wussy little scaredy cat needed (a nice soft landing if I stuffed it up) to
finally have the courage to try a drop or two. I started easy on the centimetre drops, and worked my
way up, not quite going for the full 3 footer.
The sand sure made for interesting landings, if you didn't keep the front wheel up, it stopped dead
when it hit the deep sand, and you'd risk an endo (I didn't fall off once though which is rather
contrary to my usual bike riding) . And I also discovered how damned hard it is to ride on deep soft
sand. With steering "railroading" in a set direction in the sand regardless of where you steer, and
pedalling like mad in very low gear and still not really getting anywhere.
If you landed well, but then tried to turn you'd have the front wheel do really weird things. It was
basically a case of land in a straight line, and don't try to turn till the bike stops. But it was
an absolute blast, and it was much softer on the bike than 1-2 foot drops onto a hard surface might
have been, this is afterall a hardtail bike, but my tail isn't hard, and so soft landings sure
suited my tail much better.
If I keep this up, I just might start getting serious about my mountain biking
Trentus
got roped into running around it on the tail, mopping up break-downs, flats, de-railled chains, etc.
Not a bad way to spend a beautiful sunny day, but the best part came after the 2 hour ride (best for
the day was a youngster doing 7 laps in the 2 hours) when we discovered that there was a small beach
area with a wall around it, that varied in height from a few cms, to about 3 feet! What a buzz,
blasting down the path, and dropping off the wall onto the beach.
It was just what this wussy little scaredy cat needed (a nice soft landing if I stuffed it up) to
finally have the courage to try a drop or two. I started easy on the centimetre drops, and worked my
way up, not quite going for the full 3 footer.
The sand sure made for interesting landings, if you didn't keep the front wheel up, it stopped dead
when it hit the deep sand, and you'd risk an endo (I didn't fall off once though which is rather
contrary to my usual bike riding) . And I also discovered how damned hard it is to ride on deep soft
sand. With steering "railroading" in a set direction in the sand regardless of where you steer, and
pedalling like mad in very low gear and still not really getting anywhere.
If you landed well, but then tried to turn you'd have the front wheel do really weird things. It was
basically a case of land in a straight line, and don't try to turn till the bike stops. But it was
an absolute blast, and it was much softer on the bike than 1-2 foot drops onto a hard surface might
have been, this is afterall a hardtail bike, but my tail isn't hard, and so soft landings sure
suited my tail much better.
If I keep this up, I just might start getting serious about my mountain biking
Trentus
