As we rest having raced our way to the top of the last red north loop descent, my mind is becoming clear. I know what is about to happen, I know this section of trail really well and know exactly where I’m going to hit just pure moments of ultimate joy. I recollect to when Rich at cyclewise told me to smile as I hit the steering wheel sticking out of the ground. Every time I go past this odd landmark I can’t help but smile. He’s right. The landscape in front just opens up to the surrounding dramatic mountains. It becomes breezy and it cleanses all thought from your mind. Just have fun. It invites you in, lulls you into a false sense of security. Obviously you still need to focus on your skill but this view, this point in time, your mind is clear. Free.
I let Alix go first. Not only is she very fast on this section but we have come to a conclusion that I’m cursed if I ride in front of her. I always seem to fall, whether this is magic or just plain paranoia I do not know but it is a rule none the less when we’re riding together. As expected she whizzes off on her luminous pink bike. She looks so cool. She should be in a mountain bike DVD. I’m left on my own. At one with the trail, hitting berms, humps and bumps. I feel my wheels leave the ground and get that lurching feeling in my stomach that everyone feels when they’re out of control. It excites me; I land with my weight centred towards the back of the bike. The next bump and the same thing occurs yet with less of a lurching. I’m enjoying this. My speed continues to grow, my confidence growing alongside it. Like neatly aligned seedlings on an allotment. I hit a rocky berm, it’s rutted and I take it easy, spotting my exit. Awesome. I nail it. Carrying on, I know that there is one awesome section left but before that a bit of a technical section. A triple jump, a table top and another steep berm. This section is annoying. It shouldn’t slow me down but it does, interrupts the flow. Next is the bit I’ve been waiting for. The hundred plus metres worth of little jumps. It’s awesome! I get so much air. I ride round the corner completing the last little section where Alix is waiting.
She’s covered head to toe in mud spots. She looks ill but she’s grinning, I’m exactly the same. Maybe we’re just ill in the head. Its odd how a couple of girls are happy about being covered in grime, sweat and soaked right through to the skin. I guess our minds just need entertaining differently to the ordinary girls sat at home reading beauty magazines. I feel tired, a couple of weeks off the bike and it really shows, but I’ve rekindled the fire that burns inside me. My passion for hurling down a mountain side on a bike. I want to push my riding harder than ever before and, next time I have a fall, I’ll be hopping straight back on. People say recovery is hard but the way I see it is its just progression. If I continue to have days like these I don’t think that recovery will ever be a problem.
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