Hop, Drop, Not Roll

The Marinster Truck and I spent a healthy portion of our morning yesterday sitting on the side of a trail, staring at a drop, and thinking about mountain biking. 

(We were supposed to be sessioning the drop.)

When I say I conquered a climb, or flowed a steep janky section, or cleaned a skinny, that’s from my point of view as a just-decent mountain bicycle rider. No one is watching the video highlights.

But, I can do all of those things with a magnificent mediocrity bordering on actual skill that makes them fun accomplishments for me and that stands in contrast to my confidence and courage when it comes to drops. Oh, do I suck at drops.

I’ve spent many years being a content wheels-near-the-ground rider. Not just on my rigid #1FG bike where that makes some sense, but on every bike. So what changed?

Mid-life crisis? Peer pressure? An innate need for progression in my bike riding? All no. What’s new is that Andy is nearly done his new roller-coaster-esque feature on Lower Crippler, and it has a mandatory drop at the end. Not a big drop, but absolutely a drop, not a lunge or a roll. 

I tried to talk him into a skinny side exit, but he wasn’t having it. In fact he told me he’d already built it – it’s just invisible. 

(Claire thought that was hilarious…)

So I picked out a drop that’s about the same size as what he’s building, and I took the El Roy, and I rode off of it. Uneventfully. And I’m going to do that every week until his feature opens. So there, Andy.