In downhill I have always found my biggest weakness when ridding with boys to be my strength. Without good core strength and upper body I've always found it hard to hold my lines and muscle the bike over obstacles.
By practising yoga I have noticed a huge difference in my riding. From the humble beginnings of plank to headstand yoga has also taught me patience, perseverance and to focus my mind
In the video below I show my own routine I have built up which focuses on the core and upper body.
I am not a tutor so follow my guidance at your own risk
Wow its been along time since writing a race update!
Due to severe lack of funds my husband and I have had an entire season out of racing downhill!
We sure picked a good one to get back in to it!
Officially the hardest racetrack woodlands has to offer - the Scotsman... and of course some good old English rain!
It was a sloppy day on race day so all the previous days practicing and line choices didn't mean much so a fresh perspective was required. Having practiced all I could I knew it wasn't going to be an easy day.
The beginning of the track was straight forward, gap jump off the start ramp into a flat turn with tree stumps, try not to slide out of the corner and line up to pedal like mad and launch off another jump. Then on to my favourite section steep switchbacks.
All good so far and then came the horror of the bottom section....
It was steep, very steep with exposed roots criss crossing and sharp turns to negotiate. Once through those it was over some rocks and roots into the crap catcher, or around it, neither was easy!
Having practiced the crap catcher and going straight over the bars with everyone else I decided chicken line had to be a winner on this occasion although forgot to control my speed with the excitement of racing so still did an impressive hip slide down the hill. Once scrabbling around and back on the bike it was into the final section littered with rocks pointing in all directions keeping momentum was hard and the light was poor and in a fluster of nerves and frustration rode into a rock which stopped me dead! once having fought my way out I sprinted to the finish line.
It felt like my worst race ever and I was so frustrated and angry. I knew it would be hard from the start but in hind sight we all came off several times and our times were pretty close.
On reflection I leant a lot from racing such a hard track and am now even more motivated to push on with my training building my skill, strength and fitness for the next race.
A video for anyone who loves a bit of benny hill and riders falling in to the infamous "crap catcher"
I haven't posted for a long time! But I've still been riding 3 days a week. I've just not had the time to take interesting photos or do some video but I had a day off so thought I would treat myself to some video time!
We went back again for another year of Falmouth urban downhill at Tremough campus in Cornwall.
The course was completely different, much longer with different stairs and jumps. This year 5 girls took part instead of just me! Is amazing how fast our race scene grows every year.
After an amazing days riding at cafe the day before I was feeling pretty good and there was only one huge gap jump I didn't do, which would have made up the time to second place.
podium maya Atkinson, tyde D'Souza, laura griffiths
Although it was fun I think I'm all urbaned out for now and missed roots and rocks, plus st austell brewery didn't sponsor this year so there was no beer to be won and we all need a good beer after a days riding!
Despite my recent efforts to avoid the mountain bike world one industries mini enduro came to my doorstep and let's face it , it would have been rude not to take part. I have never entered an race so was pretty nervous at the thought of doing it. On Saturday I went with my husband up to practice and the stages were so much fun. The course was well thought out considering haldon was pretty much a forest on the floor with all the trees come down in the storms. Unfortunately having the home advantage didn't mean much as most of the trails had been rebuilt. never the less it felt like riding a whole new place which was pretty exciting!
The course was so much fun, the timed sections were really steep and technical, very downhill style and racing the clock to reach the next stage start was exciting in it's self.
There's an art to enduro racing Compared to Downhill. There's bike set up, dealing with punctures and how much kit to carry, practising 4 stages instead of one and refocusing at every stage start. Dealing with mistakes is different, there's no second run and you have to focus on the next stage.
The competition was fierce, most of the girls had ridden enduro races before and knew each other. I was the odd one out! With no section times at the end like a DH race you never really know how your dong until results are posted. Despite by stage 3 having total jelly legs from exhaustion and holding of for dear life down a steep loose gully I came in 3rd place so got a podium place. I was over the moon as it was totally unexpected!
I will definitely be doing one again, the race style is very intense but so much more for your money than downhill racing.
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