I rode up to Tabor to get in some cross practice…I can’t believe how hard this is for me. Riding around on single track is super easy, and I’m starting to get down the bunny hop, but the whole mount/dismount thing, and carrying that damned heavy bike, is getting me down. I practiced mounts/dismounts for a while (slowly getting better, although still doing the stutter step), and some guy yelled out “it’s the leap of faith!” yah….then I rode around, then ran up all those damn stairs with that bike on my back. OUCH. How can people do this? The top tube digs into my collarbone (I have a huge welt there now), and my crankset digs into my hip (now bruised). NOT comfortable. I also almost threw up at the top of the stairs each time, it was such a crazy workout. When I tried practiced just jumping barriers and lifting my bike, I discovered I only have the strength to lift that thing about 4 times before my arm decides it’s not going to do that anymore. So I will definitely start up the strength training at the gym (lots of dips and upright rows methinks), I’ll probably just lift my bike over and over in the evening while watching TV. I am so impressed by people who make this look easy, because it is unbelievably hard. Having an incredibly heavy bike doesn’t really help.
I found some awesome cross tutorial videos, here.
