Last weekend I went to a girls session at Motion Skatepark. I LOVE GIRLS SESSIONS!!! It was totally inspiring to ride with MTB legends Manon Carpenter and Katy Curd who were both ripping it up. 4 cross rider Jess Greaves was dropping in on her first time on a BMX and the other girls were also pushing themselves. There was a bit of a comp. Manon shredded and got first, Katy shredded too and got second, the rest of us rode around awkwardly. I ended up with third place, but honestly, it was just pot luck, I didn't actually do anything! Kara did the wall ride, she was the only girl I saw do it, I was impressed with that.
Still it was super good fun. We went for dinner together and then with full stomachs rode with the park to ourselves until 10pm. I hope something like that happens again soon.
Fitting this new hobby into normal life is tricky, but I've been determined to make it possible. Monday I headed to Horsham for a night-ride session, but when we arrived at 9pm the joy of an empty park was soon understood and disappointed by the realisation that no-one was riding because it was so icy.
After a bit of faffing we headed to Crawley where we had an hour until the floodlights turned off. I had to go through the whole process of a new park again: feeling shy, intimdated, self-conscious and not sure what to try and ride. I made my buddy stick with me like glue and we went to session the Box.
THE BOX
I've had experience on a box before, doing a stunt tour in Scotland on a mountain bike. I never, ever felt truly comfortable on it, combine that with a smaller, twitchier and less forgiving bike, I still feel uneasy. I rolled it a few times, getting more confidence each time, not bothering to try and get air. I got used to the roll in and then started having fun. In a chilled and relaxed environment I found it really, really fun and enjoyed the air time, focusing on going slower and trying to pump more. I was clearing it by the end and even tweaking the bike a bit (In my head I was doing badass tabletops)
NOSE MANUALS
On the way back to the top of the roll in each time there was a little flat bank thing and I was told to try nose manualling it. As it was so short you got to the end quite quickly, but it was a nice little move.
AIRING THE COPING
This has been my bug bear for the last few weeks. I've been harping on and on about in, blah blah blah. But I know until I'm confident airing out I'll never get the speed for other stuff in parks that i want to clear or ride. I've been getting the hang of it. Both wheels are definitely coming out a couple of inches, not every time, but it's getting there. On Tuesday night at Bay66 I was just riding the bowl back and forth trying to get higher and higher, but sort of lost concentration. I've been doing it so much I forgot to focus on exactly what I needed to do. So, I think I let my back wheel land on the flat at the top and it bucked me over the bars straight onto my face! I was winded and doing that "huuu huuu huuu" thing you do when you can't breathe, but it was fine really.
I've spent the rest of the week having polite people tell me there's something on my chin, and impolite people just looking at me funny.
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