Hillside Rocks

So my friend Jodi and I went to Elkriver yesterday to ride the Hillside MTB trails. This was our first time and it took 80 mins to complete the 7.25 mile loop. Now at Lebanon we can finish off the 10 mile loop in 35-40 mins.

Elk River is absolutely amazing, there are short-fast climbs, tons of uphill switchbacks (which are my specialty), some nice steeps, and a whole lot of roots. It gave me a chance to test out my up and coming cornering abilities. It went well, I had a great ride and was proud of the rate in which we hit it for the first time out.

We started out going " YAY, this trail rocks, lets do two laps" Then as we progressed and hit more and more hills we ended up " A Beer and some dinner sounds good" Yep, Yep and off we went with a plan to hit up the trail again on Monday.

I worked on getting my knee out for stabilization and getting down into my handlebars while cornering. This technique made me feel much more at my center of gravity and I was definately able to take the corners faster. I also hit everycorner no matter how sharp or steep, which, if you have ridden with me, is quite amazing!

I watched a video at bikeskills.com which showed you how to do up & down hill switchbacks and positioning for steeps. I have actually watched the video 3 times and this was the first time out that I was comfortable with everything else on the trail so I was actually able to apply the downhill switchback techniques. It worked wonders, its all about picking your lines as usual but I wasnt able to incorporate that with my cornering until now. This is a great big step forward in my skills and Hillside was a perfect place to try it out!!

The other thing I have been working on is getting out of my saddle and putting my weight over my rear tire. I have been hitting the tops of climbs out of my saddle which creates greater power and a quicker climbs which is awesome, its starting to feel natural. I also worked on getting my ass over that rear tire while going down those steeps. This is turning out to be alittle tricky as I have a wide seat and wide thighs that dont want to spread to let my seat through. With a little practice I think it will work. As of now, I was just happy to get my backend back a little bit.