Fabulous ride, the second time down the Lazy Fern felt incredible – I was flying and flowing and really enjoying it. I had my usual nemesis corner, but I got around it awkwardly and tensely!
Lessions:
- You need food: a big brekkie helped
- You need rest: resting after the second ride up made an enormous difference to the second ride down to the carpark. I stopped for about 5 minutes and did nothing, it made more difference than I could imagine
- Shifting weight in corners: while my weight is back, and I’m on the pedals, I need to shift my weight a little more to help the bike turn. I did this by mistake and it made the switchback much easier – I need to practice to replicate my mistake.
- You don’t always need to give way immediately: on my flying lap down the hill, a chap came up behind me near the end – I was only a few hundred metres from the end, and for some reason I pulled over. It was a mistake. I waiting for nearly two minutes as he was clearly the fastest in the group, and the others were very slow, slower than me.
- Put yourself first (sometimes): by pulling over, I ruined what would have been a sub-seven minute (maybe even close to a 6 minute descent), and it upset me for a part of my drive home until I reflected on the good stuff. I was seriously pissed off with myself – why not hold the guy up by a few seconds on the way down and allow myself a personal best?
- Focus on the positive: I had what for me what was an incredible ride, with a fantastic final run. I loved it and for a short time allowed a mistake to be the only thing I thought about – overshadowing the awesomeness I had just experienced.