Skill and Fitness

You hear those two words a lot when you talk about mtbing: skill and fitness. Yesterday on my way home from working in Reno I stopped at Northstar for a few hours. It was a relaxed day because I had not gone up with any of my friends to ride and it was a second-hand trip to my business trip in which I did the presto-chango from business suit to freeride clothes in the parkinglot after a 10 minute nap in the driver's seat of my Highlander.

It was a great ride! Working Livewire with run after run was a blast in progression. Then I decided to pedal across the mountain to the trail we had ridden in the first-ever Super D at Northstar last year (right before I shredded my knee for the season. yikes!). Flameout is the name of the trail . . . and it is brutal. I now remember why I was so whooped after the race last year. That trail is 20-25 minutes of t-e-c-h-n-i-c-a-l (if you really want to spell out a word that long). It is physically and mentally punishing and makes you cry out for the smooth, flowy, easily-launched-in-the-air ride of Livewire. I was beat up after Flameout. At least in DH you have gravity to help you overcome obstacles (albiet I don't hit the big features in trails like Boondocks. Talk about demanding) . . . but this course it's you and rocks and twisty, narrow single track and gravity isn't always there to lend a helping hand. Sometimes sheer brutal pedaling speed is the only way to attack. It is quite equally demanding of both skill and fitness . . . and in this Super D season which starts July 23rd, I look forward to crushing it.