It was 40' and i was all icky from being inside from being at my computer from grinding away at things.... Berah came
in and said come on Keenan and I are going to ride our bikes and practice on that hill down by the river to see if Keenan
can make it should I get your BigHit or rigid?
I said no,
Berah kept at me, I said no, he restated it, I went outside to let the dog out, it was that 40' misty chill, Berah started
pulling my bighit off the hook.... OK ok ok I said, let me go change shoes.
I am glad he dragged me out.
As a precaution I put on my padded jacket... if I was going out I was going to try to manual off some small drops.
We rode around and it felt good. Got down to the bank that Keenan has not made in the past and he went up and down it.
The sand bank is about 20 feet and about as steep as a stair case and for a kid... looks scary. For some adults it looks
scary. We went up and down and all around and I got more used to my Bighit... this bike is about 40 pounds of free ride 6"
travel beast. It is a perfect bike to Downhill at a ski area, you know lift service? It barely is rideable as a beast of a
XC bike... really made for dropping off of 10 foot rocks and urban rediculousnes. It is very easy to pull the thing into a
wheely when in the small cog on the front crank and the idea is to pull a wheel up as you drop off stuff.
I just could not quite manage the nerve to pull a manual off the edge of this 20 foot bank which would give me a 2 foot
vertical drop to a steep slope.
next time
but, on the way back, we looped along a river path that is not official and ducked thru a fence into the old fairgrounds.
There, at the fair grounds are animal loading docks. one for low trailers (18" drop) and a couple other ones for 18 wheeler
size rigs... about a 4 foot drop maybe? So I went for the 18 inch drop and up the ramp I went, pulled a wheely and plunk dropped
off. It was odd, my body did not know what to expect and I fet my spine take more of a hit then it should have. the next drop
my feet behaved differently but boy those monster shocks on this bike and huge wheels suck up the impact.
I will have to go back and try the bigger stuff after more little drop practices... reprogram my brain what to do. part
of the oddity is that for over 20 years I have ridden hard core mt biking and been clipped in with my ball of my feet over
the axel of the pedal... with the two painfull crashes last fall where I went off the bike on the down slope side to land
in a pile of mellon sized stones... twice... and my shoulder still aches from when I wake up... i am re-learning to unclip
and put my arch over the axel so i can step off if i need to
once my body memory is re set for this kind of riding i will be able to pull this stuff in the wild, on the coyote ridge
trail, or devils backbone or lyons gulch and ride with out having to dismount, i will just drop in
everyone needs a friend who is like a brother and pushes you or can watch you freak out or all that.... although it is
a drag that now that he has a girlfiriend he is not around much unless it is Keenan week...
but, at least i can now manual a small drop and will go bigger!
