Flying and cycling, two things I would never have thought I would be doing in life, yet here I am, learning and re-learning once again!
For background, back in the summer of 2016, I was a P/ut (pilot under training) with Flying Scholarships for Disabled People at Gryphon Aeroclub and learning a lot about myself along the way. A big part of my learning was to stop my chronic and debilitating habit of overthinking and to help with this, my instructor, John Griffin told me, “You can’t think about your landing while you are focusing on taking off”. Over the years overthinking was a safety blanket that I thought was keeping me safe, but in reality it was one of my biggest hindrances and was causing extreme anxiety, crippling my ability to experience life, but John’s simple statement was a game changer and words I have lived by ever since – well, until today!
However, my first training lesson was that overthinking is a crucial part of mountain biking! Not only do you need to be thinking about your take off, but you also need to be making sure you know where you are landing too and you need to be doing this ALL the time! There’s no time to look out the window and enjoy the view; instead it’s an exhausting and continuous cycle (see what I did there) of take off-landing, take off-landing, take off-landing and, just like flying, if you are lucky, your take offs will equal your landings, although I think my landings definitely out numbered my take offs during this particular training.
Ok, that’s enough of the analogy, but that thought did make me smile and I wondered what John would have made of me trying to take off, land and sort the flaps whilst talking on the radio.
So, back to the training session. My current cycling experience is on my folding electric bike and is limited to roads, paths and nice easy tracks and, as Ben Rinnes is none of those things, some training is definitely required if I am going to get to the top (did I mention it’s 841m), so I got some biking friends together and headed into the local woods for my first ‘mountain biking’ experience. One of the benefits of working for an outdoor learning and adventure charity, is that your work colleagues are pretty good at this sort of thing, so I know I am in safe hands, plus they are all first aid trained!
My electric mountain bike definitely made easier work of the tracks but I was soon faced with obstacles I had previously avoided. Tree roots were my first challenge and where I would normally scream and get off, I screamed and carried on over them. Sand was next, and where I would normally scream and get off, I screamed and carried on (are you seeing a theme here yet). I have to say, I was feeling very pleased that I had managed to stay on my bike and was determined to have done enough to pass GoMTB1, so we headed deeper into the woods and onto some proper dirt tracks, which took me onto my second lesson … gears!
As it turns out, gears are fairly important in cycling, particularly for getting up hills (something fairly crucial to my challenge) and knowing when to change them is crucial in keeping your forward and upward momentum and this is something I definitely need to practise more, especially if I don’t want to keep coming to a grinding halt half way up a hill.
Unfortunately, my reduced cognitive capacity doesn’t currently allow me to think quickly and far enough ahead to know when to change gears (and remember which gear lever is up and down) and to know what gear is the right gear. Still, there was only one spill and landing on comfy moss and pine needles was definitely preferable to the concrete path and fence post of my last hill fail.
So, to sum my first training session’s lessons; cycling is nothing like flying and gears are important – oh and screaming doesn’t make anything easier, but it does mean your cycling companions know where you are at all times!
Big shout out to Scott, Anna and Adrian for today’s ride! Anna and I are looking forward to receiving our GoMTB1 certificates next week, by which time my bruises should have faded and I might be able to walk again!
Footnote
This blog is part of my challenge to bike up Ben Rinnes this summer on my electric mountain bike, built by Coast n Cruise, to raise funds for Outfit Moray and Flying Scholarships for Disabled People.
You can follow my story (and sponsor me please) by following the links below.
The Wobbly Cyclist 