Big Bikes

So if you've been reading this blog (and I know all 2 of you have!), you'll know that over the course of the past few months I've changed my direction quite a bit in relation to my competitive goals.  I last raced in August, very disappointed with my race, and decided to take some time off.  Well that, mixed in with some health issues as a result of the race forced me to just relax and take it easy.  Of course that meant still riding my bikes everyday, but without much of a focus.  Ok, well the focus was actually to have FUN and not to TRAIN.  Fun, I've certainly had...

So in all this time, I've grown quite fond of all things long travel and gravity based in mountain biking.  Any time the trial gets gnarly and points down, I get more and more excited!  I don't mind the pedal up, as long as it's followed by some reward in the form of flowing, break-neck speed singletrack with some rocks and drops mixed in for good measure. 

Of course with all this new "fun" comes a change in equipment.  Gone are my super light, carbon, short travel suspension xc bikes.  They've all been replaced with long legged, trail and All Mountain bikes.  I do still have a hard tail, but it has a 150mm fork on it, big fat tires, and a low seatpost.  I haven't bought a race-oriented mag in months, but rather magazines like Decline, Dirt, and Bike; the mags that deal more with guys dressed like teenagers jumping off rocks with endless goofy grins on their faces.

Maybe all this is just me rebelling against the 'structure' that is training.  Maybe playing competitve sports my whole life has finally caught up with me.  Maybe I just want to be a kid again.  Whatever it is, I'm all about FUN.  Triathlon can be fun.  Running can be fun. Cycling can be fun.  (Swimming still sucks though!).  And right now, riding big bikes over rocks, roots, and down steep descents is fun for me.  That's all there is to it, and that's where I'm going to focus my energy right now.  Will I race again?  Who knows, but only if it's fun.