The summer days riding are feel like year ago now. Those days where it felt like day light was never ending and the dusty trails meant you never had to wash your bike. Winter is not come and the trails are getting muddy and nackered from a long summers riding.
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| Those dry trails are a dream! |
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| Don't worry they will be back before you know it! |
Winter is a key time for mountain bikers but only if you want to do well. You need something that keeps you going through the winter. That for me is to do well. Last year went ok for me exams meant I couldn't do as many races as I wanted to but the races I did I pushed too much and either crashed or made too many mistakes. That was a huge learning curve for me but I am going to take that into next year and improve upon it. My last race (mini enduro) I came 4th place which was a huge achievement for me and I felt I could have done better. This shows that I could do well just need to have more confidence in myself.
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| A trip to FOD in the snow left me very very muddy! |
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| I hate cleaning me bike! |
Through this winter I want to balance skill and fitness. At the moment I am on my road bike quite a lot in the week and on weekends I ride my mtb most days. I am now finding new riders to ride with such as Taylor Williams and Brooke Foster who are much quicker than me and this improves my skills and makes me want to go faster. Over the Christmas period I have bought myself a Contic soul. A hardtail xc bike which I am hopefully going to have built up by the end or Christmas. I hope riding a hardtail will teach me things that a full sus can't.
We need to keep riding through the winter and face that those summer days will come back. If we keep riding through the winter the summer months will come quicker. They will be here sooner than you can imagine. Keep on riding!
