Paul Stevens: Blog 4

After last weeks’ tandemonium, I decided that I’m not really cut out to be a passenger, and felt like it was time to take the driving seat again. Injury seems to have swallowed up a large portion of the month of July for me. I don’t need to tell you how much it sucks to be hurt, particularly mid summer, but one of the few good things about spending time off the bike is how hungry you are to shred by the time you get back on it!

  There’s nothing like a sweet corner for feeding the hunger!

Sometimes this hunger makes you feel like the best way to release those weeks of pent up energy is by sprinting flat out into uber-gnar epic steep-a-tron in a protein-fuelled rage fest. In reality, this is just the best way to acquire yourself a ticket back to your bed for another few weeks, where the closest you will get to experiencing sweet trails is the loam that falls out of your roommate’s shorts when he comes home from the woods. For fear of getting carried away, I have been hesitant about rushing back to ride the bike park, or as a friend aptly nicknamed it; “The Thunderdome. Two men enter, one man leaves”. The gauntlet of dustbowl corners, eroded berms and silt covered rocks and roots has kept the staff at the medical centre busier than ever, and left most riders relieved just to make it to the bottom!

   Away from the Thunderdome and into the woods of Pemberton.

A crazy electrical storm on the weekend caused a number of fires in the valley, but also brought a couple of hours of torrential rain, which, after weeks of unspoiled sunshine, breathed new life into the trails. In the Thunderdome this fresh breath lasts about twenty minutes. Outside the Thunderdome, usually a little longer.

   A bit of rain was a breath of fresh air for the trees in this green room.

I think it is the amount of thinking time that does it to me, but sometimes when I have been out for a while a little doubt emanates in my mind; “what if I hit my head a bit too hard this time, and I have forgotten what to do when I get back on the bike? What if I climb back on and can’t even remember how to balance?” Thankfully, so far, these doubts and fears have been quashed once I start riding again.

   Getting back up to speed on the big bike

Recently I have heard a lot of people moaning about how it is too dry, we need more rain, there is no dirt left in the bike park, blah blah blah. To these people I say enjoy the summer sun, appreciate that it is constantly melting the snow, opening up more and more of the alpine for your shredding pleasure, and don’t forget, there is life outside the Thunderdome!

   One of the few benefits of living around so many Aussies in Whistler; they teach you how to do mean drifts!

That’s just about a wrap.  The boys have had their month of blogging – and now it’s decision time.  I guess we could give Ian a couple of days to respond – but then we’re going to choose either Ian or Paul to ride for team nsmb for the next year – on a couple of dialled rides from Specialized.  Maybe let us know which way you are leaning here…