I had a similar year. In 2019 I decided I wanted to ride a local trail in under 4 minutes, that was the line where I know every person under that time is fast and I was riding it in 4:20'ish. I started by just pedaling harder on the flat bits and got to 4:06, then I stalled I rode it in the same time 5 times in a row. Finally I had a breakthrough and rode a 4:01 I was so mad, there was a clear mistake in the run and I knew it lost at least a second. Another month of 4:05-4:12 and one day I missed an early line that actually set me up for the next section, pedaled like hell and rode in at 3:59.
During this same time frame I added half a dozen features to my done list and I was feeling really good about my riding abilities. The issue was I wasn't having as much fun riding. This past month I have taken things a bit easier and enjoyed riding more. Then I threw that all away and raced my first enduro. OMG I remembered how much I enjoy competition and how I now know I need to be careful. The last time I got into racing it was a fun 2 years then I almost stopped riding because it became too pressure filled. I like to think I am older and wiser now, but being 5 seconds off the podium really got my juices going.
All of this to say, there are a million ways to have fun on a bike. We should all be willing to find a million more.
Sept. 22, 2021, 7:29 a.m. - Allen Lloyd
I had a similar year. In 2019 I decided I wanted to ride a local trail in under 4 minutes, that was the line where I know every person under that time is fast and I was riding it in 4:20'ish. I started by just pedaling harder on the flat bits and got to 4:06, then I stalled I rode it in the same time 5 times in a row. Finally I had a breakthrough and rode a 4:01 I was so mad, there was a clear mistake in the run and I knew it lost at least a second. Another month of 4:05-4:12 and one day I missed an early line that actually set me up for the next section, pedaled like hell and rode in at 3:59. During this same time frame I added half a dozen features to my done list and I was feeling really good about my riding abilities. The issue was I wasn't having as much fun riding. This past month I have taken things a bit easier and enjoyed riding more. Then I threw that all away and raced my first enduro. OMG I remembered how much I enjoy competition and how I now know I need to be careful. The last time I got into racing it was a fun 2 years then I almost stopped riding because it became too pressure filled. I like to think I am older and wiser now, but being 5 seconds off the podium really got my juices going. All of this to say, there are a million ways to have fun on a bike. We should all be willing to find a million more.