Eek! I went downhill mountain biking!

SALYNA

Never in a million years did I think I would try downhill mountain biking, but here we are trying it for the first time today [August 22, 2021]!

The first time I ever saw downhill mountain biking in real life was in Whistler, and the first thing I thought was “well that’s just insane” and “that’s just for the true redbullers.”

Fast forward to this summer, I wasn’t much of a cyclist, so I started with a super cute city bike. It really belongs on the road, but I took to the trails anyway (because I was craving dirt biking). Fell absolutely IN LOVE with the trails. Got myself a mountain bike to really “ride the trails.” And got a fix on a weekly basis ever since.

"Downhill is my favorite sport..." he says. Seed planted. Reluctantly I agreed to try it because hey, "how do you know, unless you try?"

A few photos of my bicycle journey… from right to left: a cute city bike (first photo) that I brought into the trails, which after my first fall, I upgraded to a GT Aggressor Mountain Bike (second photo). The last photo is of the Norco Shore downhill full suspension bike. Rides like butter downhill.

First few runs, adrenaline rush galore! After a little water break as we prepare for the fifth run. I was feeling super confident, and boom! I went over my handlebars! Grabbed the front brake WAY too quick coming in/out of a berm, and knocked the wind right out of me. What surprised me the most was after I collected myself [breath was back, and a tear was shed], I finished the course on an AMAZING note.

I am not sure what came over me, but I went through the rest of it LIKE A PRO!

Maybe I was mad at myself for not committing to berm earlier, or the berm was my “ah-ha” moment, but everything post the handlebars incident, I just sent it. Even got some air on one of the moguls!

Anyways, I may be a smidgen hooked now.

Yes, even though I took a hard fall, I am still a huge fan of this sport. Rent / buy the gear… It’s well worth every penny!

My addiction: Having to calculate in real-time how much brake, pedal, bodyweight to distribute forward and back, what line you want/need to take, where your front tire needs to be, where you need to be next, etc. Like c’mon, how do you beat that? The only way out is downhill. Be one with the bike, make calculated decisions and then you’ll be fine.

And oh, I made another vlog. I am not sure if I’m a “vlogger” now, but so far, the footage that was captured always seems to put a smile on my face… ❤

Hope you enjoyed episode 2 of my VLOG.

P.S. Sorry about the quality of the video… YouTube compressed it again after I made a minor edit IN YouTube… Regrets… It takes me 1-2 full days to upload a video so learning experience. I will do better next time! xoxo*

xoxo,

salyna