Excellent!
The first ride went very well. I learned a vast amount about mountain biking, discovered I'm fitter than I thought, and enjoyed a ride that was just the right level of challenging-but-achievable. Best of all, however, how much friendly help and support I got from Scott, Gordie and Brains. What great guys! This is going to be fun.
The uphill climbs were easier than I'd feared. They were hard and I'm totally whacked now and staying up out of bed now only to tell you, dear reader, all about it. But as a place to start training from my fitness level was just fine. I've plenty of power going uphill due to the wonders of power:weight ratio and me being a skinny chap. And I've enough endurance for now, though I will need to work on that quite a bit between now and March.
The downhills were harder than I'd expected, but I learned a hell of a lot. At 4:30pm I knew nothing about mountain biking. The tracks are very narrow and overgrown with NZ bush, meaning there's a lot of ducking trees and branches while trying hard to keep your wheels in track, with a hill up steeply on one side and a steep drop on the other. Scott was absolutely marvelous - he followed me down giving advice (brake before the corners not on them, get your bum off your seat and stand on your pedals for the hard parts, take a wide line on the corners). I put my feet down a few times - which really does wreck everything as far as momentum goes. Then Scott gave more advice and led me down in slow demo-mode, and I tried to follow his line on the curves, which was also great.
Uphill is easier for the novice as you don't have to brake for the corners! It's very much a matter of picking a line around the curve for your front wheel and trusting to it. Just keep pedalling and don't stop, don't panic and suddenly leap up onto a pedal as it may skid, don't try to bail, just keep pedalling and trust to your line. And if your front wheel follows that line around the curve, assume the back wheel will sort itself out over any ruts, roots or rocks as long as you keep pedalling. Again Scott followed me up, feeding advice and coaching all the way.
When it works well, mountain-biking is very Zen - follow the line of the curve, spare no thought for what's ahead or behind, don't think but just do. I've now attained that for, oh, tens of metres at a time. It is awesomely good when it works.
There was much friendly encouragement from Brains, Gordie and Scott at the top and the bottom. What great guys! Oh, I said that already. But it's well worth repeating. What great guys!
Having gone down Salvation and then back up it, the final downhill was harder. It was steeper, with switchbacks all the way. Gordie followed me down the first half, Scott the second, and then again I followed Scott for a little trying to imitate what he did. It was steeper and faster and harder, and I rode the brakes quite a bit. I managed only 4 of the hairpins properly on a good line without sticking a foot down and/or nearly catapulting off the hill. But I'll celebrate those 4 because with the skill level I started the day with I'd have managed none of them.
A very good start.
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