Retrospection

The gravity lift season has ended, it is prime XC weather in the foothills here in NC.  Time to spend some time in the woods and reflect on the past season and mentally reset for next year.  In that vein, I have put together, if you will...

'What I did on my Summer Vacation'

6 months of Shred

May--My 2nd Annual Duryea Road Trip.  I love this spot to race! Its an urban setting downhill in Reading, PA.  I get to visit my sister too who lives in the area.  This year I road tripped with my friend Chelsea and we had a blast meeting some new ladies.  The scary guardrail A-frame got slightly less scary and I even managed to hit the pro line off of it.  Can't wait for next year!

Super scary A-frame.

Chelsea, Lindsey, Nicole, and I.  DH ladies are so much fun.

June--Shredcation #1!  Brad and I took a mega road trip up north and visited my family and packed in loads of freeriding at Blue Mountain, Mountain Creek, and Highland Mountain Bike Park.  Super Rad times were had with lots of great friends.  No racing involved.  Had a few rough high speed crashes and hurt my shoulder, but also cleared a full line of dirt jumps and rode loads of drops.  An amazing week of DH.

So sad to leave this place!

Hanging out with all of our NC friends in NH.

Dirt Jumping Divas!  Me, Hailey, and Averee playing on the jump lines.

July--Freeride days at Beech Mountain--we did a bunch of these and had some great weather before the races started.  Always fun to go to the Beech in the summer ;)  These next 3 amazing shots are from Mandy Loorham at Random Start Photography.

First couple on the lift on opening day!

So fun to ride my home mountain.

All the locals, last run!

April--August--Southern Super D Series Races--these were so much fun to do--lots of fun courses.  I talked my friend Candi into trying it and she and I raced neck and neck all season. I think she's hooked.  Next, get her hooked on DH. ( Mwahahahaha.) I ended up first in the series and they gave some amazing prizes!!!  The regular racers were such a great crowd and the atmosphere was so laid back.  Super fun competition and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Champions and their loot!

Hauling the mail for a tight race at our local spot, Hobby Park.  Improved on my first run by 15 seconds, but I was stil1 1/10 second off Candi's time!  This photo is by Icon Media Asheville.  They came out to many of the Super D races and took some really amazing photos!

August--Shredcation #2!  The Windham World Cup.  This was one amazing trip.  We visited my family in NJ and then rode at Mountain Creek and raced in their Thursday night fun race series which was a blast!  Then we drove to Windham and spent the weekend with some friends from NC.  Watching the World Cup Racers was INSANE!  Riding at the World Cup was super fun.  And we did the Red Bull Berm Burners competition which was a blast!  It was a great weekend.

Me and Brad enjoying too many Red Bulls.

On my way to qualifying to race against the guys.  I didn't last long against them! If we can get 16 women to enter next year we can have our own class!!  ( Sorry, I can't remember who took these photos, so many peeps takin' photos and someone sent these two me second hand.  If you took them, let me know, I'll credit you!)

I put together a pretty good run for my race at Windham and took a first place against 10 women.  I told myself that if I did well I would move up a category because I knew this would be a stacked race and a more accurate representation of abilities than most races.  So next season I will be progressing through the ranks as a Category 1 racer, about which I am super excited.  I have lots of skills to work on to make it to pro level, and I intend to focus on them until I am really confident.  After all, "An amateur practices until they get it right, A pro practices until they can't get it wrong."  I haven't quite got it right yet and there's no point in taking chances and risking injury.  Practice, practice, and more practice, oh, and that condtioning stuff....

Hitting one of the biggest drops I've ever hit in my race run.  Cat 1 move for sure!  So scary.  Need lots of practice time on drops before I go pro!  Photo by Paul Hanson, so excited he got this!

Leanin' the turns!  Got fastest Amateur Female through the speed trap.

July-September--Beech Mountain Race Series--These races were fun and not fun.  They were the source of some mental anquish.  I ran a Ladies Lounge at all of the races and I think the pressure of having commitments other than my racing pulled me in too many directions.  I know that the ladies really enjoyed the ladies lounge though, so I am glad I did it.  The races here are always mudfests so they are not always as much fun as you hope.  The last two races were much more laid back than the first one which was a ProGRT as well so that added a different dimension to the atmosphere.  We had lots of new faces on the podiums at the last 2 races and it was amazing to have full podiums 5 ladies deep at every race.  The Southern Gravity Sisterhood is slowly gaining in numbers.

Ladies start line up for Race #3: Eva Wilson, a recent transplant to NC, Me, Scout Clark, Chelsea Blocker and Courtney Carter.  Not pictured because she was often taking the pictures is the rad and inspiring Shanna Powell of Endless Bike Company.

Ah, the mud of it.  Me, Chelsea (her jersey is white, no, really), Rae Gandolf, and Meike Knight.

Getting low for the berms at the end of the course.  Another great shot by Mandy Loorham of Random Start Photography who is also fellow ambassador for Dirty Jane.

One of my all time favorite photos--always get some great shots from JaySchultz with GoJamMedia.

I finished out the lift-serve season with some great ladies' days at Beech Mountain.  I received my coaching certification from PMBI this spring and put it to use with my Ladies' Lounge and Ladies' Days at Beech.  We had some decent turnouts and I was stoked to help more ladies conquer the steeps and the gnar that is DH.

Myself, Vonda, Susan, and Kassi.  These ladies braved some rough weather and conquered some tough terrain!

Janda, Me, Susan, and Leah.  A great last day on the mountain.  These ladies made lots of progression, looking forward to seeing them lots next year!

Holly, Nina, Me, and Precia.  These ladies from Georgia rocked the DH trails and the whiskey shots.  Super fun Friday.  Hope to see them next season!

 It is always fun to look back over your year and see all the connections you've made and ripples you've created in the pool of DH.  It's become so much more than racing, although that is a super fun part of it.  It's an amazing community and I love my little part of it.

I challenge you to look back over your year and think about the challenges you faced and the things you've learned along the way.  Retrospection, then Reflection, then Reinvention...