Mud Season. It was a new one for me when I first moved to the high country of Summit County, Colorado. Now its a painful slogan for the periods of time in between winter and summer, when everything turns to soup. Trails are un-ridable and the snowpack is dismal. The locals tend to migrate to high mountaintops or low desert areas, depending on their preferred sport. As amateur, yet competitive mountain bikers, or ‘Chics who shred,’ as we fondly refer to ourselves, we prefer the desert. So when Kelly suggested a 2-day, private skills clinic in Moab, with one of our favorite coaches, Wendy Palmer, we jumped at the opportunity. The 4 of us ladies hail from Steamboat Springs, Boulder, Frisco, and Grand Junction, Colorado. We’ve all been riding singletrack for years and we all enjoy racing, be it Endurance, XC, CX, DH or our latest favorite and the discipline that brought us together, Enduro.
 | Day one: We rolled into Moab later than planned and camped and crashed with locals, excited for what morning would bring. When 9am came around we arrived at the Moab bike park, not quite bright-eyed or bushy-tailed, but ready to roll. Conditions were a bit blustery. Wendy gave us a brief pep talk and put us on the pump track for a few laps to get an idea where we were all at, skills-wise. We all rode on flat pedals, which for some of us is not our prefered choice of bike-propulsion-platform. I had personally been on platforms for about a month, after having read an article about how everyone ought to ride platforms at some point, because if you can do it on platforms, chances are, you are using proper technique. Wendy seemed to be of a similar mindset. So, as instructed, all four of us practiced our manuals, bunny hops and pumps, on flat pedals, as a progression towards hitting the jumps and practice drop-boxes. Alas, the winds picked up and we did not get a whole lot of airtime. |
For our afternoon session, we elected to ride Hymasa/Amasa and work on corners and small techy-sections. One of the major benefits of booking our own private clinic, was that in addition to choosing the coach of our dreams, we got to choose where to ride and what to work on. Sadly, we couldn’t reserve Amasa Back all to ourselves, and the afternoon break in the nasty weather saw dozens of Jeepers and other mountain bike-enthusiasts out on the trail. We tried our best to play nice and share the trail. At the end of the coaching portion, we bid adieu to Wendy and decided to practice putting it all together. We had a lovely evening ride on Ahab (a minor mishap leading to a nearly epic finale with two girls cuddling beneath SuperVan in a thunderstorm), and then rolled back into town to celebrate with friends.
Day two:
We opted to arrange our own shuttle for Porcupine Rim, one of my all-time favorite trails in the world. We made a last minute decision to push back our meeting time an hour later in the morning. Partly so that we could give the fresh snow an extra 60 minutes of thaw-time, and partly so that we had extra time to recover from the late night revelling that took place in honor of a successful fundraiser for Pedal for Chi on Saturday night. So we all loaded into SuperVan and enjoyed the scenery on our ride up Sand Flats Road. It really is jaw-dropping to see the red slickrock covered in a layer of wet frosting in the early spring. And the real treat comes when your wheels bite into a slice of the hero dirt that is created by the little bit of extra moisture.
Highlights from day 2 included:
*Our trademark victory “meows.”
*Meredith getting hit on by a posse of spandex-wearing, middle-aged men, none of whom wanted to try riding the Snotch.
We opted to arrange our own shuttle for Porcupine Rim, one of my all-time favorite trails in the world. We made a last minute decision to push back our meeting time an hour later in the morning. Partly so that we could give the fresh snow an extra 60 minutes of thaw-time, and partly so that we had extra time to recover from the late night revelling that took place in honor of a successful fundraiser for Pedal for Chi on Saturday night. So we all loaded into SuperVan and enjoyed the scenery on our ride up Sand Flats Road. It really is jaw-dropping to see the red slickrock covered in a layer of wet frosting in the early spring. And the real treat comes when your wheels bite into a slice of the hero dirt that is created by the little bit of extra moisture.
Highlights from day 2 included:
*Our trademark victory “meows.”
*Meredith getting hit on by a posse of spandex-wearing, middle-aged men, none of whom wanted to try riding the Snotch.
*All of us polishing the all important “pump and snap.”
*Sienna’s scream of joy when she landed the extra credit drop in front of a another posse of spandex-wearing, middle-aged men.
*Sienna’s scream of joy when she landed the extra credit drop in front of a another posse of spandex-wearing, middle-aged men.
**And most of all, hanging with a sweet group of BAMF- chics who shred.
In hindsight, I wish I would've done this sooner. Booking a private skills clinic in Moab was ideal for us. Having the freedom to choose where we rode, which skills we worked on and the power to rearrange our schedule based on the weather conditions and the severity of our hangovers was key to making it a successful weekend. The skills and confidence we gained this early in the season are difficult to quantify. I can’t wait to get out there and crush this year.
In hindsight, I wish I would've done this sooner. Booking a private skills clinic in Moab was ideal for us. Having the freedom to choose where we rode, which skills we worked on and the power to rearrange our schedule based on the weather conditions and the severity of our hangovers was key to making it a successful weekend. The skills and confidence we gained this early in the season are difficult to quantify. I can’t wait to get out there and crush this year.
