The time has come ....

18 Dec: We’re going to the Bike Park today – Gerhard, Clinton and me. I don’t think they have a clue about how novice (and nervous) I am.  I get my wicount 10 pass card and we’re out of there hitting the trails.  First technical bit – tarred down hill to the trails. Gulp – that’s a bit of a descent for me.  Not unlike the time Mark Stockton made me go down the dam(n) wall at Northerns. Slowly we take the Farm track on the outskirts – I am nervous – the road is not smooth, there are rocks, dodgy looking wooden bridges.  Very different to road, where the tar is smooth and wide. We look for the green routes (beginner) and head for the Wetlands – puhleez that is not a for newbie.  It’s this narrow little wooden decking that twists and turns (and twists as in NOT parallel to the ground – like a roller coaster).  Not for me.Off my bike and I walk it.  My motto becomes “There is nothing that I can’t walk”.  Won’t be the last thing I walk at the bike park.  We go along the GreenMile – that’s a nice route and the Corkscrew which is also nice – just make sure you stay left on the route as there’s a split called RollerCoaster and that’s just sick!!

The guys have been patient and kind, and I didn’t hear them laugh once but I suggest they go play on blue routes and have fun and I’ll go back to the GreenMile.  They turn left and I go right. I decide that since no-one is watching I’ll give the mud section a go. I peddle (wrong gear and too slow) and get stuck. I put my foot out (the reason I don’t have cleats he he) and slip in the mud and fall.  Both Hope and I are muddy and have now been ‘christened’.  Some dude from Kimberley stops and chats and he’s going to the green route on the other side so I go with. I’ll see Gerhard and Clinton. Ewok is green. But really it’s aqua … it’s more blue than green.  This is far too technical for me – bridges, narrow sections, drop off by some trees, twists and a section that makes me think of a ledge along a mountain (it isn’t but it seems like that).  I thank the chap and head on back to my side.  Only to discover Gerhard and Clinton flying through the GreenMile.  They laugh at my mud.  We head over to the blue drop offs and I stay at the bottom to watch.  These guys are really skilled. Pshew.  They fly fast down them.  I’m convinced we’ll be heading to hospital at any second, but no they handle and corner those routes like they’re in a roller coaster.  Made me think of a line from Pretty Woman – Richard Gere’s driving a stick shift .. and cant so Julia gets in, takes over and says “this thing corners like it’s on rails”.  All’s going well until Clinton forgets his own advice – ‘Momentum is your friend,’ and ‘don’t look at the obstacle immediately in front of you’. He hits something and flies really gracefully through the air over his handle bars.  Knew the hospital was calling. But no.  Seems he has some experience in these things and was fine.  The outing ends like all good outings should – at the pub where we sit and chat until they close up around us and ask us to go. What a good day.