We Came, We Saw, We Conquered.

Fear and adrenaline. They are two amazing forces, and today, I conquered them both. Thrice. (Yes, I used the word "thrice" ;)

I've been mountain biking for about two years, and Kev and I are always looking for ways to challenge ourselves. Thankfully this is a sport where you don't have to go faster to find that challenge...It can be found in trail difficulty: technical, elevated, downhill, pump track, rocky, rooty, sandy, you name it. I love it. I'm nearly obsessed with it (ok, yes I/we am.)

Over the last few months, Ray Petro, the father of the Santos trails, has been on fire building all sorts of new crazy awesomeness. And, because we riders are LOVING these new toys, he's building more awesomeness. How lucky we are as a community!!!

Here's some of his beautiful work:

 

Ahh, Ray. You're the best.  After riding at over 18 trails in Florida,  you keep giving us a gajillion reasons to keep Santos as our favorite.

Wooden drops @ Vortex, source: HMBA.blogspot.com

There is a crazy set of obstacles at Santos that have always been daunting: wooden ramp drops. We've always only felt brave enough to ride the farthest one (which is hard to see). Wait, Kev once took the middle...and bit it. Hard. I just read on Ray's FaceBook post that they are called "Baby Bear," "Mama Bear," and "Papa Bear."  Since then, we only dreamed of the day when we'd be good enough (heck, brave enough!) for Papa Bear!  So, we tackled other obstacles, including the revamped Red Panther at Chuck Lennon that now has some pretty wicked climbs and steeeeeep descents.  


Anyway, Ray altered the drops in the picture to include some bridge work.  This is a new addition onto the drop that was closest in the picture. 

 
Because of the grade on the first drop, the first time we rode this beauty, we drug our bikes up the dirt to the landing where the new wood meets the old and started there.  Here's a video of me on this first day. I felt so brave! (yes, I know some of you are underwhelmed...but I felt great!)

We rode over today, and something told both of us that today was the day. The day to tackle the top drop. We'd discussed it before and talked about how it seemed like the next progression. We rode the red around to it and took turns just sitting at the top of it. It felt so close to possible, but so stinkin' scary. I knew my bike's geometry would make it, so why was I so freaking scared?  Granted, the drop is blind. When you approach the drop, you can't see down. Then we met a really great couple, riders from Tallahassee. The guy was able to hop through it and over everything like it was cake. We got to talking with him about it and he gave us a few pointers, one being priceless: drop your saddle. We watched him press his fancy button, drop his post, and fly away. It was awesome. I plopped my seat down, rolled up and sat. I mustered up every bit of guts and cojones I could, went back and lined up, got rolling, and pulled the break. Dang it. Psyched myself out. I shook it off, Kev asked if I was ok, and I went back again. I rolled up (again) this time pulling the back break slightly and over I went. I think I may have even closed my eyes for a split second and I literally had my tire hit my butt. But I made it. With about five people watching, I let out a sigh of relief/cheer of excitement/squeal before I even got to the bottom of the first drop. Everything else from there was routine. By the time I reached the group (who were so sweet and happy for me) I had perma-grin...and a huge case of the shakes. Adrenaline shot through me like a drug. It was so awesome to have accomplished that...in one piece. Kevin followed a minutes later and we rode it again. And again.  We are so freaking happy and proud...and I'm not gonna lie...there are few things greater than sharing an experience like that with your soul mate...

Here's video of our final ride on it today: