Don’t call it a comeback: Part 1, Racing makes me nervous!
This essay was written as US Editor Daniel Dunn prepared for his first enduro mountain bike race. Taking place in Moab, Utah, where the hot sun always causes deep thinking and reflection. Or maybe the extreme sunburn causes that…
I sit in the cafe, on the verge of my first mountain bike race in over 8 years. I did a lot of cross country racing for many years, then moving into 24 hour racing. But life happens, and in my case, a really bad car accident took me out of the game for a while. At first, it was simply because I couldn’t ride a bike for a few years. After that, the financial part of my life was a complete mess, and I couldn’t imagine racing because of the fees and associated costs, and time off work. So I let it go.
I remember the dark days, not because I look back at them with fondness. In fact, I hate that time of my life. With all of my soul. I couldn’t ride, I had trouble walking. I was working very little. I couldn’t do much. I had lots of time to think. Too much. And with my personality (manic/depressive, obsessive/compulsive) the thing that had kept me straight and sane over the years was exercise. (Sometimes too much drinking.) And now I didn’t have that release. I didn’t have my love. I didn’t have mountain biking.
Somehow, life moved on. Time heals all wounds, as they saying goes. And I’ve grown up enough and learned that it’s very true. Stubbornness is a trait I inherited from my Mom, and even though it’s very often spoken of as an undesirable characteristic in people, it got me through. I refused to give in to my own pity party.
I certainly started riding again, but a part of my personality had changed, and that competitive drive was simply gone. I briefly experienced the other side, and I had no compulsion to race or train for racing. There were too many other things I wanted to do. Racing for me was over.
As time went on though, I changed, as we all do. A little bit of press came through the internet, and I noticed this thing called “enduro” racing. The first info I caught wind of was the Megavalanche. Wow! A mass start endurance downhill race, that looked cool. I always remembered the chaos of mass starts at the big 24 hour races. The insanity, the costumes, the mayhem, and the camaraderie. We were there for the same reasons. Yes, to push ourselves, but for the fun of it all. We loved mountain biking.
I kept my eye on enduro racing, and it seemed a lot of the things that I remembered the best, or what I chose to remember because it was the good stuff, was present in enduro racing. People are there for the right reasons. Lots of smiling faces. Cold beers after the racing. Riding together, instead of against each other. At least on the uphills anyway. But, in a way, because of the time trial format, one racer leaves at a time, you’re really competing only against yourself, not versus others, like in a cross country race. The training that most racers do, and certainly myself, is fun riding. Pushing myself as hard as I can, when I want to, and when it seems the most fun. On the downhills. Believe me, I like to train, and I get a certain satisfaction from breathing hard and having my heart pound out of my chest, but I truly and absolutely enjoy the downhills now in a more satisfying way. And, for some unknown reason, I love to jump my bike nowadays. Maybe it has something to do with that fact that for a long time, the bikes I was riding were completely set up for cross country racing, and not for dirt jumping. Long stems, steep head angles and unforgiving suspension is not a good combination for learning how to catch air. I played soccer growing up, and rode bikes, but never really did any kind of BMX racing. I never learned that necessary skill set at a time of my life that was appropriate for crashing hard, over and over again. Having no fear as an 8 year old is a much better time, in my opinion, to learn how to properly clear a set of doubles. But, I digress.
But, I’m doing it. I’m learning. It’s fun. The bikes are different, the protective gear is good, the trails are amazing, the accessibility is there. It’s a perfect storm for a 42 year old, risk loving male to learn how to jump, and to get back into mountain bike racing. So I am. And couldn’t be more excited about it.
Stay tuned for part two, which will appear tomorrow, and find out if enduro racing is all it’s cracked up to be, or if we’re all just here for the beer.
Words, Photos: Daniel Dunn & Archives
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