This was our first skills day of 2015. The morning started of chilly so I wore my face mask for much of the first hour. Despite the chill in the air we did have a pretty good size crowd.
We practiced u-turns, cone weave, off-set cone weave, right and left turns and 24′ key hole/circle. The off-set cone weave has been one of those obstacles that frustrated me. The first time I tried it I was mistakenly trying to get close to the cones and dropped by bike. Since then every time it has been set up I have avoided it for the most part. This time started off the same. I looked at Scott and told him ‘you know I can’t do this.’ He reminded me it was a mental thing and that since my bike can make the turns it was just a matter of me believing in myself and trying. Sigh…. I knew he was right so I watched a few road captains do it and then went for it. Guess what? I did it! When people say that 75% of riding maneuvers are conquered in the mind they aren’t kidding.
Next was the 24′ key hole. My first few attempts weren’t pretty but then I got it. I just need to work on my entry. I don’t turn my handle bars enough so I end up taking several feet away that would help me not hit the cones with my saddlebags.
By the end of the day I was feeling more confident about turning my handle bars sharper and my ability to control my bike. You can read more about why I try to never miss skills day on this post from July skills day. You can view all the pictures we took on Google+.
[…] again, I have been stocking the weather channel. Finally, its below 100 and we have time to ride! Skills day was Saturday so we attended that and then took off to grab some lunch in Granbury, TX. Once lunch […]