Charlie Freedom

The I5 Collonade Bike Park is about a five minute ride from my place in Eastlake.  I try to make it down there once a week, at least, in addition to another ride at one of the many trails in the greater Seattle area.  The Collonade is sick place to refine your skills.  As I was explaining it to my buddy Eric today, the Collonade is the practice field; the trails are the game.  Honing your balance, cornering, and whatever other skills you’re interested in developing at the Collonade makes trail riding so much more fun.

Every time I hit the Collonade I try to get better at something.  This means I ride something more confident that normal, or I ride something I never have ridden before.  Today I accomplished two things I hadn’t done before.  First, I rode the switchbacks better than I ever have.  I only came off my bike once (maybe twice) on the way up and again, once on the way down.

Switchbacks

Second, while I’ve done the cross board navigation feature before, I’ve never done it with the balance and confidence I had today.  The move requires you be comfortable getting up onto the left board and then make a large but subtle and slow turn onto the cross board.

Cross board navigation

Today I rode it so well that I was able to ride up the left board, completely stop, turn my tire, and then get onto the cross board.  From there, you’ll feel for a brief second that your back tire will drop out from underneath you.  If you’ve made your turn onto the cross log wide enough, you’ll be fine.  And here’s the part I usually screw up.  You’ve focused so much on just making that simple right turn, but now you need to readjust your balance and get cleanly onto the right board.  I usually lose my balance here and jump off.  But today I rode it smoothly with a clean roll down the opposite side.  When you nail a feature like that, it just feels money.

I shant be too quick to pat myself on the back, of course; there are still Collonade demons I need to exercise, like nemesis number 1.

Nemesis number 1: Looking down from above

Nemesis number 1: Profile