Dirt Series

My name is Sue and I'm a mountainbikeaholic.

So I went to Trek Dirt Series last weekend in Canmore.  I found out about Dirt Series by googling around for skills camps and I signed up as soon as registration opened in February.  Because I am addicted to mountain biking, I wanted to do everything in my power to become a better mountain biker.  I'd read all the books and watched all the videos.  I was riding all the trail I could.  But Dirt Series provided the opportunity to learn from some real pros and get actual feedback about whether I was doing it right.

It was fun too.  I had some friends who were interested in tagging along, so we made it a girls weekend, rented a sweet condo in Canmore, and loaded up our bikes (without the help of our husbands).

Lisa with our Trek Lush's loaded up

We were so nervous the morning of the camp!  I was a bit sad to be split up from my buddies on the first day, but in retrospect I think it was for the best.  I got the instruction I needed and they felt comfortable in their respective skill-groups.

We did skills in the morning and went for trail rides in the afternoon.  I did well with straight-line riding, but struggled with cornering.  Although I couldn't seem to get the cornering down during the camp, I've worked on it since and it has come a long way!  Roll-downs were easy for me (I had a chance to perfect this in Moab last year).

The trail ride wasn't quite what I expected.  First of all, it was really hot.  I mean REALLY hot.  And we were climbing a lot, being in the mountains and all.  I guess I expected to just go out and ride, but the reality was that we were stopping every few minutes to discuss skills and strategies for tackling some of the more technical terrain we encountered.  This instruction was really useful, but there were a few points when I wanted to just ride for a while, you know?

A Dirt Series coach demonstrating a tricky feature

We met back at the bike shop for pizza and beer, provided by the camp.  It was delicious!  All four of us were enjoying meeting the other camp participants and taking advantage of the 10% off deal the bike shop offered.

I think everyone was pretty tired going into day 2, but there was also an enthusiasm for mountain biking that had replaced the nerves of the previous morning.  We were all having a great time.

From left: Serena, Tara, Lana, Lisa

We got to choose which skills sessions we would take on the second morning.  I should have chosen switchbacks or high-speed cornering, but the immature part of my brain won out and I choose jumps.  Jumps was waaaaay too much fun.  I'd practiced wheel lifts at home so it came pretty naturally.

Then another trail ride!  We did the G8 trail out of Canmore.  Again, there were lots of stops for instruction.  The ride was just getting fun when we came to a steep, rocky, switchback section.  I went down last and promptly crashed massively.  I was all mental going into the loose corner and I just lost it.  I crushed my right knee between the handle-bars and frame and went down and did a few somersaults.  I bet it looked cool, but it hurt.  Biking back out of the bush was pretty painful and I had a baseball sized swelling above my knee by the time I got picked up.  If only I had chosen switchbacks!

Anyway, all in all it was a fantastic weekend.  I had a great time hanging out with my girlfriends, met some new people, and I think I'm a better mountain biker overall.  I can't wait to get out and put these skills to the test!

Lana, Lisa, and Tara enjoying a few post-Dirt Series beers