There is a lot to write about tonight but I am spent so i'll have to summarize. So far we have ridden 4 tracks in 4 days. Thats one of the hings I love about France. There are SOO many different places to ride here. When I say "we" I mean myself, Aurelia Don (my french training compadre) and 9 Germans that came down to work skills with the Suaze. We leave at 9am and dont get home until 8pm, usually taking only an hour or so break for lunch. So we have been doing LOTS of riding and my body is feeling it.
The Germans are hilarious. They speak good English and love using it too, so from the moment we get in the car until the time we get home they ask me questions and want to talk. They are young, between 14-20 and its like having 8 younger brothers around, they are constantly making bodily functions and daring eachother to do something stupid. Boys will be boys I suppose. I have nicknamed them all since their names are hard to say and am educating them on american music, etiquitte, and how to be a gentleman.
The riding itself has been good. PH is making me work hard to develop my manualing skills, specifically pull-manuals. If I work hard and nail a few he lets me jump for a little while then he says "vacation over Arielle! Pull manual!." Luckily my arms and back were so blown out from the 3,000 attempts I made the last three days that by today I could barely lift my front wheel so he relented and let me ramp.
Yesterday we rode Cornillon, it is a track that forces you to be on your toes for sure. The jumps may look small, but they are so steep that if you aren't on point its game over to face plant or case to ankle blow out. They have a pretty big section too on the 2nd straight that you have to charge and open up, which I really liked.
Today we hit up Les Angles (pronounced "lee-zan" can you believe that?). We rode there last year and I have to say it is my favorite French track so far. It might as well be trails its so peaky, but it flows perfectly once you get the feel of it. This kind of training isn't great for first straights, but it does wonders for bike handeling. My legs have never been so sore from so little pedaling. Its all body movement and pump action to land the consecutive jumps. We ride flats most of the time unless we are doing gates or first straights. I wish more younger riders back home would ride flats. Here in France you are not allowed to clip in until you are Jr Elite (16) and I am watching 12 year olds handeling their bikes better than 16x back home.
Finally, congratulations to my husband Mike on his big promotion to a flight company. He is no longer stuck in the hanger all day but is flying around in the Black Hawks and soon will be in charge of his very own bird which is exciting.
I am late to bed. Bonnoite
