What I find most exciting about this forum and all of the posts, from the more experienced to the new beginner, is the inspiration and excitement about our sport. Being fairly new at uniing (3 months) I have largely been on the receiving end of this inspiration. All the talk, pics and vids that some of you post with insane drops, hops and rides has been a huge motivation factor for me, as well as all of the advice on how to get better (thanks uni57!).
Well today was a milestone in my riding career. Today I went from the perspective of “I think that I can get into this sport” to “This is quite possibly the best sport ever!” Why the change? Everything sort of came together for me today. Though not as major as Sofa’s “I was simply in the zone tonight” thread (Part of my motivation to take up a challenge today), for me it was all about breaking barriers that have been holding me back.
By my house is a small hill. Not very steep (most people would consider it an incline) and not very long (maybe 25 meters). But it has been there since the beginning, taunting me, saying “Bryan, you will never make it up me. I am bigger than you and stronger than you. Ha Ha Ha (in a mean pirate sort of way.” Every other time that I have tried that hill, every attempt that I have ever made has ended up in utter failure. I would make it half way up only to tire out and UPD. But Today I would have none of that. Oh yeah. I threw all of my determination (and weight) into it and not only did I make it up, but I managed to turn around and make it down without a dismount. To top it off, when I reached the bottom I stopped and did a couple of hops (which I had never done before and was amazed that I could even do it).
So the moral of the story that I learned is that even if it seems impossible at first, with determination and practice, it can be accomplished. I had read this sort of line in many of your posts, but today it became reality for me (and there is a small hill with a bruised ego to prove it)!
I really like this forum for the motivation as well as the credit given.
I send this picture (of the bench) to my non-uni’ing friends and they reply with, ‘neat’ or, ‘you’re crazy’
Showing something like that here not only provides the motivation for newer riders, but can also be appreciated by those who hope to do it, or those who can do this and have moved on…but still remember the feeling of beinga ble to do it.
People here are just aware, and can appreciate exactly what goes into something that you find cool, or hard.
On top of that, you learn things here that you just never really thought about…someone posts a picture, and that’s now the next thing you want to learn.
LOL - one of the best one liners I’ve seen on here for a while… or a half-liner, at least. :0)
Well done for climbing your personal Everest. We all know how good it feels.
Incidentally, ALL hills are inclines, but only on the way up; they’re declines on the way down. This is not linked to steepness, difficulty or altitude.
Cool! Glad I could offer a useful insight along your journey to success!
Regarding the learning process – people can help you. You can seek advice. You can read some great tip that helps you advance. But… NOTHING can substitute for YOU getting out there and putting in the HOURS of practice. Nursing bruises (or worse). Exercising patience and dedication. Committing yourself. And hopefully having fun the whole time. As such, when you succeed – it is all yours. You own it. You created it. Nobody but YOU made it happen. It’s a great feeling. And a recurring feeling. I’m very happy for you. I’m sure everyone here can relate to your story in some way. Even the experienced riders who learned so long ago – because I’m sure they have struggled recently to learn SOME new skill. And thus the struggle and the victory are fresh in their minds too. I started riding in October; I can vividly recall memories nearly identical to what you described, both in content and sentiment.
There is a log in the woods next to my house. That log has my name on it. Someday I will MUni over it. And I will post my elation here.
Congratulations! Keep riding; keep reading; and keep posting!
That was a nice read. We all have our milestones from time to time (I
think) and they are very rewarding.
I’ve been keeping logs of my accomplishment recently and by comparing
notes I found more progress than I thought there was. Often small
steps but making those visible is quite worthwhile too.