The Next Stage
Inside the mind of a racer
By Evan Gronlund
By Evan Gronlund
My gloved hands gripped the handle bars with two fingers on the right brake and one on the left. Before the race starts the clock ticks down after the 30 seconds. I look down to my front tire, clearing my mind. As I hear the women count down from 5, I raise my left leg with the pedal attached. The buzzer goes off: I push my pedal down hard, my tires spin out as they grip the ground. I smile behind my helmet, hoping I left dirt on my teammate. Pedaling down the trail and leaning back behind my seat, I go down the steep narrow trails dodging branches and flying off boulders. Approaching a long climb, I hammer down hard on the pedals, getting momentum. Hearing only the wind howl in my ears, I shoot up and over the hill, exhausted, heavily breathing and excited for what’s to come. Not realizing there was a blind corner with a step down, I fly off into the air shocked. The suspension of the bike absorbed the most of the impact of the trail, but the jolt still made me realize there’s a line between sane riding and suicidal riding: I didn’t want to cross it.
Mountain biking is a big culture throughout the world, from racing Downhill to Enduro to Cross Country. The categories are just like they sound. Downhill is complete downhill riding, Enduro is mostly downhill with some uphill, and cross country is mostly uphill with very little downhill and extremely long distances. Enduro and Downhill racing are mostly 2-4 miles for each stage, while cross country ranges from 30-100 miles for each stage. The city of San Diego is home to many supporters for bicyclists of many different types of riding, all except mountain biking. Most mountain bikers, including me, are looked down upon as outlaws that ride trails all day just to tear up the surrounding ecosystems and terrorize oncoming hikers or equestrian riders. There is a tense atmosphere between bikers and horseback riders. A few months ago, I was out riding with my friend Alex out at Rancho Penasquitos canyon. We came up behind some horseback riders, accidentally startling one of their horses. As we were riding slowly behind them, politely asking to go by, one of the head riders up front, who had to have been 50 years old or more, came to the back of the pack and started yelling at us. He told us it is illegal for us to be on the trail, but we knew the sign said otherwise. The other riders overheard and stopped, which made us stop, and the old man got off his horse and came to my friend and grabbed him by his collar. As he yelled in my friend’s face, the other horseback riders tried to come at me. I rode off and hid my bike in the bushes, then came back and grabbed my friend’s bike from this other old man. After coming back from hiding the bikes the situation was escalating. I ran up to the 50 year old and slammed through his arms, breaking my friend free: we took off back to our bikes and went straight to the cops afterwards. The fight goes on, back and forth, that we mountain bikers are too aggressive and don’t appreciate the trails, while mountain bikers say that horse riders should clean up after their horses. Mountain bikers are upset with the city for closing down trails so that bikers cannot ride there, issuing huge fines up to $1500, and even giving some riders jail time for not noticing signs (which sometimes are not even posted). But an organization called SDMBA, or San Diego Mountain Biking Association, is taking action with the city. Kevin Loomis, the president of San Diego Mountain Biking Association, and I got together for an interview. I asked him what he wanted to see happen with bikes in San Diego. “I want to make SD bike centric”, he told me. On the news, and while out driving, you always see and hear about charity walks and runs but rarely anything about charity rides. In San Diego’s culture, Kevin explained, mountain biking “plays a small but very important [role] that we want to make bigger.” According to Kevin, 80% of people in San Diego have working bicycles in their garage, but only 15-20% actually use them. He wants to raise that percentage, but first he had to find a way. So mayor Kevin Faulconer and Kevin Loomis have been working together to make San Diego more bike-friendly. They have created more bike lanes on roads and more bike lockers at transit stations and amusement locations. Kevin Loomis, being a mountain biker, is planning on making bike skills parks and pump tracks all over the city; SDMBA and Gravity Pirates were already allowed to build a local bike pump track in the La Mesa area. The main reason why he supports mountain biking in San Diego is because he loves to get out into nature and bike with his family and friends, but he also enjoys the fitness aspect.
On November 9th of 2014, I was at a race where I interviewed a guy named Mike: he’s a salesperson from Intense cycles, which is a bike manufacturer in Temecula. How has mountain biking influenced your lifestyle? I asked him, and he had a lot to tell me about that. Mountain biking has completely changed his lifestyle, he told me: after he got into riding, he changed careers, taking a job within the mountain biking industry. He has traveled around the world as a salesperson for Intense Cycles. He’s been to the tops of 10,000+ foot peaks in countries that he would have not even thought of visiting without his bike. For Mike, mountain biking attracts those who want to be surrounded by an amazing outdoor environment with friends, while sharing the excitement of going fast. Since the race and the interview with Mike, I have found myself bringing more and more people into the world of mountain biking. Now all they talk about is wanting to ride with me, the places they’ve gone, and the people they’ve shared their experiences with. I’m happy to see other riders having fun and bringing new people in to support our activity. Before the finish line are the table top jumps. Approaching them, I notice I'm coming into them nice and fast, I hear people on the sidelines cheering me on, and I pedal hard, trying to gain enough speed to clear the jumps. Feeling the ground beneath me start to rise and crest, I pump my bike down and halfway through the jump I pull up to get enough air, then I lift up my legs and pull my bars into me at the last minute, flying past the lip of the jump and riding on. After the jump section is the straightaway. Concentrating and pedaling hard, I throw my bars side to side as hard as I can, gaining more than enough speed to pass up another racer that had passed me at the start. I come to the turn and brake at the last second, my tires slightly slipping out beneath me as my weight shifts to counter the turn. I’m breathing hard and seizing up from pushing myself to the limits. Crossing the finish line, I throw my bars out in front of me to put that split second of time on my side and brake fast to avoid hitting other riders. I ride to the grass patch, breathing hard and trying to take off my helmet, and I fall to the ground still locked into my bike to relax. And here on the ground, I wait for my other teammates to cross the line, before we continue to the next stage. |