The Colonnade

A few weeks ago, when Nick and I were showing his brother around Seattle, we stumbled upon a bike park underneath the freeway overpass near downtown. This is like no bike park we had ever seen. Built in what was once a blackberry-infested, drugie-dominate hangout is now a beautifully groomed bike park with more bridges, jumps, drops and steep stuff to practice on than you have ever dreamed. We gave ourselves a walking tour of the place, then after mopping up all of Nick's drool, we said we would make a trip down ASAP with the bikes and give it a spin.

Last weekend, on our trek over to Crystal Mountain to visit with the folks, we decided to make a slight detour and try out the park. We padded up, lowered our seats and tire pressure and had at it. Mind you, the biking world is relatively new to me, so although I LOVE this sport, it also scares the crapola out of me. When I see the 15 foot drops, the 2" skinny teetertodder logs and the "line" that is essentially at a 90 degree angle, I have a deep, urging desire to throw my bike aside and go mope in the car. There is nothing more discouraging than feeling like I could never accomplish such terrifically horrifying stunts. This is when Nick comes in. His rational sense never ceases to surprise me...especially when he reminds me that there is this thing called progressive skill building and having FUN. He takes my damaging competitive edge away from me and allows the fun of bike riding to come out. So I joyfully play on the lower bridges, the wider teetertodders and practice my wheelie drops off 5". Then when the guts start to surface I may follow him on a line or two of a more challenging route. One that consists of short, shallow breaths and hanging on for dear life until it is over. Then I smile, say thank you and do it all over again and again until I actually enjoy myself. Ah yes...I am learning, slowly but surely. So maybe one day I will be hitting the "fatty" drops, but until then, I will remember that baby steps are just fine. Oh and I will take pictures of Nick doing them.