Trail Rider Magazine

6 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Wheel Spin THE NEAR MISS by Kevin Novello G rowing up in the Novello household, we had a saying that went something along the lines of "if you aren't crashing, you aren't improving." And quite honestly, it has been so long since I have tried to improve my riding skills that I almost forgot about that old family saying. For me, "improve- ment" has always cen- tered around finding more speed. But now, with Romanics loom- ing on the not-so-dis- tant horizon, I am trying to expand my comfort zone in ways that run countercur- rent to finding speed. Rather than seek the most efficient lines, I am going through the roughest stuff I can find. I am seeking out and riding over the biggest logs I can find rather than go around them. I am seeking out the steepest, longest and nastiest up-hills and then going down them - and I loathe steep, nasty down hills. With that as the backdrop, I have been doing a whole of crashing lately. My first major log crossing was an epic fail. This "little sapling" (not my description) was a smidge under 3 and 3/4 feet in di- ameter. My Youtube research revealed that lofting the front wheel and placing it just below the top of the log was sound technique for clearing such monstrosities. Attempt number one was a miscalculation that began with my front wheel falling a lit- tle short of its intended target and ending with me pile-driving it in to ground, via an awkward mid-air twist. This was defi- nitely going to be an ugly, pride-swallowing affair with setbacks along the way. With that in mind I set off to a slightly smaller log, which resulted in a badly torn hamstring (don't ask). I spent the next two weeks in the gym and off the bike; another setback. OK, so now humiliation was an obvious part of the process. With humiliation as the latest theme, I signed up for the Nut- meg State Hare Scramble a few weeks later. This venue is dump, and I mean that as a term of endearment: it's a great place to test one's fitness and practice staving off the downward spiral of frustration, courtesy of its clapped out and relentless rocky terrain. The goal was to set a steady, moderate pace for the entire event and see how I felt at the end of the day. Basi- cally I wanted to establish a pace over super nasty terrain that I could maintain for 80 miles. With the number of laps totaling about 36, I knew that if I felt good at the end of the day and could still do more, I was off to a good start. There are also a few small rocky uphills that were sure to be lit- tered with bikes, presenting an opportunity to practice pushing the bike up hills, as I know I'll be doing plenty of that in Roma- nia. So, a few times throughout the day, I stopped at the base of a hill and pushed (using the engine of course) the bike to the top. It was exhausting but if I was patient, I could make it up without exhausting myself and freaking out on anyone. At the end, I felt good enough where I could have gone several more laps, awesome! The following day I felt pretty good too, confirming that I had loafed the previous day and could have done 80 miles through that hellhole. Still, I couldn't escape the humiliation of being passed by my buddy Dan from three rows back. I really must have been loafing. Trying to learn new skills has taught me a thing or two. Throughout it all, what I began to take note of was the increas- ing number of "near misses" that occurred with practice. A near miss is that moment when you previously would have au- gured in and eaten shit, but it instead saved it. Ah yes, the near miss; the precursor to success! The tapering off of bruises, torn muscles, snapped levers, crushed pipes, tank-slappers, bent bars and poor results. That moment when you get a handhold on that next, seemingly elusive level that you have been striving for. That beautiful interim between crashing and achievement. Someday I'll figure out how to weave "near miss" into that old family saying; so far, the first few attempts have been miserable failures.

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