This past weekend, Aaron and I went on a road trip to Grand Junction, CO for a weekend of learning how to ride our (moto) dirt bikes at the DirtWise Academy. The class was put on by former Enduro World Champion, Shane Watts. We had signed up for the class back in November when Aaron started watching Shane’s you-tube videos and found out his camps were pretty renowned so we figured it would be a good investment for the both of us. As weeks led up to the camp, I became unsure that it would be too advanced for me. “Relax, Melissa,” Aaron would say,” there’s lots of good reviews from beginners.” As the weeks led up, I tried to go out and practice on my dirt bike to get ready for the camp but I kept the riding to a minimum as I had some big pro US Cup mountain bike races that I wanted to be ready for. One in particular was last weekend, in Bonelli Park, near San Dimas CA.

I had driven up with my friend Regina (who also happens to be an athlete I coach). It was her first big US Cup event as a cat 2 and my first US Cup Pro event. Going to these types of events is exciting as you have all of the team busses there, spectators, photographers, and press. On the first day we arrived at the course, we did a long course recon session with Ninja Skills instructor, Richard La China. We took a loop that would take about 40 min and spent 2 hours going through each technical section and analyzing what line to take and how to ride it as efficiently as possible. Sections that looked intimidating at the beginning, were a piece of cake after going through the course with Richard.

Needless to say I was still a little nervous about my race as there were all of the top world class riders in the field including Georgia Gould, Katerina Nash, Catherine Pendrel, Emily Batty, and Mary Mcconneloug (just to name a few). It might as well have been a world cup! However, I kept reminding myself to keep it in perspective and that I had raced half of those ladie before at UCI Cyclocross events. I wasn’t there to win, but I had to give myself a chance to be a competitor.

-Photo by Regina Jefferies/clippedinaz.com

The xc event was our first starting in the heat, at 11:30am. I knew it would be fast so I was careful to warm up and get some ice on my core to stay cool. We were staged and I was positioned in the back as it was based off UCI points. I knew I had to move up as much as possible at the start so I was ready to go. The race was even filmed live and had a helicopter following our event. There was excitement all around and I was excited to finally be in this mix!

The race started off fast, however there was a crash early on with a few of the top riders. One of the ladies was Catherine Pendrel from Luna Chix. She jumped back in, right on my wheel and soon passed me, but I was able to stick to her wheel for a while through the technical singletrack. However, it didn’t take her long to find opportunities to move up and by the 2nd lap, she was sitting in 2nd overall. I was sitting about in the middle of the 46 rider field and pushing myself to the limits. The course was challenging with lots of steep sections and technical rutted out sections. As it was a UCI event, there was an 80% rule so when you are no longer within 80% of the first place rider, you are cut. So, at lap 3, I was cut and so was about half of the field - so I didn’t feel too bad. Katerina Nash was a beast and was just about to lap me. She ended up taking first with her teammate Catherine taking 2nd.

The short track event was the same with staging and a super fast start. I knew that for this 15 min race, I would be in the red zone, so my warm-up was very important again. Our race of course, took off like a bat out of hell and we went zooming around a short 2min loop that semi resembled a cyclocross course. Again, they pull riders on this event so I stayed as close to the first group as long as possible however I kept getting gapped at the sections where we were strung out. I was pulled with only 3 laps to go. I was pretty excited with how the race played out and knew that if I worked on a few things, I could hang in there.

Now, back to dirt bike school. Just like mountain biking or starting in your first big event and not knowing what to expect or worrying that you’ll be the slowest person – I had these same fears going into the camp. However, right off the bat, realizing I was in fact the least experienced or skilled rider (and the only female on the first day), Shane Watts reassured me, “Don’t worry, just do what you’re comfortable with, get warmed up and have fun!! We are doing some drills in a field in a safe environment so it’s ok!”

We did skills practice 9 hrs a day for 2 days! Talk about fast-tracking progress!

The camp was needless to say one of the best weekends for me in terms of overcoming so many fears and self-confidence. Confidence is what it all comes down to – pretty much for anything in life. But on a mountain bike or a dirt bike, if you doubt yourself, the bike will teach you a lesson as it is unforgiving. It will only do what your mind says you can do. So, with two 9 hour days of learning basic skills, and tying them together, I was able to tackle some very challenging obstacles on my dirt bike. We did everything from stopping drills, drag races, wheelies, cornering, learning how to lock up the breaks and control it to ruts, and the toughest for me was hills as I have always had a fear of heights. I have been overcoming that fear though!

Shane saw my fears and pushed me through them. He could see my hesitation and would point and yell at me to go. If I still hesitated, he would walk over and say, “It’s easy Melissa, just a drag race.” He would raise his hands as if he was starting a race. “Three, two, one, GO!!” My heart would be racing like crazy and I would ease out the clutch and pull on the throttle. The first time, I crashed almost at the top. He had just shown us how to move our bike (after crashing on a hill), so I started moving my bike around so I could roll it down the hill. He came up and helped me. The next time, I made it to the top. Third time, he made me start right at the base of the hill. This scared the bajeebies out of me, but I did it. Full throttle up, however I kind of launched myself when I got to the top and crashed again. Aaron came over, “Good job, you made it!” My heart was racing. I went down, and of course, Shane made me go again. This time I had throttle/clutch control at the top and was able to slow down. Whew!! The wind kicked up and a group of 5 fighter jets flew overhead in formation.

Aaron on the pump track at the very end.

We started to head over to more hills before lunch. As we got to the hill, my throat tightened. They looked steep and intimidated the hell out of me. I knew I had no option but to go up. I was looking at the hill, stuck in fear, but Shane walked up, “Come on Melissa, you can do this! Have some confidence!” He told me to ride in 2nd gear so I put it into gear, he put his hand up, counted down from three, and off I went with my heart racing. I pulled on the throttle, shifted my weight forward, wanting to make it to the top…and I did but as I came over, I didn’t let off the throttle or pull my clutch in (and realizing it was not flat on that part of the hill) I started launching over the other side! Immediately I panicked and pulled the bike on its side. Shane rode up the hill to see if I was ok. I was fine, (that’s what all this gear is for!) however my adrenaline was crazy! “Great job Melissa! You did it! That was piece of cake, right?!!” He helped me roll the bike back down the hill and guess what, I had to do it one more time, this time going up the part that had a flat landing. I was so scared though and stood frozen for what seemed like eternity. Shane rode up and down the hill twice to get me to go. He’d wave me up from the top. Another rider Pat came over. “It’s ok Melissa, it’s really not that bad! I will ride up with you. Finally though, I clicked my bike into gear, aimed my tire and pulled on the throttle. I made it up, eased on my clutch and stopped. “Piece of cake, Melissa!” It really wasn’t so bad.

I think that I often times look at things for too long and make up a story in my head that it’s too scary to put my foot forward. I see this a lot too as a coach with athletes psyching themselves out or being afraid to get out of a rut. “Don’t think, DO!” Shane would say. The following day, Aaron and I went out and rode around on the hills where the camp was and Aaron challenged me to go up some steep climbs that I was afraid to try. But once I went up, I realized that was the easy part. The hard part was just moving forward.

This is me the day after surviving dirt bike school - conquering more hills!

And no – dirt biking hasn’t taken over my cycling. It’s actually helped my cycling a whole lot, especially at the level I am racing at as it really challenges me to trust myself, have confidence and puts things into perspective. So, throw me a challenging course or intimidating field and I’ll go for it and see how far I can get!