LEVEL UP

Thoughts on Descending

Santa Monica Mountains | LA
Somewhere on Mulholland in the Santa Monica Mountains.

What goes up must come down. If you know me, you know that I would ALWAYS choose to climb uphill than to descend downhill.

It use to be because descending gave me anxiety but these days, I just like ot make sure each bike ride is challenging. 😉

If you don’t have much experience on the bike, descending mountains can be quite scary but you learn to let go, just as you should with all things that hold you back.

I use to be super cautious descending, then one day as I was doing a high speed, technical, and super curvy descent in the Santa Monica mountain, I realized I did the whole thing without thinking twice or holding back since the only thing I was focusing on was trying to keep up with the guys in front of me. It was my first time doing something that technical and someone behind me actually crashed that day.

That was a turning point in my bike life because after that, I was never thought twice about descending again.

I mean on that day, I did think, “omigosh I could have died” but I knew I was still in total control, and sometimes you just have to have those revelations to help you let go. If you want to have fun, you learn that you can’t let mundane things hold you back or you will never have phenomenal experiences.

I STILL prefer climbing but these days, I do love descending… only not so much when it’s raining (who does?) or if it’s too steep and technical (takes the fun out of it since I ride to ride). What goes up must come down, so learn deal with it, and you WILL over time. You earned it.

EARNING VIEWS + EARNING DESCENTS // We had some beautifully grueling climbs in the French Alps with @445cycling but you don’t realize how high you’ve actually climbed on bicycle until you get to the top, and have to descend the other side of the mountain. When you climb, you fall into a meditative state where time seemingly disappears, whereas when you descend, you require more mental strength because you have to be in a state of high alert and awareness. Best of both worlds! You know you are pretty high up when you are still going downhill 30 minutes later and your hands and neck are cramping, navigating sharp turns and reminding yourself these narrow roads albeit empty still serve two way traffic. I use to hate descending when I started riding bikes but I’ve been forced into so many situations where we had to endure dangerous and technical descents, sometimes in torrential weather conditions, and I just had to push fear out of the way. I still say however, “I would rather go uphill on a bike than downhill.” 😋🙈 Not complaining, just saying!!
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Every day and every descent, I found myself saying: “wow this is the best descent ever!” In fact they were all magical, especially the ones on narrow roads with a steep drop, overlooking sprawling green valleys dotted with cute cottages, and cascading mountains that we will soon climb in the distance. I will never get sick of the views, the exhilaration, and the feeling of flight. A feeling you cannot ever achieve in a car or a motorcycle because you never rightfully earned it. Sighhhh. ❤️🙏🚴🏻‍♀️🎉 {copied from my instagram}

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