Kenny Carlile

After getting back from my ride at Brown's Camp with Art, I picked up Dena and Paxton and we headed out to a private riding area that belongs to a friend of ours. His riding area isn't finished yet, but it has some pretty cool jumps and trails, so we spent an hour or so catching some air.

Paxton was very timid at first, like he always is when he first gets on his bike, but he quickly got comfortable and, within 20 minutes, he was looking more comfortable on the bike than ever before. He was cornering great and starting to get used to the idea of jumping. It was really funny that within an hour, he went from barely putzing on the bike, because he was nervous, to jumping higher and farther than he ever had. What a dingdong.

Dena and I didn't ride nearly as much as Pax did, but we had some fun playing on the jumps as well. I had our gracious host take some video of me with our camera while I was hitting some of the jumps. It never ceases to amaze and disappoint me when I see footage of myself. I feel like I'm jumping high or riding fast, but the video seems to tell a different story. It must be a perspective thing. Here's the part that really gets me: if I feel like I'm jumping pretty high and far, but then it looks like nothing on video…what does it feel like for the pros when they hit HUGE jumps that look HUGE on video?!?! *GASP!*

Anyway, it was really good to get to practice my timing and feel for clearing jumps and we thank our undisclosed host for letting us ride at his undisclosed location. We had a lot of now-disclosed fun.