: Cross Training??

By: schacksta | No Comments » |

This is old news, well a few weeks old news and those that know me would probably be sick of hearing about it.

Every now and then, not very often mind you, being on a club committee has its perks. More often thn not its just a pain in the proverbial. Well, just recently thanks to being involved in a club I got the chance to mix two of my sporting loves, mtb and football. As a part of the Newcastle Jets extended preseason training for the coming A-League season they decided to tackle a few different sports and target different ways to get fit. Mountainbiking was seen as one such opportunity and contact was made with HMBA to make it happen.

Once mentioned to me, well I wasn’t missing it and the day off from work was quickly arranged.

Thanks to a local bike shop the Giant Test Fleet was on route to Awaba to ensure everyone had a bike that worked and I was going riding with a team I support week in week out. For me it really didn’t get any better. That said, setting up 15 odd bikes at 6am in near freezing (7 degrees is near freezing right?) temperatures was interesting and if you had asked me if that many bikes could fit in one small shop van I would have said no. Apparently though it is possible with room for a quickshade.

How did they go? Some of the guys were surprisingly good on the bike, others were surprisingly bad. What was good was to see how much these guys who had never ridden off road before loved the morning, most of which were keen for a return trip which hopefully happens in the near future.Its been a while since I have seen a group of supposedly grown men carrying on like a bunch of school kids hollering as they took on the next sketchy bit of trail, but the enthusiasm seemed to be contagious.

What was interesting was seeing some of the squad really struggle on the early hills on the Awaba trail. Those that know awaba would know the hills aren’t big early on, yet they were challenging some of the players. Nothing the trail threw up though had them phased and some loose riding was thrown down and as the ride progressed wheels were starting to leave the ground and stories of near misses grew into tales of epic proportion by the time we arrived back at the trail head.

Fortunately for me, my worst nightmare of injuring one of my hero’s didn’t eventuate and I guided my group home intact. Hopefully this all happens again and next time I won’t leave my jersey and marker pen at home.

If the Jets go on to take out their second championship, well I’ll claim a part of the credit, if they grab a second wooden spoon……..I was never there.

 

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