Learning to fly

The fear of going airborne has been going away little by little.  The first time I did this jump I nearly ate dirt.  My shoes became unclipped and I was on my saddle hanging on the the bars and wondering how I managed to NOT crash.

But bit by bit, testing the jump.  I've started to feel the rush of getting a little air under my wheels and feeling the full suspension work as I hit the landing.  It's awesome.

This isn't a huge jump,  probably pushing it at 18 inches but big enough for the Adobo Chicken rider on that gamma radiated green bike.

It took me 6 jumps before I could get my phone to record the jump.  I did get the recording on my GoPro on the very first try.  I love the Hero Session. It's awesome.  I didn't bother connecting it to my phone to check the angle.  I just hoped for the best.  And  actually turned out great!  I was so lucky.

I was lucky too that I didn't damage my bike.  It was creaking a bit on the last 2 jumps. But thought it was dirt.  It was in fact that I lost a pivot nut on my not drive side.  You can see the pivot axle sticking out on the photo above.  Just below my water bottle.

On this one you can see the bearing. There's supposed to be a flat nut covering that hole.

I actually went down another run - Time Warp with a missing nut.
Usually I can handle that run quite easily, but my shoes clipped out on the rock section as I was getting up to speed.

Luckily I did not eat any trees.

Can't wait to get back!