I finally made it out on the ramp I got for my birthday at the weekend. Initial attempts were by skateboard, although I proved to lack the talent needed to stay on the board for the duration of the short flight. After several sketchy landings I decided to bring out the big hardware and called my mountain bike into action.
This was a different kettle of rabbits altogether – a quick tightening of the suspension and I was racing toward said ramp with much gusto. Many moons have passed since I was last jumping ramps on my bike, but fortunately it went well, with the neighbourhood kids being suitably impressed with my aging brand of extreme!
I had a few sketchy landings, but in the end I ran out of fitness before I ran out of nerve. Quite pleased with myself, really – wish I’d dragged the ramp out sooner now, as the weather is definately on the turn for the worse.
Fortunately there’s the indoors Rampworks skatepark here in Liverpool, which I went to for the first time last week, and plan to go again mid-week. It’s a cracking park, although the stuff is much more daunting than at PlayStation Skatepark in London. With the help of my workmate Chris, I was dropping in to the mini-ramp for the first time last week, so I’m looking forward to taking it one step further with our next visit. (or making even more of a tit of myself, as the case may be.)