Well I'm finally back on the bike and things are feeling pretty good.  It started with tracks at Gary's, ramps at Schuie's and foam pit at Clinton's... And already I'm feeling like I need a holiday already.

I headed out to test out my shoulder for the first time at Schuie's place last week and thought it best to start fresh on the moto track at Faulkie's place first.  The first agenda was to see if my collarbone could even handle the impacts of riding around a track, fast and sharp movements  while jumping small jumps.  I was actually feeling not too bad in that department, but turns out laying in the couch for 6 weeks is the worst for your fitness!

After 5 laps I couldn't even hold onto the handlebars, my forearms looked like Popeye and I could probably hit a nail in with them.  I haven't had Arm-pump so bad before, and it didn't get easier the next couple of days riding at Boonah.

The Gold Coast boys then came out to Schuie's place, so now it was time to hit the ramps for the first time.  I warmed up on Schuie's moto track and jumped the dam wall hip jump which last time I jumped it I ended up on the ground which was last year the same day I broke my ankle.  So it was good to get that monkey off my back too.  All those little things add up in destroying your confidence, and that's pretty much the most important part of FMX.  The ramps felt ok, but there were definitely some tricks that hurt my collarbone like look back hart attacks and there was nowhere near enough strength or speed to do a rock solid.  But overall, I was happy to even jump a ramp.

I had the weekend off and then Clinton Moore rang me to come ride up in Bundy because there was no one else up there to ride with.  Well why not I thought!  It was only when I was driving the 4 hours up to Bundaberg I realised why it was probably a bad idea... I had only hit a ramp for 10 jumps the week before, little confidence and I was definitely lacking bike fitness.

We ended up riding two big sessions every day, with a foam pit session early in the morning followed by hitting the ramps before lunch time.  Then back out at 3pm for another foam pit session and more ramps before the sun went down. 

The ramp sessions felt better for me, I worked out which tricks I could do comfortably and stayed away from ones that hurt my shoulder but it was time to get back into the foam pit since I was there.  I actually felt pretty good flipping the 45ft ramp which I thought was a good idea as it's been so long and I didn't want to screw up at 75ft and hit my shoulder or anything.

I did have one flip that landed a little under rotated in the foam, and because the foam bounces the bike around a bit, when I went in first, the bike followed and bounced the wheel over me while it was still revving and hit me right on my collarbone just below the scar.  Exactly what I didn't want, and it hurt.

From there I nailed the 45fter's and then moved back to 75ft ramp and pulled back.  After almost doing a double flip because I pulled so hard, I realised I needed to slow down a bit and landed pretty much all my 75ft flips and getting the rotation relatively easy compared to last time I was doing 75ft flips.

After a week of riding though I was so exhausted and old Clinton broke me.  I was just cooked from all the riding but it felt so good to actually be riding my bike.  I still have a couple of weeks before I'm back to 100% obviously, but I've had a good start.

Unfortunately I have no photo's from the past week - it's a bit hard to take photo's while you're riding and there hasn't been anyone with a camera where I've ridden.  Although Jace Rozyski might have a video or two of me riding in Bundy so when I get that I'll put it up.

Steve