And then the flu took me down

 
So I planned to write a post about Cyclebar - PMA - and Uno and I's most recent lessons... and then I got the flu.  So here is a short short recap.

Why yes one of those 3 days is at 5 am... 

I got peer pressured to join Cyclebar by a friend and I did not like it the first week - I was really bad at it and my body had no idea how to 'do the thing.'  I think I spent all 45 minutes of my first 3 - 4 rides just mentally repeating, "I can do hard things."

Then about a month in I made friends and the positive vibes started clicking - it still sucked but it sucked in an achievable way. As I slowly built into a 3 day a week schedule I realized that instead of 'getting through it' I was focused on doing my best.  It didn't hurt that I also saw quick improvements in my riding as well.

I am going to hit my 100th ride before my birthday this year

In Cyclebar classes, there is always a 'connect' song where they turn off the lights and you focus on something personal.  I started off visualizing my best cross-country round.  for 3 - 5 minutes 3 times a week I visualize confident happy jumping.  It went from my best XC to the jumps I had in my last lesson.  To the Starter or BN courses I walked with my trainer.  I just really vividly imagined canter along the course and having each jump come up - sometimes the jumps were awkward in my mind because they had been awkward in my lesson or show - but they were not scary and my mind was in a place of confidence.

This is now a small jump for us.

I know that it sounds silly, but I honestly think this has helped the way I jump.  I still look at jumps and 'blue screen,' but instead of pulling or flapping, I am re-calibrating my body to be still and add leg.  Uno has loved this change in me and we are really nailing our lessons.  This is not to say we get everything right, or that we coast around on beautiful 12' hunter strides nailing the distance every time - Uno is still the conformational challenged hony he has always been and I still cannot see a distance 60% of the time.  It is just that now we do not panic.  I trust that he will jump safely, and he trusts that I will not push him into things.

For those of you who care this is a beefy 2'9"

Look at hims tail!!!!!

It makes life so frickin joyful...