Disconnecting is a good thing.

I fancied a ride the other evening so I took my enduro mtb bike out for the first time in probably two months. I consciously prepared to go as fast as an old man can on a trail I’m very familiar with and see how I got on. I wanted to see if a two month break had made a difference. When I got to the bottom of a forty second run, (as that's all we have), I was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Was I quicker? No idea, but I was so stoked on how I rode so I went up again and did it again, many times.  I really didn’t expect it but that ride gave me the idea of writing this post,  that and I keep hearing the phrase 'disconnect'.

Apart from riding my Gravel Bike to work to save a bit of fuel on the odd day this summer, the occasional evening dirt jumping session at the Track in Portreath, and a couple of dawny sessions at the new Skatepark at St Just, I’ve not ridden bikes a whole lot this summer/autumn. I’ve probably only ridden my enduro bike twice since July, and whilst summer is the time to get out and ride, something else took over. Something that feels exciting and fresh, and the result has meant my time on two wheels has taken a back seat.  All last winter I rode bikes, I trained hard for enduro events and personal fitness, (none of which I ended up doing due to cost of living, and the huge hike in fuel prices), I was fit and I was riding loads, but  as spring grew ever nearer, something took priority, and that was Surfing. 

As the season changed I surfed a lot,  and  then surfed some more. When I knew I had to cancel my entries to the enduro events, I backed off the training, and as the evenings drew out It became a refreshing change to come home from work and head down for a surf and not ride up the hill. To focus the weekends on surfing again as a family was refreshing, to not be totally transfixed on riding bikes seemed to make sense. The summer has been about one thing,  staying local and riding waves. 

I feel like I did many years back when surfing felt new and raw, and as I write this I'm super  excited on a new board that's being shaped for me, and as the winter draws closer, although governed by the weekend conditions and time restraints; as the youngsters might say, 'I'm frothng to surf'.

I’ve never given up on surfing, but over the past few years I was just surfing less as bikes slowly took over.  I suppose I disconnected (there's that phrase) from surfing, and as I mentined before I surfed when it was necessary,  and at points over those past few years I didn’t surf for two to three months at a time. Whilst that might be unbearable for some, that's really not a bad thing to me, because at times I nearly had to force myself in the water and that is no way to go surfing.

Something happened this past year or so that changed all that, something very special. My son Jago became slightly more addicted to the ocean and thankfully he brought me along for the ride,  and it’s been amazing. 

Doing any kind of activity with your kids can be our best experience and the most rewarding part of being a father. Myself and Jago have done and still do a fair bit together over his 14 years. BMX Racing, Mountain Biking, Bushcraft, Gravel Riding, Dirt Jumping, Skating and Surfing. His love of getting pounded in the shorebreaks leads him towards bodyboarding and I’ll join him by grabbing my wooden bellyboard and a pair of fins. Usually when this happens the stoke is higher than any other aspect of our surfing put together, honestly we love it.  When we have small waves where the sets come in clean and just super fun it means we’ll grab our longboards, and considering he’s been riding one of my old big heavy boards, he's doing really well. He's now the proud owner of his own 9’2” Traditional Single Fin Longboard meaning I can put my spare away now and when the waves are in-between, or a little bigger, he takes a mid-length board around 7’0'' or something smaller.  I’m so proud of his progression as he’s getting all the bases covered by surfing the right board in the right conditions. 

I always wanted Jago to fall in love with surfing but it was certainly a delayed reaction considering he's been in the ocean since he was a few months old. Steadily over the years his confidence has grown, his knowledge and wave judgement has developed and his ability to surf well is coming along very nicely. He still has so much to learn, like the intricacies of noseriding, but he’s doing well and what’s best about this scenario is his independence in the water, I no longer have to play Dad in the water, I just give him pointers here and there. 

This isn’t a post to boost my son's ego because he won't read it anyway, or say ‘hey look at us we’re doing great!’. It’s about what really got me stoked again on surfing.  It’s hard to say no, when my son asks to check the surf every day when I get home from work, or if he’s already in there somewhere, I'll go an join him. It’s been fun to find him the right longboard, asking him to be patient whilst trawling through the overpriced second hand market for months on end, but eventually we picked up the ideal board from our local lifeguard and at a proper price. 

I honestly feel that time out from surfing so much did me a great justice. It made me reflect on a few things too. Surfing has become so crowded in the line up, to a point that it really began to get to me,  and I'll be honest and say that my mindset has changed from frustration to acceptance and now I don't want as many waves so I'll sit off the main peak a little, or surf a smaller wave down the beach to avoid the mayhem. This way I still get my waves and I leave the water happy.  However, I do wish the etiquette was better in the water, I would like to know that  surf schools and surf shops are spending more time explaining the unwritten rules before  releasing their newbies into the wild world of surfing, with their new boards, and sheep mentality, but I also realise it's every surfers responsibility to explain politely the rules of engament in the line up.  If you are victim to an 'infringement by a beginner, educate them, don't shout (Note: I used to shout!), educate them, and remember we were all beginners once. 

Sadly as I seem to be fully stoked on surfing again, and as the crowds continue to grow, many of my older friends have  stepped back and moved away from surfing, especially in the summer months when the silly season arrives because they simply can't handle it. It does seem that everyone wants to be a surfer right now, and once upon a time I was the same. So disconnecting a little if needed is not a bad thing. Doing something else, finding another outlet  is a healthy thing to do because if you crave space, you can go off and find that and get that ‘Nature Hit’ in another form. Personally, this this summer has been the opposite, I've just wanted to surf, I seem to be drawn into the water despite the crowds and yes I have had to educate a fair few!. 

Just being in the ocean really is a priceless gift, and whilst that might sound very cheesy,  Sea swimming has also played a huge part in that renewed passion. It’s been refreshing to ride my bike out to a local swim spot, take a flask of tea, some snacks and have a dip and get that salty fix, that 'spiritual rinse'. I suppose I’ve also realised that I don’t have to surf or ride all the time, it’s OK to go off and follow other pursuits, because that creates a craving to return.  I've learnt to do what makes me happy and not suffer from so much FOMO. 
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We went for a family surf last weeknd in what was probably some of the worst conditions this summer, not big, just onshore and closing out, but we made the session about progression, what could we do on awful waves. Jago, a little bit grumpy at first,  soon realised he didn’t want to be on his longboard, so ran back up the beach and grabbed a smaller board from the van, he returned and proceeded to love the session as he was more in control. My wife just practised taking off, grabbing a rail and racing the closeouts, occasionally making an effort to get up on the white water. I remained on my heavy longboard and just practised ridiculously angled take offs and had so much fun beating the closeout section, grabbing a quick noseride if i could, and practised what I call cross country surfing, trying to beat all the closeout sections, and ride the waves to the end and do a nice turn. It was a super fun session that would not be the same without my family around me.  

The best part of disconnecting for a while though is that I truly believe you come back fresh. As a surfer, I feel that once you’re happy with what you can do, or once you’ve achieved a level that makes you content then It’s pretty tough to go backwards, so taking a break shouldn’t mean you return to being a beginner. Paddle Fitness might suffer but muscle memory will remain.  

Sometimes we need to disconnect from the things we love and in turn this helps us regain the passion. There's often a catalyst to this disconnection, and what made me step away from surfing so much is a long story, and a personal one, but what made me jump back in was so positive, my son and his stoke. I’m not fussed about having loads of waves,  I just want a few nice ones, riding each wave the best I can, and chasing that very same smile.  Watching my son and his reaction to his best waves is priceless. Disconnecting from surfing for a while was been a wise decision, because as I write this, its horrendous weather outside, winter is coming and yet all I can think about is new boards and surfing. 

But I'm also excited about riding too. The break from riding my enduro bike so much has fuelled that craving too get back on it too, with night riding season upon us, the lights are charged and the winter evenings will see us tearing around the quiet lanes of the wild west. Disconnection is a good thing whatever you do, and it's healthy to park the passion for a moment, and then jump back in frothing like a stoked grommet who's chasing that feeling that it's beginning again, and with that new found stoked, a world of progression is in front of you. 

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