Jo Peters: Trust The Process

Words by Jo Peters // Video by Peter Wojnar // Photos by Dave Smith

I want to progress on the bike because it feels so good.  The body and mind fight to figure out how to go faster, smoother and have positive movement. Every time I feel the movement “right,” my body learns and tries it again, correcting each time. My brain is continually being rewired to create new muscle memory. I have become addicted to the sensation of my body and brain communicating to create positive feedback in the subconscious.

With progression there is a process.  Everyone can have their own process. Mine is very important to me but is always changing. I find that building bits of trail helps with my process because I get time to be with a feature before I hit it. I start understanding the trajectory of a lip and the feeling of a landing. I am also around other people that “get jumps” because they know how to build them, so l learn from what they tell me.

The other important aspect of my process is repetition. I find all the jumps of similar size in the area and hit them over and over again. As soon as I put a little style into the jump, I know that I have progressed and become comfortable with that feature. That comfort in the air is such a strong positive feeling,  it gets me stoked and coming back for more.

Building and riding and repeating is my process of progression. 

Riding the Kona Process X… well… that’s also an obvious way to progress. This bike loves everything I throw at it and has helped build my confidence.