The Fair City Enduro, this Halloween. My first ever MTB race.
May the saints preserve us...
Monday, 19 August 2013
Sunday, 18 August 2013
Man down! Part 2
I just realised I kind of wandered off piste on that last post.
I started talking about mental strategies for dealing with crashes and being hurt, wandered away off on a tangent and finished off talking about mental strategies for avoiding crashes.
Crashing is always a danger, moreso the more often you ride nearer your limits. I don't agree that crashing is inevitable, nor do I agree with the "if you aren't crashing, you aren't trying" mentality. I've been through that phase in my riding and I got fed up replacing broken parts. I also realised it was just a matter of time before I didn't have a soft landing and properly injured myself.
After a particularly torrid run of crashing at least once every ride, I took a long, honest look at what I was doing and had to admit to myself I was riding way beyond what I was capable of. A hard hit for any ego to take, but better for my long term prospects as a rider.
Now, if I'm not feeling it, it isn't happening. I'm aware roughly where my limits are and how happy I am to get up to that limit. I also try to build up to things progressively.
So, dealing with the mental impact of a crash. I'm actually not sure what to do here. I think it's important to figure out how it happened, and, assuming you weren't attempting something way beyond your level, try to tackle the feature or section that you crashed on, so that it doesn't build itself in your mind into a bigger problem than it really is.
I'm guilty of this too. I can think of a couple of features locally that I have allowed to grow into big mental problems, but in reality, they are well within my abilities as they are now. Watch this space and I'll see if I can defeat these particular demons.
I started talking about mental strategies for dealing with crashes and being hurt, wandered away off on a tangent and finished off talking about mental strategies for avoiding crashes.
Crashing is always a danger, moreso the more often you ride nearer your limits. I don't agree that crashing is inevitable, nor do I agree with the "if you aren't crashing, you aren't trying" mentality. I've been through that phase in my riding and I got fed up replacing broken parts. I also realised it was just a matter of time before I didn't have a soft landing and properly injured myself.
After a particularly torrid run of crashing at least once every ride, I took a long, honest look at what I was doing and had to admit to myself I was riding way beyond what I was capable of. A hard hit for any ego to take, but better for my long term prospects as a rider.
Now, if I'm not feeling it, it isn't happening. I'm aware roughly where my limits are and how happy I am to get up to that limit. I also try to build up to things progressively.
So, dealing with the mental impact of a crash. I'm actually not sure what to do here. I think it's important to figure out how it happened, and, assuming you weren't attempting something way beyond your level, try to tackle the feature or section that you crashed on, so that it doesn't build itself in your mind into a bigger problem than it really is.
I'm guilty of this too. I can think of a couple of features locally that I have allowed to grow into big mental problems, but in reality, they are well within my abilities as they are now. Watch this space and I'll see if I can defeat these particular demons.
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Man down!
Jim the Plumber had a crash on Friday night.
One of those daft ones. He wasn't pushing it, things just went a bit wrong and he fell off the Tap Drap right onto the top of his head.
Could have been nasty, but thank fuck, he was ok and rode off the hill with a sore head, sore neck and a bill for a new helmet and underpants.
I think my biggest weakness is dealing mentally with being hurt.
Wee crashes are fine. Part of the game, but every now and then everyone has a bigger one that hurts, or breaks something on your bike. I'm not even talking of massive bike wreckers or bone breakers, fear of those is understandable. Smaller crashes seem to give me a glimpse behind the curtain into the land of "what if" and freak me out far more than they should.
A recent ride down at Kirroughtree was ruined for me thanks to a crash fairly early on that badly bent one of my brake levers and hurt my hand. I spent the rest of the day in pain, annoyed with myself for crashing, tense, nervous and rode like even more of a mincer than normal. It was the worst day's riding I've ever had.
In fact, I now rate Kirrie as one of my least favourite bike destinations. Unfair I know, as my bad experience was my fault, but I'm in no hurry to head back there.
In my never ending quest to improve my game, it's got me thinking about strategies for dealing with this weakness. Are there any? No idea. Do I need to MTFU? Most likely. My best bet is probably to think positive. See myself clearing tricky sections, drops, jumps, whatever. Don't focus on the negative.
I bought Mastering Mountain Bike Skills recently, and it has some interesting things to say about using verbal cues, particularly positive verbal cues. Some of the stuff from that has been a bit of a mantra for the last week, so I'll see how that goes over time.
One of those daft ones. He wasn't pushing it, things just went a bit wrong and he fell off the Tap Drap right onto the top of his head.
Could have been nasty, but thank fuck, he was ok and rode off the hill with a sore head, sore neck and a bill for a new helmet and underpants.
 | |
| Jim the Plumber versus the Tap Drap in a happier time |
I think my biggest weakness is dealing mentally with being hurt.
Wee crashes are fine. Part of the game, but every now and then everyone has a bigger one that hurts, or breaks something on your bike. I'm not even talking of massive bike wreckers or bone breakers, fear of those is understandable. Smaller crashes seem to give me a glimpse behind the curtain into the land of "what if" and freak me out far more than they should.
A recent ride down at Kirroughtree was ruined for me thanks to a crash fairly early on that badly bent one of my brake levers and hurt my hand. I spent the rest of the day in pain, annoyed with myself for crashing, tense, nervous and rode like even more of a mincer than normal. It was the worst day's riding I've ever had.
In fact, I now rate Kirrie as one of my least favourite bike destinations. Unfair I know, as my bad experience was my fault, but I'm in no hurry to head back there.
In my never ending quest to improve my game, it's got me thinking about strategies for dealing with this weakness. Are there any? No idea. Do I need to MTFU? Most likely. My best bet is probably to think positive. See myself clearing tricky sections, drops, jumps, whatever. Don't focus on the negative.
I bought Mastering Mountain Bike Skills recently, and it has some interesting things to say about using verbal cues, particularly positive verbal cues. Some of the stuff from that has been a bit of a mantra for the last week, so I'll see how that goes over time.
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