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.
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