Getting back on the bike when you're a little freaked out!

miss notax

Hello

I've been riding for about 18 months and have got to a fairly respectable level technically (still bloody unfit but hey ho!), but got myself a little freaked out at Brechfa a few weeks ago. I had just come back from Scotland the week before, and Afan the day before, and was feeling totally confident - and then the berms at the end of the Gorlech trail scared the sh!t out of me :shock:

I have ridden in the forest a few times since (not many vertical decents and berms there ) but am a bit worried about a forthcoming trip back to Scotland.... :? I don't want to be a wimp and I don't want to look like an idiot, but i'm concerned that i'm going to be a little 'off' compared to usual.

How does everyone else cope? Or does nobody else get a litrle bit scared :oops: ?

supersonic

Yep! Slowly but surely - saying that though, speed over rocky terrain can make it easier as they skip over the rocks. Maybe I should say build up slowly, get your confidence back.

You can roll around berms slowly, but as above, at speed the bike will dig in.

cee

The fear is a funny thing...it almost disguises itself as uncertainty.

theres a drop at innerleithen that I have done a good few times but everytime I get round the corner before it I have to make the decision about wether or not I am going for it....funilly enough..the times when I get round the corner and say yip..lets have it...go far more smoothly than the times when i go..ermmm um....ok then.

At the end of the day....I need to go to work to pay the mortgage, so if I am not 95% confident that I will make it I generally don't do it.

Keep going...maybe you are just in a little cofidence crisis patch and it will vanish without you even noticing it.

Surf-Matt

I wear a ballet suit when riding with new people. Lowers expectations a bit.

counterculture

Surf-Matt wrote:

I wear a ballet suit when riding with new people. Lowers expectations a bit.

hee hee, a leotard or a tu-tu? i think you'd look ridiculous in a leotard tbh

Surf-Matt

Tu tu - more flattering tbh.

projectsome

I normally just sit there on the floor for 5 mins looking at saidf obstruction, check the bike and wave my fist muttering a swear word or two...

bomberesque

most important is not to worry about looking like an idiot. If you concentrate on your riding you will recover and be better than you were before, if you spend your time worrying how others view you then you will fall again and again.

To this end, I endorse tu-tu wearing suggested by Matt

If you find yourself getting serially freaked out, find an area of technical stuff that is bothering you and session it, preferably with a supportive friend.