Always a riding god or are you sometimes a bit rubbish?

paulbox

I've never been a brilliant rider, but I'm alright... :? I'm not the fastest, but I can ride the red run at Aston etc.

Went to Cannock for the first time last weekend and I felt like a complete novice. It started badly in the cafe when I missed the bin from 3" with my muffin wrapper... And went down hill from there.

Came off very early on, caught my left hand bar on a tree and went down heavily on my right knee. Was wearing pads, but still hurt a lot... :oops:

I then came off a boardwalk for no reason. I managed to stay upright, but it was still very poor riding and could have dowm some serious damage to the berries.

Had to put my foot down on a couple of switch-backs (climbing), shouldn't have been a problem at all, I think this was mainly due to the person in front going too slow for me.

Then I came off again at the bottom of one of the descents. Took a left a bit tight and the surface was very loose, so took the next right wider but over did it, hit a tree stump on the outside and was sent sprawling, hitting right knee again and badly bruising ribs.

Due to injuries I've not been able to just get back on the horse, so I now feel like I'm going to be rubbish every time I go out. Do others of you have bad days?

Mojo_666

PaulBox wrote:

. It started badly in the cafe when I missed the bin from 3" with my muffin wrapper... And went down hill from there.

I have bad days and worse days.

clamps81

Frankly, I'm doing well if I get round without injuring myself or scaring myself stupid. I thought that was sort of the point though?

1mancity2

If I don't come off 2 or 3 times I'm doing something wrong!!

Think we all have good and bad days.

felix.london

Only been back in the saddle for 2 months but definitely have days like that on the snowboards - a couple of silly falls, bit of confidence goes and it just...ahem..snowballs from there.

Days that like that - I normally call it a day early then go out the next day (or when you can) and do some really easy stuff that you can do at full pelt and get some confidence back

Northwind

Happens to everyone, even worldcup racers complain of offdays... Sometimes it's just a series of unconnected bad luck moments. But it does stack up, your first mistake can knock your confidence then naturally you make more mistakes.

But, look at it the other way, it's just the flipside of those really good days where you're at your best. Experience and psychology just helps you reduce the bad days or deal with them better

weeksy59

I'm generally as rubbish as i am on any given day.. i lack balls, ability, skill and speed...

I do try and make up for it in enthusiasm though

MountainMonster

I am riding god, but only after a few beers

It's amazing what alcohol makes me think. I'm nothing special, but not a newbie, I dust, and get dusted.

CycloRos

sh1t happens sometimes, but if it starts to happen to often I'd look at taking up something else

This weekends ride around Sherwood Pines red route felt particularly awesome for some reason! It wasn't the fastest I've ever done (I was riding with a group of riders of mixed ability) but I actually enjoyed it more. I think it was mainly due to breaking the trail down into sections and trying to nail each one, rather than blow through the whole route in one go like I'd do if I was on my own.

Edit; cannock is one of those places that can catch out even the most experienced of riders. The last bit of the monkey is one of the best sections of any trail centre in the uk imo

sheepsteeth

weeksy59 wrote:

I'm generally as rubbish as i am on any given day.. i lack balls, ability, skill and speed...

I do try and make up for it in enthusiasm though

this is a very good description of how i view my own abilities!

Raymondavalon

PaulBox

I am going to assume you rode the Monkey Trail.
As a Cannock regular I assure you that both FTD and the Monkey can be tough trails the first time round, they're both challenging
If you have wide bars you can tempt fate with the trees, even as a regular (but in no way a fast or overly skilled rider) I sometimes clip the trees with my wide bars, thank goodness for Hope bar ends.. they graze off the bark opposed to digging in and causing an off..

Regarding the boardwalks, the faster you cross them, the less chance you have of coming off them, but most do have detours on the side.

Don't feel bad, get back on the horse and tackle it again, next time you'll be a little wiser and it'll be a lot more fun...

doodoo_voodoo

I am far from the best rider out there, but I'm willing to give most things a bash.

What I lack in technical ability, I make up for in stupidity.

And don't feel too bad. I've decided to go on a skills course as I think I'll get even more enjoyment out of my rides if I can tackle tricky stuff with more skillz (yagetme?).

CraigXXL

I'm usually a bit rubbish but then sometimes I get in the flow and everything becomes so natural and easy that it leaves so amazed that I end up crashing and become rubbish again.

TheNorthernTrain

I'm crap on a bike but some days I set out and right from the start I just seem to lack something that I have on other days, and well, that just makes my riding worse. I'll make really silly small errors and end up half way round a route thinking to myself "why the fuck am I here, what makes me think this is enjoyable"

Then of course the next day I'll go out and be an absolute omnipresent being wondering where I got such mad skills from. But it turns out that they are mostly down to luck, whenever I try to do them on purpose I end up falling off and making a fool out of myself.

Bishbosh10

weeksy59 wrote:

I'm generally as rubbish as i am on any given day.. i lack balls, ability, skill and speed...

I do try and make up for it in enthusiasm though

That sums me up!

cooldad

Me

That's all.

Anonymous

Mojo comes and goes. Whilst I find that I am definitely more "on the ball" in terms of riding skills on some days, my fitness and power fluctuate far more wildly.

Also, it seems that when I have one of those rides that go perfectly, where the flow is perfect, and the speed just keeps building up and up, the very next ride, I crash

Dartster

For me, at the moment, it depends on whether its dry trails or wet trails.........

....If its dry trails then i'm usually brimming with confidence and ready to tackle most things, i'll fly along the trails having complete faith in the tyres and grip.....

....If its wet trails then i lose complete confidence in the bike and feel like i'm about to hit the deck at any second, even on easy sections

i know its a psycological issue though, so thats my challenge for this year, to try and overcome that! I'm fed up of riding like a right poof as soon as it gets a bit slick

stubs

By my standards I have had a bloody good couple of months riding but I am being pushed really hard by a mate and it is going to end in tears very soon when I ride too far past my skill level.

Anonymous

Every day is an off day. Very occasionally it all fits together and things are going great with loads of confidence.

Then I crash and land up in intensive care.

kdawg74

As with everyone else here its good and bad days, but one thing i do find is if i think about things too much then thats when it all goes wrong.
But if i just go with the flow, then thats when i have my best rides and surprise myself with what i have done.

paulbox

I'm glad I'm not alone in this, thanks for all the replies.

I think this is probably the issue for me:

kdawg74 wrote:

if i think about things too much then thats when it all goes wrong.

This was my first time at Cannock and I was really looking forward to it. Had spent a lot of Saturday getting bike and kit sorted and ready. Think there was too much anticipation...

We rode both FTD & TMT, thought they were very good, will have to go again soon.

Anyway, had my chest checked out yesterday, no ribs cracked, so I'm going to take a couple of Nurofen and get out for a ride tonight.

1mancity2

Same with me, if I think about jumping too much I usually end up bailing out.

nicklouse

I am a riding God.




















then I wake up.

Dr Avinuon

I was by far the best rider out on the downs yesterday.
The joy of riding alone.

DCR00

PaulBox wrote:

I'm glad I'm not alone in this, thanks for all the replies.

I think this is probably the issue for me:

kdawg74 wrote:

if i think about things too much then thats when it all goes wrong.

This was my first time at Cannock and I was really looking forward to it. Had spent a lot of Saturday getting bike and kit sorted and ready. Think there was too much anticipation...

We rode both FTD & TMT, thought they were very good, will have to go again soon.

Anyway, had my chest checked out yesterday, no ribs cracked, so I'm going to take a couple of Nurofen and get out for a ride tonight.

Its your first time riding that centre, so dont be too hard on yourself. I came off 3 times the first time i rode it. At least it gives you something to go back and conquer.

In my head im an excellent rider, but im a lot of things in my head (im not mad BTW)

ddraver

Good days and bad days - got dropped by the road group cos I was still feeling the effects of a boozy friday night on Sunday and it's far from uncommon for me to shout and swear myself around a ride if I'm having a bad day. I tend to get angry with myself which makes things worse.

I had a similar thing running on monday evening when in my head i was thinking I must look like a cross between Usain Bolt AND Mo Farah with perhaps a bit of Brad Pitt thrown in, then I caught sight of a horrible, sweaty hairy fat mess in a window and came crashing back down to earth!

kinmofo

im lucky, im really dont fall that often, i have dumb luck. i may have to put a foot down here or there. also i dont mind pushing my bike up a hill either, if ur that tired after killin ur self up a hill like i am, then i'll deffo make a mistake comin back down.

so i just try to relax, chill. im there to have fun, dont matter what others think, dont matter how much of a muppet i look in a helmet, god knows i feel like one. its just about having fun, if you take it too serious... you may just have some serious injury

pilsburypie

I have good days and bad days - that's not a problem, but trying to work out what leads to each of the days is.

I can be tired, hung over, not feeling up for it, foul conditions and have the ride of my life. I can be well rested, prepared full of confidence, perfect conditions and ride like sh1t....... and a whole host of combinations in between.

I have thought about what makes me ride well or badly but not gained an answer. It is not a simple as having high expectations of a well prepared day and then being disappointed of anything less than perfect or going with low expectations and being pleasantly suprised..... Some days it happens and some it doesn't.

It must be about mojo :?

ilovedirt

Dartster wrote:

For me, at the moment, it depends on whether its dry trails or wet trails.........

....If its dry trails then i'm usually brimming with confidence and ready to tackle most things, i'll fly along the trails having complete faith in the tyres and grip.....

....If its wet trails then i lose complete confidence in the bike and feel like i'm about to hit the deck at any second, even on easy sections

i know its a psycological issue though, so thats my challenge for this year, to try and overcome that! I'm fed up of riding like a right poof as soon as it gets a bit slick

could be an issue with tyres as well, good tyres make a huge difference.

nozzac

That and the fact that wet trails are more slippy and you ARE more likely to come off. It might not be a psychological problem but merely your common sense showing through.