i have the fear

chemicalviking

now since i have only been with my MTB for about 8 weeks now and been to places like llandegla,gisburn,lee quary etc so i feel im going ok. But what i find myself doing is instead of enjoying the speed of the berms and the thrill of a descent or the exciment of getting air i clam up inside and tell myself not to do it.

I can start off really confident but a little slip or choosing a bad line will effect my confidence then i cant get past that mental block. i know the only way im going to get past this is to just do it. i really want to get better at this and attack and not sit back.

i just wanted to get that off my chest and any pointers will be grateful.

cheers
k.

MountainMonster

It helps you if you have someone to follow who is much more confident. I started biking seriously a bit more than a year earlier, and was having this exact problem, and I was on the brakes WAY too much. I then started riding with one of my best buddies now, and keeping behind him in the beginning was the best way to gain confidence. I'm not a riding god, but I fair very well because of chasing him so to say.

Having him ride in front where you see the speed you are going is perfectly safe helps so much!

omegas

Do the skills day at Llandegla while you have not been riding long .Your going to pick up bad habits and then they are hard to get out of.

DCR00

Dont be so hard on yourself. 8 weeks is nothing. Keep riding and perhaps consider a skills course if you are still struggling

cooldad

Relax, take it easy enough to enjoy the ride, and if or when you feel more confident, you can go faster. It's not a race, it's fun.

Adrenalin junkies in 3,2,1....

tom_howard

[crudcatcher] MTFU [/crudcatcher]

+1 on the skills course, plus the old addage 'practice makes perfect'. You aren't going to become a riding god overnight, keep riding with others, paying attention to how they do things, remembering that it's never as bad as it looks!

bartimaeus

Find something you are almost but not quite comfortable with. Now session it until you are confident.

Find something you are now almost but not quite comfortable with, and session that until you are confident.

Repeat.

I'm hoping this works... though I still find myself grabbing brakes in a berm heading into a set of rocks before the next berm. This is a mistake as (a) you lose control on the berm, (b) you screw up your line into the rocks, and (c) you are totally f@#&%d heading into the second berm. My other top tip is to do all of this in daylight.

mintedox

Im pretty much in the same boat, been on the bike around 15 weeks and visit the same places. i cant really give you much advice but would suggest visiting healey nab in chorley.
I spent a couple of hours there last week, its very small but good fun. Did about ten laps and towards the end i was a lot faster than when i started. It also gave me the confidence to go over a particular rocky drop at gisburn that always made me get off the bike

1mancity2

Kes, look what happened to me on Sunday, hit the jumps over 20 times but came off and gashed my leg, we all make mistakes and choose the wrong line sometimes.

Just stick at it take your time, find a berm or small jump you can session (like the ones at gizzy) only way is to practice and keep loose on the bike, if you come off, dust yourself down and go again.

Next time we meet at Lee we can session some stuff to try and increase your confidence.

And your doing really well so keep at it bud.

1mancity2

mintedox wrote:

Im pretty much in the same boat, been on the bike around 15 weeks and visit the same places. i cant really give you much advice but would suggest visiting healey nab in chorley.
I spent a couple of hours there last week, its very small but good fun. Did about ten laps and towards the end i was a lot faster than when i started. It also gave me the confidence to go over a particular rocky drop at gisburn that always made me get off the bike

I would like to do this maybe arrange a sunday morning

welshkev

i've been riding for years ( nearly 3 years again recently) and i've got a mental block at the minute..i'm stopping at stuff i used to hammer down/fly off before :?

just keep it up and build your confidence...or crash and learn from your mistakes

1mancity2

welshkev wrote:

i've been riding for years ( nearly 3 years again recently) and i've got a mental block at the minute..i'm stopping at stuff i used to hammer down/fly off before :?

just keep it up and build your confidence...or crash and learn from your mistakes

Same here Kev, came off twice on Hully gully at gisburn, mental block!!

surreyxc

New environments and people can boost confident, I have always been fairly competent, but just recently a trip away following better riders has seen my skills jump forwarded more than ever before, just at an age when my body is probably saying no.

Your bike set up plays a massive part, drop your seatpost by an inch and use flat pedals, this gives you the comfort of easily bailing, plus once you learn to hop and jump on flats you know you are doing it right. Also look at tyre choice, worth sacrificing a bit of speed for sure footed ness. I was recently forced back onto flats and my technical skills have jumped up in a big way and still as quick as those on clipless.

There are also loads of skills you can practice which are not going to result in serious injury, trackstands, hop ups, bunny hops etc at slow low speeds are unlikely to result in more than a few dents and bruises, all of which will boost the over all skills.

The bike usually finds its way down, so relaxing and letting it go helps.

If you have the real fear then back off and just enjoy, it will come, try somewhere different with different riders, I think a little fear is good maybe 20% tops, but you need to be overall confident you are going to make something, if the confidence is not there then injury is more likely.

composite

I got my mountain bike literally a year ago today and have just thrown myself into it. I have had some painful if not serious offs but I just keep going at it. Having much more experienced riders to ride with has definitely helped me. I'm at the stage now where I want to do a skills course because I know a bit more about what it is exactly that I'm after. I can look at a list of things covered in a course and now know what it means where as before I didn't know about the terminology etc. etc. That's not to say I have done it the right way (I may have really bad habits I don't know about) but I feel like it has worked for me so far.

To maintain speed round berms (for example) I just made very a conscious decision over a number of rides, to hold on to the handle bars and not hover over the brakes. Even when it felt scary to begin with, I just did it anyway and then got used to how it felt to be pushed into the banking at an angle and now I do it without thinking about it. I'm into trying to land small jumps and drops smoothly now, and when I can do those with total confidence and 95% of them with straight landings, I'll move onto bigger ones.

Kaise

just getting out and riding will do you the world of good!

i still have those moments and i thought i was pretty confident, but on saturday on the quantocks i misjudged how quick to take a trail and it spat me out in the heater and ferns, bit or bruising but nothing major.

seriously though just ride and ride and ride and ride and ride, and when you do fall off really push yourself to get back on, go back to the top and re do the section with the belief that you will get through it!

paulbox

cooldad wrote:

Relax, take it easy enough to enjoy the ride, and if or when you feel more confident, you can go faster. It's not a race, it's fun.quote]
This.

If you're not racing, why ride faster than what you enjoy?

surreyxc

8 weeks is nothing, it can take months to just feel at 'one' with your bike, knowing how it handles.

Berms ride them high to avoid the crap/ brake judder and weight the front wheel, outer pedal forward and high to twist the hips into the corner.

chemicalviking

thanks a lot for the info and the boost it has given me. went out this morning to a little place i know( ) tackled a few descents then concentrated on jumps did these for about an hour plus doing the trail which has some small berms which i attacked liked crazy and did not touch the breaks.

today has really brought my confidence up and will keep at it. onwards and upwards.

Thewaylander

First peice of advice is the best i think,

Find a mate who is faster and try and follow, if he absolutely rips off ask him nicely for a trail to slow a bit so you can follow. this way you will learn improved line choice andhow to carry speed.

it not impossible to improve on your own but it is alot slower.

delcol

don't overlook a skills day coaching with a decent coach will help you more than anything...
i was in your shoes 4 years ago on my first trip to whistler (canada) i had never even riden singletrack i was a complete novice,, we had guides with us who were qualified coaches and the stucff they teach you makes a difference with in days i was riding stuff i would never of thought possable.
the confidence gain and skills you pick up will improve your riding.. well worth the money....
and riding with ppl who are better than you will help,, although some ppls advice aint always the best as i have seen first hand at lee quarry many time...
you cant beat time in the saddle,,,..

leevil knievil

I agree with pretty much everything that has been said, I myself have only been riding since about april this year, but find the more I ride the better I am getting if you have an off you just have to dust yourself off and crack on, latest off was last night wasn't high speed but ended up at the bottom of a steep hill with mud and crap all over me, winter is definatley coming don't you just hate wet wood of any description wouldn't mind I must of rode down this narrow gap plenty of times, the worst thing was I lost my new camelback bottle not had it long, I also think maybe investing in a skills course would help me something I might look at in the future.

miss notax

Wow.

After 8 weeks I was still sliding down most stuff on my @rse - there were no thrills in my descents