demons!

delcol

As some of you will know i had a nasty off last year that left me off the bike for several weeks.. breaking my clavicle, dislocating my shoulder and breaking my thumb on my other hand. the accident was my own fault jumping in the wind,, the wind took the bike from under me which resulted in me crashing HARD..

since the accident i have been haunted by demons,, i thought i was getting over it especially after my trips to whistler last year were i was riding the park untill another gay crash left me with a mangled dislocated finger,
i did get back on the bike 2 days after this crash and hit the park 4 days later, but did struggle as i could not really grip the bars..

i thought i was getting back to my level i was at before my accidents ,the first one really jared my confidence..
i thought i was making progress untill the otherday (sunday) was at lee quarry with our kid mancity and dodge t it was a near perfect day for riding we were sessioning the pump track drops and jumps,, or should that be they were.. i still find my self battling these demons,, i had a major confidence issue going on in my head over hitting the jumps..
it's nearly 12 months to the day since i hit that jump and the wind took the bike breaking me..

so my 2 questions are
how long after a crash should it take to be over it ? mentally that is.
and
what help/tips can anyone give me to burry this demon ? and regain my confidence..
thanks dc.

NJG01

Those crashes sounds nasty and I can see why you are now having problems with riding! I haven't had any offs anywhere as near as bad as yours, but, and not intending to be condescending, I would say start easy and work up and dont worry if it takes a long time. Being sorted is better than forcing yourself to do stuff or ignoring the mental warnings and injuring yourself again

I badly injured by ankle by pulling all the tendons off my foot whilst orienteering a while ago and that took a good six months to heal to the point where I could run again and during that time, my fitness level and map-reading skills took a massive hit and it meant that when I could restart, I was really poor in comparison to where I had been and kept making stupid mistakes and had to be really careful not to put my foot down wrongly on rough terrain.
So careful to the point where id rather take the longer path than cut cross terrain - but most times I just injured the ankle again and again.... Which in turn meant I couldnt work on navigating at speed so my map skills dropped even lower.
This all resulted in a mind set of 'I cant orienteer, im $hit at orienteering; I really dont know why I bother' but then Id get a good run and that would boost my confidence but then one bad run and id be back again to the 'cant do this frame of mind'.
As it is, ive only recently come to accept that I need to work on the basics again and work back up to where I was. All of this started 3 years ago this new year.

In essence, what the block up there is trying to say is: dont let yourself believe you cant do something because then you wont be able - dont let these demons get to you. Instead, work upto it. In bike terms, id say quite literally start small and slowly break your fear of coming off.

If you tl;dr this, I dont blame you and hope other people can give you more concise help.
Thanks for reading thus far Hope you get over this mental block asap so you can get on with riding. Good Luck.

1mancity2

I came off on the drops last year at Lee quarry, hurt my shoulder, and 2 fingers bad but if I can I always get up and do it again straight away.

I came off badly up gisburn and bust my knee again got up and did it again but it hurt like hell, if your not able to get up and go again (which has happened in the past) I start at the beginning, small jumps,drops etc and build up confidence and skill again.

You get out of the way the bike feels when its in the air and it takes time, don't rush it and don't over think it, doing this will just cause you more problems.

I think like this, you ride hard, you will come off at some point, you will get hurt occasionally, you will get up and ride again, but I have always thought like this if your riding hard your gonna take spills.

Maybe invest in some body armour and a full face like we talked about on Sunday that way you have a bit more protection if the worst happens.

Remember Colin its all in your head, 4th drop was a mental block for me until Sunday, now its just a drop.

mrmonkfinger

how long after a crash should it take to be over it ? mentally that is.
and
what help/tips can anyone give me to burry this demon ? and regain my confidence

How long is a piece of string? It takes as long as it takes. IME you have to accept that you're not as good as you were, or even thought you were, and that you need to start smaller before building up again. It happens in all walks of life, your confidence takes a hit, and then you need to go back a few steps before building back up.

Good post by NJG01

cooldad

Pretty much this^^^^^^^^^
Many, many years ago I used to race motorcycles, on and off road, as well as ride a motorcycle for transport (cars were for weenies and old people).
I wasn't very good and fell off a lot, but at that point had no fear so it was a matter of recovering, fixing the bike and getting going again.
Hit a car one day (turned in front of me) and in addition to broken jaw, fractured skull, broken wrist, broken breastbone, a dozen or so broken ribs, I also broke my neck.
All healed up fine in the end, but I realised then that I wasn't an immortal riding god. Still rode and even raced a bit, but couldn't forget that I had been a mm or so of vertebrae away from being fed through a tube.
Ended up getting reponsible and moving on to cars, but had a mid life crises a few years ago and bought a motorcycle.
Discovered that while my stomach had grown, my balls had most definitely shrunk.
So I sold it and bought a convertible instead. Mid life crises can still be fun.
Now I ride bicycles, but only what I feel comfortable with at my own pace.

chez_m356

cooldad wrote:

Now I ride bicycles, but only what I feel comfortable with at my own pace.

cooldad

B4stard, you promised not to post that pic.

chez_m356

cooldad wrote:

B4stard, you promised not to post that pic.

i just couldn't help myself, sorry :oops:

NJG01

mrmonkfinger wrote:

how long after a crash should it take to be over it ? mentally that is.
and
what help/tips can anyone give me to burry this demon ? and regain my confidence

How long is a piece of string? It takes as long as it takes. IME you have to accept that you're not as good as you were, or even thought you were, and that you need to start smaller before building up again. It happens in all walks of life, your confidence takes a hit, and then you need to go back a few steps before building back up.

Good post by NJG01

Thank-you

Northwind

Aye, very good post, not much to add to that...

Except, have you considered some coaching? One of the biggest benefits I got from dirtschool wasn't so much the technical teaching, it was just the reassurance that I was doing most things right! Different coaches have different approaches but some are really known for their headology, like that Jedi feller you may have heard of.

Headology's probably more important than skillology in moutain biking IMO. Though o'course, dealing with confidence/fear issues is just a different skill.

delcol

i have done many skills days on my recent trips to whistler,,

i guess i will have to go back to basics and work my way up...

cooldad

Or drink a few pints before you ride - fear gone.

1mancity2

delcol wrote:

i have done many skills days on my recent trips to whistler,,

i guess i will have to go back to basics and work my way up...

Only way and maybe go somewere different to practice that way your not reminded of the time you came off, bmx track for instance.

delcol

may be is should start drinking again,, and break my year clean streak...

gisburn forest hope line it is then... i wish there was somewere near to me that had decent jumps i could practice on....
i just need to stop being a pussy and mtfu,, me think....

1mancity2

delcol wrote:

may be is should start drinking again,, and break my year clean streak...

gisburn forest hope line it is then... i wish there was somewere near to me that had decent jumps i could practice on....
i just need to stop being a pussy and mtfu,, me think....

Heywood bmx track Colin

But if your going Gizzy lmk when (not this sunday, mothers day!)

Mental Mickey

Northwind wrote:

Aye, very good post, not much to add to that...

Except, have you considered some coaching?

One visit to the Jedi master should sort him.

viewtopic.php?f=40066&t=12835299

Jedi

Mental Mickey wrote:

Northwind wrote:

Aye, very good post, not much to add to that...

Except, have you considered some coaching?

One visit to the Jedi master should sort him.

viewtopic.php?f=40066&t=12835299

thanks for the recommend

delcol

would love nothing more than to spend a few hours with jedi and learn from the best..

but still being unemployed i could never afford a coaching session with him,, pluss he lives downsouth and i up north so it would be a mammoth trek..

1mancity2

delcol wrote:

would love nothing more than to spend a few hours with jedi and learn from the best..

but still being unemployed i could never afford a coaching session with him,, pluss he lives downsouth and i up north so it would be a mammoth trek..

Buy me a beer and I will coach you :shock:

DodgeT

Not experienced the crash side of things - except for when I was in my teens and fell off the top of a wall i was riding along whilst in SPD's and broke my wrist.. maybe that explains the larger "pussy" side of my brain.

Anyways.. i've only been doing drops n jumps n stuff for about 6 months. In the beginning I would just feel so un easy at anything which was not rollable with your eyes shut, but now i'm doing quite big stuff, for me anyway.

The way I do it is just try and do a little bit more each time, there's no rush and you'll get there in the end. I'll just find something i'm comfy with and practice it until i can do it with my eyes shut. Then i'll move to something a little bigger and repeat the process. I don't care if I spend the whole time doing one jump / drop, as long as by the end of it I go home happy that i've nailed it.
Also find that the FF and sub top just give you that extra bit of confidence, at least knowing you've got some added protection if it does go wrong..

And to finish off, the best thing is to get out with some like minded peeps and just hit it, i've come on loads since doing regular sundays with the red socked one, nothing better than having someone there who will egg you on - but only when the time is right.

Oh, and the very last thing without sounding gay, is breathing. I find myself so much more confident and composed if at the top of a run / jump etc, I have a minute and control my breathing, get my heartbeat right down and I can concentrate so much more and be so relaxed instead of rushing things and being tense.

1mancity2

DodgeT wrote:

And to finish off, the best thing is to get out with some like minded peeps and just hit it, i've come on loads since doing regular sundays with the red socked one, nothing better than having someone there who will egg you on - but only when the time is right.

Oh, and the very last thing without sounding gay, is breathing. I find myself so much more confident and composed if at the top of a run / jump etc, I have a minute and control my breathing, get my heartbeat right down and I can concentrate so much more and be so relaxed instead of rushing things and being tense.

Im gonna have to buy another pair now,