Jump to content

I'm Feeling Stuck


fivebrick
 Share

Recommended Posts

 

 

Hi Five,

Sorry couldn't resist. OK, have you just hit a plateau or do you feel you are losing ground? If you suddenly feel you are losing ground it might be time for a check up. Last year I went from riding my usual mediocre to absolute crap. Found out I had/have Lyme disease and had some muscle weakness. Really noticed it on a climb when I couldn't hold on all the way to the top without ending up on fingertips. Not good. At first I thought I just needed to slow the Beta down. Then a knee swelled up and the orthopedic Dr. suggested testing for Lyme. Good call Dr. Boyle. So I've been back at the gym busting my cookies for the last three months hoping next season is better.

OK so that's the basic caveat. Make sure you are OK. Not knowing your level this will seem all over the place.

If you've just plateau'd, and it happens to everybody find a knowledgeable riding buddy. Somebody who knows how a technique works and can explain it. This isn't true of every expert by the way and some of us duffers know a lot about techniques we no longer have the cojones to do. Video yourself riding some of your least favorite obstacles and listen to your engine and pay particular attention to your body position. Analyze what you do. Are you centered? Are you using too much throttle or not getting off the throttle so you are burying the rear wheel into obstacles? (the most common cause of failed double blips and zaps). Are you properly weighting and unweighting? Bernie Schriber said in his book, "Practice what you don't like, practice what you don't do well." We all have a favorite rock or log that we're comfortable with and have ridden over a thousand times. Leave it alone for a couple of months. The reason you can ride is so easily is you have absolute confidence you can ride it. Confidence is vital to seeing yourself ride something and you need to believe to make it happen. Go find something that makes you uncomfortable and ride it until it you have beaten it. Don't stop at the first clean either. You are trying to reprogram your brain, not clean the obstacle so you must ride it until you are relaxed all though the ride. When you are bored then you can move on.

Really concentrate on basics. Centering gets us all. If you're dabbing almost exclusively on the inside of turns your centering is wrong. Steer with pressure, not weight. Most inside dabs are the result of legs too straight causing the hips to turn offsetting the derriere. Remember to bend that outside knee and elbow to allow the outside foot peg and bar to come up and straighten the inside leg and elbow to keep pressure on the peg and bar.

Look where you want to be. We all suffer from target focus, looking at the rock or log and not past it where we will be in short order. This does two things; One, it allows the body to react naturally to the obstacle since it doesn't have to fight the brain which will try to calculate every possible way to fail and thereby gum up the works. Two, it tells the brain we are already through the obstacle so don't start acting all surprised and seize up when we get to the turn on the other side. The other factor is you will go where you look. You can't help it so fool it by looking where you want to go.

Keep practicing. It beats being at the office and Arizona's got some amazing rocks. If you haven't joined a club look for one. It helps to have others to ride with because they can see what you can't and will goad you to do what you're not really keen on doing.

Let me know if any of this makes sense. We're all in this together.

Dan

EDIT: I see Steve got to this while I was typing so apologies for redundant content.

Edited by dan williams
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Wow....thanks for that post dan, I'm actually a little under the weather myself carting around a duff pancreas....I forget this (my wife doesn't!) because being a guy we ignore this type of thing.

....I still think I'm 18 though!

Great tips on the technique, practice and the basic stuff too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

"Go find something that makes you uncomfortable and ride it until it you have beaten it. Don't stop at the first clean either. You are trying to reprogram your brain".

Then borrow a 125 and try it. Jumping on my sons Evo125 meant current body movements had a greater effect for the same effort. So I've learnt to be bolder with less risk. Great for practice and moving on.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Yeah Dan W. that was a great post, excellent info and very appreciated. BTW I have friends in Mass that have gotten Lymes Disease and I know it's serious- very serious. All I can say is that your advice was all spot on and thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 
 
 
 
 
 
  • 4 months later...

I spent over 40 hours in my basement over the winter doing nothing but static balance. 

It was a huge leapfrog forward for me in my riding.

 

half hour a day, the hours add up fast, can really help a newer rider IMO.

 

I don't get nearly as tired while riding now because I can actually balance without expending a ton 

of energy.

 

I have atrial fibrillation and I can get tired fast when working hard. When I first started I was pretty discouraged, did not think

I would ever "get it".

 

These days it's not so much of an issue as I ride more efficiently, riding when tired will cause you to make mental mistakes for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by bigmark1972
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

In trials it is like if you do one thing wrong, the total ''package'' will not work. You might have something off, which makes you feel like you dont progress anymore. Maybe you learned something your way (you make the obstacle right?!) but not the ''correct'' way to progress further.

 

Get somebody to look at your riding and who might can help you with tips.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
  • Create New...