Crisis of confidence.

Utah: good point, but again slightly oblique. Since I got the Trance 29er last year my tech game has gone way up, the bike is really good. So maybe I've got a little bit of "bike balls" that I haven't necessarily earned. I'm maybe expecting to make moves that I should be working a little harder on.

Kevin: ironically I KNOW I mentally distracted myself about a second before I landed on my face. Just a tiny lack of focus. Good call.
 
As a former expert class DH racer (albeit over 10 years ago), I used to take pride in my technical riding skills, but a couple of crashes last year on really stupid stuff down at the Shed have really messed with my head and confidence.

I suppose I attribute it to a couple of things:

- at 44 my vision and reaction times just aren't what they used to be.

- too little time on the bikes means those skills are rusty as hell.

Getting those skills back up to snuff will be hard as hell.
 
EXTRMEME DAVE - I can relate - I had a serious spill about 5 years ago. OTB - Face plant at about 25mph at the bottom of a short decent. It was caused by me riding a frame that was too tall, too fast and lost control and couldn't pull back enough to get the front wheel up over a small log. My weight was already too far forward.. One of the biggest "thumps" I ever took and I've taken many.

I think I was knocked out for a little while, broke the helmet... By myself in the woods right before dusk.. I managed to "dazed and confused" my way home (approx 2 miles). I get home and my wife immediately took me to the hospital. At around 2am, I realized what was going on and what happened (before that was in a dream state, repeating myself over and over again) while they were x-raying my shoulder and ribs. Turned out - Concussion, bruised ribs , and amnesia. I couldn't really remember what happened so they kept me in the hospital for 3 days monitoring me to see if I had a heart attack.

Lets just say laying in the hospital for that time really messes with your head. While in bed, I was bothering my brother to find me a DH bike so that wouldn't happen again + at the time, I was married with two kids and my wife was worried that she almost lost her husband and our kids would be fatherless. That can really change your perspective on things.

Long story short, last year I finally got back onto a bike and let me tell you, I was grabbing a whole lotta brake going down hills.

I was also that guy that used to go after stuff most wouldn't. Dude, I can relate with you! I'm a BMX'er / Motocrosser at heart and if i'm not flying through the woods, it's no fun.

Luckily, I'm finally getting my inner beast back and am attacking downhills with more precision than ever.

You wanna know why? Because the last big fall didn't kill, it taught me to ride with more precision. it may sound silly but it's true - if it don't kill ya, it makes you stronger. Take it from someone who hated life without a bike, keep at it, keep going and if it didn't kill you, I hope you learned from it.

One of the coolest things happening to me right now is my kids think I'm the coolest dad because I race bikes! If I gave it up, I'd be your typical out of shape slouch proud of his lawn hating life.

Cheers!
 
What is causing your crashes? I notice on rides specific riders usually get tripped up on the same type of things. Work on addressing the weakness and the confidence will come along with it.

Consider jumping in on one of Ben's clinics when he offers an intermediate/advanced one. You can rely less on having to react if you're using the right techniques and setting up correctly ahead of time.
 
pxs231 said:
This is very likely not the case here, but a friend of mine noticed his balance wasn't as good as it used to be. He also noticed that he wasn't hearing high frequencies out of his left ear as well. It turned out that he had a small benign tumor growing on his left hearing nerve. He got treated with radiation and the tumor is not growing anymore and your brain is supposed to learn to somewhat compensate for the sensory changes after a while.
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Riding clinic is always a good idea. Betterride, Shaums March etc. Work on mastering the basics in a controlled setting, then build speed and difficulty. Every rider can get something out of these.
 
Mountain Bike Mike said:
it may sound silly but it's true - if it don't kill ya, it makes you stronger.
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The inverse of this is when I learn about people I know who weren't so lucky. Like a guy who went OTB at Bryce last year, got hurt very badly and eventually did die from those injuries. A few weeks ago, another guy I know took a serious spill doing some DH type stuff and was in the hospital for a week.

Now it's not so much that I fear dieing - I'm not married and don't have kids to worry about. I spend at least half of my riding time on the road, so I have a certain acceptance there. Nor have I given up riding DH (I'm registered for my first race in over 10 years at the Windham World Cup). But that said, I am realistic about how fast I'm willing to go and what I'm willing to risk to regain the speed I once had. I may never really get back there again.

The simple fact is I don't bounce and heal like I used to.
 
Dave, you got some good tips. I am going through something similar after my broken shoulder incident. I am also facing the "getting old" thing. So what I am doing is just what Kevin said, clearing my head and focusing and looking ahead. In my head I go over what I have been taught, and focus on doing it correctly. Knowing that the slower and smoother I ride, the faster I will go. I am reinforcing the basics. I have also accepted that I may not ever be as fast and skilled as I was 20 years ago, and that's ok, as long as I am doing my best and doing it with a smile on my face. In other words, have fun!

as for the tumor.... there may be something out of order and a check up wont hurt, could be something simple like an inner ear infection, wax build up whatever effecting your balance. I know my balance is terrible. Could also be something as simple as you didnt sleep well the day before, were low on sugar, and you were just off your game. I have good skill and bad skill days, and have noticed its usually from sleep deprivation or bad food.

Take it slow, give yourself some credit....but not too much...I am sure you heard what contributed to my crash. Wrong mental attitude. Too much confidence can be just as bad as not enough and just as distracting.

Keep riding, keep smiling.
 
Mike, Ian-well shit. 😀 Getting old and slowing down doesn't sound like fun. So a bit of work appears to be in order:
More MTB.
Work on skills, not leaning on the bike.
Focus.
Stop landing on my face.
(That last one might be just for me)

Mike, if you are ever up this-a-way and want to play in the rocks, lemme know!

ChrisRU, yeah I've been thinking about Ben's classes. It'd be nice to know what I am (and am not) doing right. However I have the tendency to get bored, go all ADD, and start doing wheelies and jumping off stuff which is not conducive to a class environment.😉 But it would probably be beneficial if I can refrain from being an idiot for a couple hours.

Oh, I crash on rocks. All kinds of rocks.
One was going DH at Mooch, it was a long day of climbing and I went a little nuts going down. My fault.
The other was a big-ass rock I thought I could ride up, stalled at the top and fell off. My bad.
The last was a rocky section of the "Ghost Trail" that I'd ridden before, but got distracted then screwed it up pretty bad and went all facial.
 
I was that guy once too. "Leap before you look." "Hit it first." "The faster you go, the easier it is to clean." (I kinda still believe that one). You gotta dial it down man. Don't be the leader. Follow but do it better and with more flow. Enjoy the ride and you'll "enjoy the ride" more often. Know what I mean?

Oh and lift weights to get stronger and replace the muscle loss that happens to us guys once we hit 40. :cry:
 
Dave - your misfortune has led to a pretty interesting thread! Thanks!

Confidence can be fickle. Too much or too little can both be trouble. I recommend you don't over analyze this. Keep riding trails when you're back in condition for it. And ease into the tech with some caution until the time feels right.
 
J-Dro said:
HTFU. 😀

Someone had to say it.
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You should see what jdgang texted me. Something about sand and lady parts?

Ice is no slouch. I think I'd feel worse. :cry:

Rob, remember the idea was to work my confidence back up? That ended well. 😀

AS and AM, food for thought. "Pick things up and put them down!"
 
Good discussion. For me, it's not a matter of IF I should dial it back, but WHEN. I'm 47. A very good friend of mine - few years older - played very hard for a long time and didn't back off. He has a constant limp, tore his achilles last year, knees are shot, but he keeps pushing it. He's done in a couple years, guaranteed.

I took it back a notch about 2 years ago after a series of minor injuries, and after watching my friend's body break down. I ride/ski/run different now but still enjoy it just as much. Actaully, in some ways even more. I still take chances but not as often and more calulated vs. reckless. I expect I will dial it back again in a few more years. I'm in it for the long run.

Good luck and enjoy!
 
chris_sparta said:
Good discussion. For me, it's not a matter of IF I should dial it back, but WHEN. I'm 47. A very good friend of mine - few years older - played very hard for a long time and didn't back off. He has a constant limp, tore his achilles last year, knees are shot, but he keeps pushing it. He's done in a couple years, guaranteed.
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Thin Diesel said:
Confidence can be fickle. Too much or too little can both be trouble.
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Oh boy, ain't that the truth. For years, I had a nasty pattern of blowing off the cobwebs early in the year, getting pretty fast quick and eventually crashing big. These days when those "I'm moving pretty good" thoughts cross my mind, I take it as a warning to settle down.

Related tangent: modern bikes are FAST. When things go wrong, they can go very, very wrong. A few weeks ago, I was bombing a Hartshorne section called The CHUTE on Strava playing Beat Arias, got a few inches off-line in a sandy corner and had a big 2 wheel slide. I came >this< close to rolling off the edge of the trail. At 20mph. Ballads would have been sung about the resulting crash. I never would have been going that fast on my tubed 26er back in the day.
 
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