A bit about me and
DH
So having read my previous blogs so far you would have
worked out I get very psyched at the thought of riding a DH run.
I’ve found myself wondering about why this happens a came up
with the following excuses;
- Watching Darrel do a few uplifts and races when we first got together is partly to blame, I could barely walk down the tracks let along ever imagine riding them. So made a decision DH was not for me and stuck to it (well for 10 years I did)
- Having the wrong bike didn’t help, my first MTB’s were XC style bikes with steep head angles, short travel and v brakes. These bikes were not confidence inspiring on any of the steep technical bits that Darrel would try and take me down, and it put me off a bit.
- I’m a bit of a control freak; DH to me has an element of ‘lack of control’, one silly mistake and because of gravity and speed you keep going with no say in the matter. So unless I can control the situation I tend to feel very out of my comfort zone.
- Also it’s a world I’d said I’d never enter (never ever say never).
I psyche myself up, and do a really good job of it, and to make matters worse I don't know what I'm apprehensive of. It's not falling off or getting hurt, I've had my fair share of falls from the horse for that not to be an issue and 98% of the time I get
down tracks without a fall and each run I always improve on my time and
confidence.
I normally relax when i get on the bike and start riding my biggest problem is before hand, it starts during the night, I wake up with the realisation that I'm going to be riding DH that day and then I can't get to sleep again. Once awake I relax, loading the bikes and sorting out my gear I'm fine but can't eat... food is the last thing on my mind and if I make myself have something to eat then I tend to feel sick.
Once I start to unload the bikes I end up legging it to the loos.
On my first ride I feel stiff and totally out of place, over braking, not moving around on the bike and fixated on the ground my front wheels on.
Now for the last few weeks, other than my apprehension I've had some really good rides on the bike, Darrel had his knee op which put him out of action but I still managed to get out and have fun.
I even arranged to meet up with Jo Page, a really talented rider and sessioned Sheep Skull one of the DH tracks at the Forest of Dean with her. I've never sessioned a track before and really enjoyed it, Jo is a lovely person and got me looking at the track as a series of opportunities to gain speed and not brake. Rather than my normal looking at a track as a series of obstacles to be avoided. Breaking the track up into small sections really helped me concentrate on the bit I was riding without having to worry about anything I perceived as scary further down, and by the time we'd moved down the track I was riding the top section with minimum braking and just really enjoying myself. MASSIVE THANKS TO JO.
Jo also questioned me about my apprehension, having seem my facebook post at 4am!!! She had got me thinking what is my problem. It does hold me back so needed to be resolved. I spent a fair bit of time thinking it over the Christmas and after a disappointing ride on Sunday I think I have my reasons.
I was really looking forward to riding on Sunday, the back to work blues had hit me, the weather had been terrible over Xmas so we only managed 1 ride and we were going to ride the Climachx a trail we hadn't ridden for over a year due to logging and it was a trail I really liked.
The ride started off OK, I was feeling good on the climbs and enjoyed the first single track sections, but I didn't feel as relaxed on the bike as normal and put this down to the really saturated ground. But on the final descent I just couldn't get myself going, and having slipped and knocked my legs a couple of times I could feel my nerve going. I was getting worked up with myself and once that happened I was fixating on the ground immediately in front of the bike and not seeing the track as a whole. BANG, there's part of my problem.
It's actually 2 problems.
Firstly when I get upset and un-nerved I fixated on the ground I'm covering and therefore not allowing time to prepare for the next trail feature, putting myself on the wrong lines and therefore making the trail harder to ride, upsetting and un-nerving myself even more.
The reason I get upset in the first place is going to be harder to sort out. It's letting myself down!
I'd rather push my bike over an obstacle than try to ride something and fail! Stupid I know I as surely pushing is failing to ride it, but I think I'd rather fail from the onset than fail trying. I'm hoping that more sessioning tracks might over come this problem, only time will tell.
So this Sunday I'm off to do some more DH, this could be interesting as snow is forecast! And yes it's friday evening, I'm apprehensive and excited already. But this time I'm just going to session it Like Jo did, break it up into nice manageable lumps and see how I get down.
I even arranged to meet up with Jo Page, a really talented rider and sessioned Sheep Skull one of the DH tracks at the Forest of Dean with her. I've never sessioned a track before and really enjoyed it, Jo is a lovely person and got me looking at the track as a series of opportunities to gain speed and not brake. Rather than my normal looking at a track as a series of obstacles to be avoided. Breaking the track up into small sections really helped me concentrate on the bit I was riding without having to worry about anything I perceived as scary further down, and by the time we'd moved down the track I was riding the top section with minimum braking and just really enjoying myself. MASSIVE THANKS TO JO.
Jo also questioned me about my apprehension, having seem my facebook post at 4am!!! She had got me thinking what is my problem. It does hold me back so needed to be resolved. I spent a fair bit of time thinking it over the Christmas and after a disappointing ride on Sunday I think I have my reasons.
I was really looking forward to riding on Sunday, the back to work blues had hit me, the weather had been terrible over Xmas so we only managed 1 ride and we were going to ride the Climachx a trail we hadn't ridden for over a year due to logging and it was a trail I really liked.
The ride started off OK, I was feeling good on the climbs and enjoyed the first single track sections, but I didn't feel as relaxed on the bike as normal and put this down to the really saturated ground. But on the final descent I just couldn't get myself going, and having slipped and knocked my legs a couple of times I could feel my nerve going. I was getting worked up with myself and once that happened I was fixating on the ground immediately in front of the bike and not seeing the track as a whole. BANG, there's part of my problem.
It's actually 2 problems.
Firstly when I get upset and un-nerved I fixated on the ground I'm covering and therefore not allowing time to prepare for the next trail feature, putting myself on the wrong lines and therefore making the trail harder to ride, upsetting and un-nerving myself even more.
The reason I get upset in the first place is going to be harder to sort out. It's letting myself down!
I'd rather push my bike over an obstacle than try to ride something and fail! Stupid I know I as surely pushing is failing to ride it, but I think I'd rather fail from the onset than fail trying. I'm hoping that more sessioning tracks might over come this problem, only time will tell.
So this Sunday I'm off to do some more DH, this could be interesting as snow is forecast! And yes it's friday evening, I'm apprehensive and excited already. But this time I'm just going to session it Like Jo did, break it up into nice manageable lumps and see how I get down.
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