[Closed] Getting your mojo back after a bad crash

Do you ride alone?

Riding with other people helps a lot.

I've definitely been through the mental blockages a bad crash can cause, a lot of the recovery is just down to time, just keep getting out there, take it easy at first. Worst thing is to be tense, everything goes to pot then!

Get back on that metaphorical horse as soon as medical staff are happy for you to do so. I had to wait ~4 months and those first few rides were bloody difficult, I kept expecting cars to turn into me and I was mentally exhausted by the time I got home from work.

My RTA was all about lack of rim braking power, so swapping to a hydraulic brake commuter helped a lot, initially my better half's MTB and then buying the Wazoo after her bike was nicked, with that 4" tyres increasing traction and helping me to stop even quicker on the roads.

Your cycling confidence and enjoyment of riding should come back again given time, mine certainly has, but I now will try and avoid busy roads even if it means I have to cover a bit more distance..

I had a very similar experience to yours. I came round after the crash already in the back of the ambulance and no recollection of anything from around 5 minutes before my face hit the ground. For me going back to the scene of the crash and trying to work out what happened helped me to rationalize it all. In my case it was a root hidden by undergrowth that had sent me OTB.

I reckon DezB has it.... get some company.

I still lost a few seconds from 6 weeks ago... and still can't use my left hand properly... but I can hold bars with a wrist brace.

I went out by myself and felt like I wasn't really enjoying myself then... sorta forced myself out again ... and bumped into a couple of guys.. and a bit of chat and banter and I started having more fun.

I still don't feel 100% though... I was at FoD in the rain (2 sundays ago when La Bresse was on) and felt like I was spending the time trying not to crash... rather than seeing how fast I could get away with... then Monday when it was dry I felt more or less back to normal...

I was riding alone at the time and I think that might be part of the problem.

My only ride since was with my old riding buddy which I enjoyed ( I moved city a couple of years ago and have mostly ridden alone since)  but it's the enthusiasm to go out that's lacking.

Good to hear that others have had similar feelings and won't be putting my bikes on the classifieds just yet

new bike

(not even kidding)

Yep, about 18 months ago, I broke my collarbone, shoulder & ribs in a bad crash when racing, with further rehab complications (SC dislocation) its has been a frustrating time. I've continued to ride and race, but mentally i'm probably about 50% of where I was pre accident.

I've never experienced this as a mindset before, i've had bad crashes which have resulted in broken bones in the past & once I was fixed, I gradually got back up to speed, but this time it's different. I still struggle when pushing on, and feel uncomfortable at race pace, or close to it.

In the last few months i've started doing a bit more training off the bike to build some strength up so i'm more confident if I have an off. I hope it makes a difference, otherwise i'm at a bit of a loss.

*Iainc to the forum*

woot woot!

*Iainc to the forum*

🙂

Not wanting to put any more of a downer on your situation, you said you had a bad concussion from the crash.  This can carry on affecting you for a good while after you think you're fine.  I had a car crash earlier this year in which I was knocked out and I found going back to biking that, although the immediate symptoms of the endless headaches had gone, my mental processing ability at any pace was way off what it was beforehand.  Luckily I had no loss of enthusiasm for being back on a bike but I did take a few months of riding to get back to the pace I was before.  Good luck with getting back into it.

Lots of good advice here (although I still prefer to ride alone, but that's just me). I've had similar experiences. It's quite natural. In fact, it's worth contemplating whether you really want to "overcome" these natural feelings. Let's face it, mountain biking is a bloody stupid activity when you step back and look at it. You may be able to put the danger out of your mind and get back to riding the same way you were before, but if you do that the result will be the same and you will hurt yourself again. That may be a price worth paying for the fun you get, but you might as well be honest with yourself about that.

My "solution"  (after 3 trips to A&E in just over a year) was to give up mountain biking. I still ride my bike up and down mountains a few times a week but it's not mountain biking. It's a different mindset. I'm trying to stay well within my comfort zone. To focus more on riding a section smoothly and in control rather than just faster (even if sometimes it does end up faster). Not to keep looking for more and more challenging trails but to think more about the scenery.

I may just be kidding myself and of course there is no such thing as zero risk, but I feel as though these changes have reduced the risk to a level that I consider acceptable given the huge enjoyment I get from being out on my bike.

I crashed at BPW last september, knocked myself out and broke a couple of ribs. A year on, I still can't remember the crash and if I'm honest it totally freaked me out. I still haven't got my riding mojo back and as a result have only been on the bike a handful of times since and the riding doesn't seem to be as enjoyable as before the crash (have even contemplated selling up all my stuff).

I know I just need to get out on the bike more but it's hard to get the motivation. Maybe the Tour de Ben in a couple of weeks will sort me out (or kill me) 🙂

I broke my arm three times in two years with progressively sillier crashes. For a long while after riding a bike off road just wasn't fun. I wasn't fit so the climbs weren't enjoyable, and my head wasn't in it so the descents weren't great either.

Road cycling (with a club) helps a lot because you don't have to think so much about crashing and can just enjoy the time on the bike, cafe stops and socialising. Which then leads to a bit of commuting on towpaths and green lanes, which leads to XC, which leads to gnarr.

If you don't want to ride, don't. That always ends with a crash IME. And if you hate it you'll be even less likely to go out again. Plenty of other stuff to fill your free time with, do some gardening, anything else to keep busy, before long you'll be itching to get back on the bike.

New bike is a good shout. I bought a dh bike after 4 weeks when I was fit to ride again. I wouldnt have crashed so hard if I had a dh bike (this isnt true)

Road cycling (with a club) helps a lot because you don’t have to think so much about crashing and can just enjoy the time on the bike, cafe stops and socialising.

This sounds like my idea of utter hell, roadbikes, socailising & stopping all the time, but everyone is different I guess.

Wear a full face  so you dont land on it.

As I have mentioned elsewhere I crashed and broke a vertebrae in May, was told it was a relatively straightforward spinous process fracture but it's never been right and having started to get nerve impingement in my hand I saw a BUPA consultant yesterday who told me the NHS have ballsed up and I had a laminar fracture within a couple of mm of my spinal cord. Had a CT and MRI this morning and will get the prognosis tomorrow. When and if I get back to riding I don't think that the risks of going flat out with a young family to support will appeal too much, I think roverpig has it above. Just hoping I'll be able to ride again at some point (as well as being ****ing angry with the NHS)

I was riding alone at the time and I think that might be part of the problem.

My only ride since was with my old riding buddy which I enjoyed ( I moved city a couple of years ago and have mostly ridden alone since)  but it’s the enthusiasm to go out that’s lacking.

I can completely relate to that ....

At least at the back off my mind .... of course I'll have off's in the future but most will be dusting myself down and such but the idea of being out cold, broken leg or bleeding out alone is very unattractive.  TBF, where I was riding and at weekend the chance of not being found reasonably quickly was really low... but I think this was more at the back of my mind than an actual crash....

Do you have any local groups to both tag along and also provide a bit of motivation to turn out???

Even if they are doing something slightly different to your usual .. just riding along, a bit of banter and stuff will be a good compromise.

Sounds like you may also just be out of the habit of riding. I've had a couple of enforced layoffs in the last 2 years and found it hard to get back into. For a while I just made myself do a fitness ride once a week and once that began to come back I started to regain my mojo. Then I had a knee op and the cycle begins again

Smashed my face on a tree 8 weeks ago. Not raced since but enjoying riding. Considering not racing for a while and sticking to single speed/rigid to keep speed down.

Made  the decision to  manage speed on descents a couple of years ago - didn't apply it to racing...

I broke my elbow and was off the bike for a good while.

I got back into it with a skills course with Jedi and subsequently heading to the spot and working out what had happened (got dropped off at top of big hill by my dad, not warmed up, straight into a big rocky descent, lost it on the first bend).

i just built back up from there slowly.

Oldtalent - member

This sounds like my idea of utter hell, ............ socailising.............

We get it.

p.s. Socialising is spelt "ia".

Well, the road riding bit wouldn't be for me 😉