i don't know why it was happening tbh?
i went out on a night ride offroad for the first time in ages (i suffer with depression so don't ride much).
it's a route i have done plenty of times before over the years but the last time was 3 years ago when i rode it (a 36 mile loop of the marlbrough downs/ridgeway).
amyhoo for me it was an achievement as i did it (admittedly very slowly as not fit) but i was having a big issue with oversteering (basically in 4x4 tracks i would oversteer like mad the try to correct it without heading into a ditch or such like) i just couldn't stop doing it.
now i am definitely not a great offroad rider skills or otherwise but i have never had this problem before at such an extreme level. literally i almost crashed multiple times because of this major oversteering.
i have stopped taking some meds about 5-6 days ago for the dsepression and also being 50 now i am wondering if it could be something else like a degenerative mental condition starting (like dementia/parkinsons or something like that that has affected my coordination). tbh am just stumped?
i did have a blood test recently and they didn't find anything other than high cholesterol levels.
i was riding my spesh chisel fs bike which i have had for around a year now all standard (is the lowest sram chisel model).
apologies for the long winded post and thank you for reading this drivel if you did lol.
I don't know... but please speak to your doc asap! If it is something serious then better catch it as early as possible. Good luck and hope it was just tiredness/low tyre pressure/invisible bats or something 🙂
Maybe invisible bats etc, but maybe also just out of practice with night riding and not looking far ahead enough and reacting to what's in front of the front wheel? Easily done when that's the brightest bit of ground at night and could cause a loop of doing it more and more to avoid crashing.
Try and get out in daylight and see how you go.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'over steering'? Do you just mean running wide? Or are you turning in too sharply?
Do you just need better tyres for the conditions and a bit more confidence with a bit more riding?
If you haven't been out in a while it could just be death-grip where you are nervous and hold on too tight and you get constant kick-back. Try relaxing your grip and let the front wheel be a little freer.
I can't comment on the meds as I have no experience of it, but hope you get on top of it.
Well done for getting out.
It sounds like you maybe just need to relax & get back into it. And by relax, I don't mean 'stop being so uptight' - I mean literally relax hands, arms, shoulders as you might be tense & over-compensating.
Are you looking far enough ahead? Don't look where the front wheel is; look where you are going and don't really focus on the steering as such - just let it happen.
Riding in the dark can definitely make steering harder as you can't see so far ahead & don't have the same visual cues.
Maybe just a bit rusty.
I wouldn't panic and immediately start thinking about some kind of neurological reason behind it.
Get a few rides under your belt & see how you get on. If it is a persistent issue, then maybe discuss it further with your doc.
sun baked shallow (ie bike tyre) ruts can give a wandering feel - and you might not notice them at night. could see this setting you off into a series of overcorrections if you are lacking in muscle memory.
Have you been riding a non-mountain bike more frequently? Last year I went on holiday and had a few rides on rental townie/beach cruisers. Probably about 10 days off the "proper" bike, which on my first ride back on it, the handling felt horrendous and barely rideable for the first few minutes until I remembered what to do.
Hiya, a few things:
1- When you stop taking meds (the most commonly prescribed type is an SSRI), things can happen. Normally you'd taper the dose down to reduce side effects. It'll take a while to get used to it. Everyone's different, but there's a list of withdrawal side effects here: https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/antidepressants/
2- If you've not been riding a lot, and you add potential issues due to withdrawal - you might not be as in tune with balance, co-ordination etc as you would normally. Riding in the dark doesn't help with situational awareness either - I'd find that quite hard. It's cracking that you went out in the dark in the first place! 👌
3- I have a Chisel FS - when I first got it, I found my steering skill rather inconsistent. New bike, totally unfamiliar with how to handle it. I went through a process of changing the bar height, bar width and adjusting the fork. 1200 miles in, I'm a lot more comfortable with it - but I'm no Jedi Master. I still get things wrong occasionally (I'm sh*t at slow speed stuff).
To focus on positive and fun things - try the flip-chip in the high position. It'll weight the front wheel a bit more, you might feel things through the handlebars better? Maybe take a spacer out. Also, I found the Rockshox Recon very hard to adjust - the rebound was either on or off. Maybe peculiar to my weight, but only one click seemed to completely change the fork, with nothing in-between.
Maybe it's time to perv at (and possibly buy) new kit to experiment and keep it fun. 😉 That fork weighs 2.5kg - it's a bit of a porker!
Also sometimes tyre pressures being off (by a fair amount) make bikes handle weirdly, especially if they’re too low.
Are you looking far enough ahead? Don't look where the front wheel is; look where you are going and don't really focus on the steering as such - just let it happen.
Came on here to say this as well. I definitely have to concentrate on this when in tractor tyre ruts to avoid the bouncing off the side of the rut thing that won't end well.
Thanks for all the comments definitely some things to think about (I had no clue about the flip chip so will try that).
Basically I was sawing at the steering and I just couldn't get it under control. It nearly always started when I saw say a ditch at the side of the rutted track I was in. I would start to panic and then sawing steering to try not to crash into the ditch with my wheel. Then I just couldn't stop this sawing steering action. It was very strange feeling that I couldn't get back in control like I used to.
Again thanks for all your advive I will definitely take it on board and try another ride during the day after I have recovered from this ride (sore everything atm lol.
You could try finding a quiet flat area with predictable surface to ride round in circles and figures of eight, it might help understand where the issue is the bike handling, and where it's your handling of the bike, and allow you to feel more comfortable with both.
Basically I was sawing at the steering and I just couldn't get it under control. It nearly always started when I saw say a ditch at the side of the rutted track I was in. I would start to panic and then sawing steering to try not to crash into the ditch with my wheel. Then I just couldn't stop this sawing steering action. It was very strange feeling that I couldn't get back in control like I used to.
Target fixation, overly focusing on what you want to avoid steers you towards it.
Re-focusing yourself on the bike will help (not always easy), may need to slow slightly, re-centre your body position, look up and look much further down the trail, 10-20m ahead.
Find your dropping you head and looking closer to the front wheel. Time to reset yourself again.
If you haven't been out in a while it could just be death-grip where you are nervous and hold on too tight and you get constant kick-back. Try relaxing your grip and let the front wheel be a little freer.
Yeah, one of my most embarrassing crashes was at about 5 mph on a straight, flat section that I'd been riding for years. I was just tired or something, just felt like a passenger on the bike. Figured I needed to just loosen up and relax so I moved my hands out to the ends of the bars but one hand just slipped off the end of the bar and I went straight over and landed on my face, have a scar on my forehead from that. Guy behind me was pissing himself laughing.
I would be thinking rusty rider + the dark + possible change in body chemistry due to meds change + ruts = don't panic but perhaps check in with the GP over side effects of withdrawal/rule out anything sinister.
I've had rides like that when I've been unfit and out of practice.
Good luck and well done on getting out and kudos for an out of practice night ride!
Could it just be that you’re out of practice and riding at night? Hope you’re alright.
One thing that might be worth checking is your eyesight.
'Weird' feelings while I was riding I eventually realised were down to the fact I was getting old and needed glasses.
Steering a bike is a little bit "counter-intuitive" i.e. if you turn your bars into a turn you actually straighten up.
If you start thinking about it while you're riding it gets worse. I know it's impossible to tell yourself not to think about something, but just let the bike do the work.
I always try to concentrate on the next but one obstacle - your subconscious has already clocked the current one and is quite capable of handling it without your help, thank you very much.
I can struggle with this feeling of 'pinballing' down ruts if I'm tired as I ride along thinking "I don't want to ride into the side" so then I look at the side of the rut and ride straight into it!
I've been trying to look as far ahead as possible and it's working, I think if you're riding at night and your light is shining just ahead of the bike that will probably make it harder to look far enough ahead also.
Maybe just a bit rusty
plus new bike, plus riding at night, plus dried out ruts…
it sounds like the odds were a little stacked against you OP. Good excuse to go for a ride in daylight and try some varied terrain (IMO).
I wouldn’t personally jump to a neurological condition, I’ve tumbled off on wide, rutted trails in broad daylight, the primary cause was overconfidence, leading to speed, then a sudden case of “target focussing”…
I can't say anything other than I felt like utter crap for a couple of weeks when going off sertaline, including nausea. I decided i wanted to try going off them and couldn't get a gp appointment as usual so just went cold turkey, which was turned out to be a stupid idea but SSR's may be a factor. Definitely worth speaking to a medical professional.
