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In my limited experience of 26 years of biking I've ridden most normal stuff, never been a huge fanboy of trail centres, but I was at Hamsterley last weekend with my mate, my lad & his mate. I rode like a complete novice & couldn't wait to get back to the car.
I felt ok fitness wise but just couldn't be arsed with the terrain, slippery, nadgery roots galore. I know I can ride that stuff but just didn't want to. Felt like I should've been wearing L plates.
Did a local 26 mile ride with Ton yesterday & thoroughly enjoyed it.
Essel. Aged 60. 😥
Yes.
Some days one is just not on it.
Don't beat yourself up about it, it will come back.
Yes, my local rides are slippery rooty natural muddy messy stuff. I'm quite used to it, but put me on a trail centre with proper small drops and I'm stuffed...
It can be entirely psychological, some days I'm just up for wide open tracks so I can just concentrate on having fun and popping off things. Roots and steep tech is great fun - but there are definitely days when I can't be arsed and can't get into the frame of mind where I can ride it subconsciously.
Also, North Shore riding/ladders can and do screw with my head.
Absolutely.
There was a drop in the Surrey Hills, down below Leith, that always spooked me. I kept on bottling it, looking for the chicken line. Then, one day, when tired and not thinking, I was following someone down the trail and I just dropped it. No thought, no worry. It was ace, so I went straight back and dropped it again!
cool story bro etc
😀
I certainly have days when some things don't work. Yesterday for example I was quite happy with most of my riding but I'd totally lost confidence on stream crossings for some reason (and there were lots of them). So I went in too slow, slipped on the slimy rocks and kept getting wet feet (or just walked some of them). I know that if I go in faster I'm much more likely to stay upright, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it yesterday. But hey-ho, it was a lovely day.
I am coming to the conclusion that the majority of mountain biking is just confidence really. Stay loose and "attack" the trail and 99 times out of a hundred the bike will just sail through without you doing much. Go in stiff and tentative and it's much more likely to go wrong. The older I get the more I realise that I just have to be honest with myself. If I fancy something then give it a go, but if I don't then it's much better to live to ride another day.
Totally true. If your head's not in it, you're screwed.
but just couldn't be arsed with the terrain, slippery, nadgery roots galore
Route 666...??? its a challenge and if you hit when its wet and you have already got a fair bit of riding in yours legs at that point, it can be disheartning. I am 50 and ride Hamsterley with a 60 year old now and again, he is genrally far fitter than me but this section just gets him every time.
and this
Yes.Some days one is just not on it.
Don't beat yourself up about it, it will come back.
I crashed on a small log about two years ago now, since then that log remains un-jumped. But I've regularly done bigger, longer more techy ones.
So that's certainly "just in my head" Its actually quite a pathetic log as well, just to annoy me.
Skill is something you apply to the trail from a state of mind as well as physical ability. That's why some people feel invincible when they put a full face helmet on.