Mountain Biking - Terrible racing season just keeps sucking

As many of you know at my last race Ibruised some ribs and destroyed my ankle. Well today I had another race and what do you know, I got a concussion doing a front flip while pumping my bike through a G out at arounf 50 or 60 km/h on the fastest part of the track. From other peoples accounts I am very happy I had a full face helmet on, from what I have been told happened to me is.

I pedalled full speed down the long straight, cornered through the gate perfect but the g out is just after a corner. As I was going faster than usual I was still turning as I hit it and who I normally do is manual to it an lower the front gently, well I was still truning when I hit the thing. When my backwheel hit the g out my front end was thrown down hard and crooked, my rear end just flipped over, I landed on my face, rolled over on the top of my head and smashed down on my back. All while still holding my bars so no breaking the fall with my hands.

What really annoys me is I was doing a beautiful run, I was catching up to the guy infront od me who usually places around the top 5. I was seriously cooking :mad:

So far this year I have been in 2 local races and have had 3 reasonably serious crashes all up, one today, one during the first race which left me with bruise dribs and one after the first race which screwed up my ankle. I hate the fact I always go over the limit while racing and do perfectly in practice. :mad:

Sucks to hear that. :(

Bummer. I guess you could try to tell yourself its a practice run when you race.

^ Try that, lol


Sorry you have a crappy season... is the season going good for most of the other people you know?

I don't race MTB, but I used to race BMX, and one thing I learned: Push it to the edge in practice, so you know how far you can go. Wipeouts don't matter in practice (as long as you don't seriously injure yourself). Once you find that edge, you back it down just a bit, and that's how fast you can go in the race. You can't win if you don't finish.

Sucks about all the injuries though. Hope you heal well, and soon :)

Get back out there and practice! Sucks that had happened though.

I hate the fact I always go over the limit while racing and do perfectly in practice.

You should push your self over the limit when practicing also. Plus when racing you need to push it if you want to win. In time your skill shall catch up with you adrenaline ;) I know it is hard to do but RELAX. It is more likely you are too tense causing you crash.

Heal quick and get back out there.

:beer:

Have you tried visualizaton?

There's a book called "Running Within", by Jerry Lynch. He's a runner, but the ideas he talks about can be used in any sport.

Sometimes, when people lose their focus, it may be because they haven't been able to create that mindset where you are totally focused on your task at hand. This book helps you to capture the moment, visualize yourself doing it, and visualize being successful at it. People who incorporate this book into their reading list and embrace its principles are seriously ahead of the curve. I highly recommend it.

Koffee

When I'm in a race run I go through the track in my mind. I got a really good tip from a guy called Jared Rando. He told me that most riders see the track ahead and go "ok drop, corner, jump." he said most pro's will be like, " drop, corner, jump and keep repeating it", I also do a bit of visualisation, but becuase it was uch a simple part of the track and about 20m from where I crashed was the biggest jump of the track so I was thinking of it and just mucked up.

Some of my mates are actually doing very good, one of them got second in U17 and first in sport. One got second in U19, one got first in U17 and another got first in Elite men.

I would say you're still not doing the visualizations correctly. It's not just about doing the mantra and just going for it. It's about being in the moment, visualizing yourself doing it, having the confidence to do the action, and just totally enveloping yourself in the action. Sometimes, you need to do associative visualizations to do your action, and sometimes it needs to be disassociative visualization. It depends on what you're needing that just isn't clicking for you.

I highly recommend that book. If you can get through that book, then your next book would be "Thinking Bodies, Dancing Minds" by Chungliang Al Wong and Jerry Lynch. If you get through that book, then my next recommendation would be "Embracing Tiger, Return to Mountain" by Chungliang Al Wong. That last book is a puzzler, though. You have to be deep in the philosopy in order to understand that last book. Otherwise, it's not worth it to read.

Koffee

I would say you're still not doing the visualizations correctly. It's not just about doing the mantra and just going for it. It's about being in the moment, visualizing yourself doing it, having the confidence to do the action, and just totally enveloping yourself in the action.
Koffee


What koffee is saying, you should be at the top of the run, eys closed literaly doing the run in your head. Your friends may think you'er weird though when they see you sitting on your bike, breaking a sweat and going, "Pedal, pedal, ahhh shyte!! ummph!!, arrrrrg!!! *insert sound of hard breathing, out of breath with foul language* Ohhhhh yeaaaaah!!" :p

:beer:

Nah Igot what she was saying, what Iwas saying is a method I have been told by a pro racer. I use use visualisation before hitting things like drops and jumps and stuff. At the top of a race Ijust try to calm myself down and in my mind see what I WILL do, what lines, where to pedal, I see myself doing the gaps or drops or whatever on the track, then see myself pedalling my arse off at the end.

And what I'm saying is that it must not be working for ya, since you missed something you thought was easy.

Any pro can tell you something, but perhaps a deeper understanding of the technique of visualization will help you to embrace it so that these silly mistakes you continue to make are erased from your rides.

Koffee

I think his problem is relaxation. Seems like you are doing what you should be except for relaxing. When I first started racing I had the same problem. Comming from a football/hockey back ground ment getting pumped and preparing to hit or get hit so I never realy let my body relax. Flying down the runs with a "GOTTA RIP SOMEONES HEAD OFF!!" type of adrenaline. Then I started to incorperate some of the mental aspects from my Ti Chi training. That allowed me to still let the adrenaline flow and yet relax at the same time so my body could flow with the course rather then trying to fight it.

This is what worked for me. You just need to find a way to get you in "That Zone" for your self.

:beer: