Mountain Biking - Crashing and it's effect on confidence

I'm really fairly new to mountain biking. I've only been doing it for about 6 months, so I'm really not that great at it yet. Two days ago I went for a XC ride and had a lot of fun. Then a few minutes ago I was just screwing around outside my apartment, and I crashed trying to bunnyhop over a log next to the road. I flipped over the bars, landed on my knee and got hit in the back with my bike. Every time I do something like that I think to myself "Dammit, I should sell this thing, get an XC bike, and stop trying to put the bike in the air and do tricks and I won't hurt myself."

Of course, last week I was riding around town and was doing these little 5-stair gaps over at the university, and I never crashed once... then I was thiking "I need a bigger stairset!"

Bah, confidence is a fickle thing.

ITs fickle alright. Part of the game, sometimes you have your a-game and sometimes you are down near h for example.

I'm really fairly new to mountain biking. I've only been doing it for about 6 months, so I'm really not that great at it yet. Two days ago I went for a XC ride and had a lot of fun. Then a few minutes ago I was just screwing around outside my apartment, and I crashed trying to bunnyhop over a log next to the road. I flipped over the bars, landed on my knee and got hit in the back with my bike. Every time I do something like that I think to myself "Dammit, I should sell this thing, get an XC bike, and stop trying to put the bike in the air and do tricks and I won't hurt myself."

Of course, last week I was riding around town and was doing these little 5-stair gaps over at the university, and I never crashed once... then I was thiking "I need a bigger stairset!"

Bah, confidence is a fickle thing.


It's easy for me to say :D but can you take away something you learned from the crash? Seems every time I crash I can think about something I would do different next time in the same situation.

Crashing is part of the sport. I had a good reminder of that today when I watched NWD IV (a great vid BTW; I get a rush just from the intro :D ).

It's easy for me to say :D but can you take away something you learned from the crash?
Get better at bunnyhopping? :D

Get better at bunnyhopping? :D

:D Excellent! Great response! :D

But, when you think back on it, can you think of something, some little body-shift this way or that, how you approached, the speed, or anything else that might have made a difference?

At least you weren't hurt to bad! Sounds like a nasty spill, though.

NWDIV intro is by far and away the best intro ever. No other intro compares to get me pumped and ready to ride :)

I completely wiped out, very hard, on friday. My front tire hit an off-camber mud-patch on a 25 mph downhill. After the wreck, I got pissed, and absolutely hauled ass the rest of the ride. I guess it is just different for everyone.

Sometime crashing adds to confidence. Ages ago at my first DH race there was one part I couldn't do, I eventually stacked off the bridge into a dry river full of rocks 1m below on my back. This didn't hgurt and I realised it takes more to get hurt than I thought.

sometimes though you can get hurt really really bad and never want to go near it again....ie me and my skateboard, i was a great skater till i snapped my arm so badly, i cant stand on the thing anymore, im terrified im gonna hurt myself, hence why i bike now....but i fall off my biek when im screwing around near my house all the time....sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesnt, i just try to figure out why i crashed, and never do that again....so ya, i guess it is a learning experiance...

....but i fall off my biek when im screwing around near my house all the time....sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesnt, i just try to figure out why i crashed, and never do that again....so ya, i guess it is a learning experiance...

Yeah, I can pretty much figure out why I crashed each time and use that to ride the same thing better next time; unless it's something like a high speed tumble and I don't know what hit me (luckily, those are few and far between).

A lot of times I crash because I hesitated, tightened up (physically or mentally), was too cautious with the brakes, or just lost the flow and momentum. It's not always easy to get back up and try it again but that's how we get good. There was this set of really steep and tight switchbacks that used to give me the gremlins and an occassional crash; I'd get tight and slow down too much. I started riding the whole trip faster each time and with much less brake and it's flowing, now. :beer:

NWDIV intro is by far and away the best intro ever. No other intro compares to get me pumped and ready to ride :)

:D I can hardly stay in my chair after watching that intro! Just gotta' even ride my bike around the yard if I can't get to the trail.

'For those about to ride, we salute you!' :beer: