I've plateaued...what to do about it?

Posted by: ReductiMat

I didn't start riding the bike park till my mid 30's, and didn't hit crabs until two years ago.  If you love it, and if you take it slow and keep an honest appraisal of your abilities you can ride the bike park every day for four years and come out with five to ten days of scrapes like I have.

The biggest problem is that people try to push it too quickly.  Just learn how to say, "Nah, not today."

Did you hit your crabs at Buffalo Bills in Whistler?

This guy that created fluidride bike school has really easy to understand approaches to bike skills. His vid on jumps below.

https://youtu.be/44A6CyEua3k

The underground is not my scene in the slightest.

3minutes and 27seconds explaining why not to learn gaps and high risk lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykkty3lStDk

lol most of the people in these videos have like 10% of the skill required to do the moves they're trying.

I would hope that most of us have the common sense to try something that we KNOW we can do or is JUST outside your comfort level instead of people on their first mountain bike trying 20 foot drops and gaps.

Posted by: RAHrider

3minutes and 27seconds explaining why not to learn gaps and high risk lines.

Imagine you want to launch a rocket into orbit, yet you can't handle the math to file taxes.  Should you still try?

Dirt jumps are great for getting comfortable in the air.

Posted by: thaaad

I would hope that most of us have the common sense to try something that we KNOW we can do or is JUST outside your comfort level instead of people on their first mountain bike trying 20 foot drops and gaps.

This is how to do the WBP.

If you're not sure, DON'T.

Come back.  It'll be there.

Posted by: ReductiMat

Posted by: thaaad

I would hope that most of us have the common sense to try something that we KNOW we can do or is JUST outside your comfort level instead of people on their first mountain bike trying 20 foot drops and gaps.

This is how to do the WBP.

If you're not sure, DON'T.

Come back.  It'll be there.

There's always tomorrow.

Posted by: RAHrider

3minutes and 27seconds explaining why not to learn gaps and high risk lines.

Dude at 2:28 loses his pants!

The people talking bout WBP are on the money. Nothing works like repetition. I also started bike park in my 30's and used to hate jumps. All my friends were riding A-line and i was stoked on bline and ninja and not stoked on casing literally every jump on aline. Eventually through constantly chasing faster people i start to clear aline, then dm, and now its more about working on not overshooting stuff.

A great way to do it, is ride 1 lap jumps, then 1 lap something tech. Lower mountain only. don't bother with garbo. Do it mid week.

Posted by: nortonwhis

The people talking bout WBP are on the money. Nothing works like repetition. I also started bike park in my 30's and used to hate jumps. All my friends were riding A-line and i was stoked on bline and ninja and not stoked on casing literally every jump on aline. Eventually through constantly chasing faster people i start to clear aline, then dm, and now its more about working on not overshooting stuff.

I don't know if that's true in every case. I think some people lack something or require something extra. I went to the jump park on average probably 10 days a year for 4; years straight and went from not clearing every jump on Crank it up to still not clearing every jump on Crank it up.

Don't know if the obvious has been mentioned but, if there is one close to you, regular pump track or bmx track practice will really help. It won't be much fun at first but stick with it and your pump/manual/jump skills should improve. You don't really need a specific bike either (although a proper DH bike won't be much use) - just run your summer tyres with 40psi +.

I grew up riding bmx before switching to mtb in my 20's. However I found that after having kids, and reaching about 40 (I'm 43 now), I shy away from bigger jumps, particularly doubles.

Posted by: thaaad

I remember back when I used to skateboard a lot, and I mean a fucking TON, I would practice the same trick for hours, like I'm talking try the exact same trick on the exact same rail at the exact same speed in the exact same way for 2-3+ hours trying to get it perfect.

Funny how I never do that with my bike. Occasionally I'll session a cool jump or drop 2-3 times in a row but that's what, 15 minutes max?

I wonder what kind of progress you could make if you hiked up the same 30 second section of 3-4 berms or jumps for 20 minutes straight and focused only on foot position, then another 20 on hand position, then another 20 on fore / aft weight distribution, then 20 on high / low weight distribution, and on and on...

Yeah when I was a kid I was pretty much just riding a couple of jump spots over and over, and not trail riding like I (and probably most of us) do now, I think it plays a part especially people that get into mtb as adults and only go for normal trail rides without much time 'playing around'. 

I now work the summers coaching at WBP,  love doing cornering drills hiking the same few flatish corners for an hour, tweaking technique and sometimes do it with a race timing kit where we try to get a 20 second section down to 16 seconds or whatever, then going straight to the trails feels awesome.

Posted by: nortonwhis

A great way to do it, is ride 1 lap jumps, then 1 lap something tech. Lower mountain only. don't bother with garbo. Do it mid week.

And always do a warmup lap. And always quit while you're riding well, no just-one-more lap.