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

And there’s a false sense of security because things tend to be engineered in a manner that makes them more rideable, which means speeds are way way faster, which means that when things go south you’re in a big mess

Posted by: craw

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

Gold Level bike park advice. The "last lap" curse is not a joke. Of course, it's not saying the words that brings the curse, it's pushing your physicality and focus over the edge.

Posted by: Ddean

And there’s a false sense of security because things tend to be engineered in a manner that makes them more rideable, which means speeds are way way faster, which means that when things go south you’re in a big mess

I'm no park expert but my understanding is that people's abilities are falsely elevated by the quality of the trail building. The gaps and tabletops are positioned such that the natural speed a rider goes on a trail matches that needed for the gap. I wonder if people find they have trouble translating their experience to non-manicured trails. 

Also, speed will get you - I agree with ddean. I've seen guys mangled after casing a regular jump at the bike park. We're talking plastic surgeon to rebuild a shattered wrist, chest tubes to re-expand the lung etc. Ride safe and know your limits.

Posted by: RAHrider

Posted by: Ddean

And there’s a false sense of security because things tend to be engineered in a manner that makes them more rideable, which means speeds are way way faster, which means that when things go south you’re in a big mess

I'm no park expert but my understanding is that people's abilities are falsely elevated by the quality of the trail building. The gaps and tabletops are positioned such that the natural speed a rider goes on a trail matches that needed for the gap. I wonder if people find they have trouble translating their experience to non-manicured trails. 

Also, speed will get you - I agree with ddean. I've seen guys mangled after casing a regular jump at the bike park. We're talking plastic surgeon to rebuild a shattered wrist, chest tubes to re-expand the lung etc. Ride safe and know your limits.

Are you saying bike parks would be better if all the jumps were random in their speed... to save the beginners who didn't heed the black, double or triple black signage?

I have ridden WBP & done so well I feel like an all-star. Then next weekend I get my ass handed to me at Cypress. Back to reality I guess.

Posted by: ReductiMat

Posted by: RAHrider

Posted by: Ddean

And there’s a false sense of security because things tend to be engineered in a manner that makes them more rideable, which means speeds are way way faster, which means that when things go south you’re in a big mess

I'm no park expert but my understanding is that people's abilities are falsely elevated by the quality of the trail building. The gaps and tabletops are positioned such that the natural speed a rider goes on a trail matches that needed for the gap. I wonder if people find they have trouble translating their experience to non-manicured trails. 

Also, speed will get you - I agree with ddean. I've seen guys mangled after casing a regular jump at the bike park. We're talking plastic surgeon to rebuild a shattered wrist, chest tubes to re-expand the lung etc. Ride safe and know your limits.

Are you saying bike parks would be better if all the jumps were random in their speed... to save the beginners who didn't heed the black, double or triple black signage?

Not at all. This is a feature of a great bike park. From what I've heard, MT Washington can be a bit sketchy as the natural speed of the trail is not always matched to the size of gaps etc. I am saying that this type of planned trail can get rider going much faster and trying bigger things than they usually would, and speed can f*ck you up!

Posted by: RAHrider

I am saying that this type of planned trail can get rider going much faster and trying bigger things than they usually would, and speed can f*ck you up!

yeah, I'd much rather crash at low speed on some techy section than go blasting off into the weeds and smoke a tree or auger hard and discombobulate myself in some horrific manner. you know better than I, but the human body does not fair well from trauma due to high speed impacts.

I had really good results with the weekend camps the Whistler Bike Park school used to run, Elevation Camps I believe they called them. Crazy good deal too, $229 for two 8 hour days of coaching in a 1 coach to 6 student group (same coach both days), or $299 with 2 day tickets, and of course line skipping priority and a fun apres session. Sadly they seem to have ended those for some reason, they seemed pretty popular too? I started biking again at 33 in 2014 and did 3 rounds of those camps, one each summer, and went from skittering down blue tech trails, avoiding the rock roll on Bluseum and casing everything on CIU to being able to clear A-Line (besides moon booter and final jump which I chicken out on, totally mental) and riding every double black tech in the park fairly confidently. Never had the balls to go faster/bigger than A-Line.

Consistency is another key factor. Now that I have a young kid at home, I went from 25-30ish park days in 2017/2018 down to 2 last summer (and those were TOTW/Khyber + new Creekside tech only days). My jumping has regressed but the fundamentals are still there.

I've had friends have good luck with Zep in Whistler as well. Don't think I'd bother with trying to learn to jump on the Shore, the charlift, trail quality and volume you will hit in Whistler is key, plus not wasting energy pedaling/pushing up each lap.

The way this season Is going I'm planning for longer less technical rides. Rides that link multiple zones together plus a bunch of mileage through areas I don't usually explore. Or multiple passes of the same thing for extra climbing.

I'm late to this thread but this may not have been mentioned. Tips from pro rider etc. about how to deal with a slump. 

https://nsmb.com/articles/15-tips-dump-slump/

Posted by: [email protected]

I'm late to this thread but this may not have been mentioned. Tips from pro rider etc. about how to deal with a slump. 

https://nsmb.com/articles/15-tips-dump-slump/

I read that one, some of the advice seems questionable for people who have to work on Monday. For instance, One of Wade Simmons’ Tips was the following:   "Crash. That might sound funny and maybe a little painful but I find a crash is a good reset for me and I always find them a little comical – well, the ones you walk away from. You got to realize crashing is part of mountain biking and really if you’re not crashing you are pretty much in a slump all the time anyhow."

I get what he's saying but how many of those here subscribe to the philosophy that if you aren't crashing you're in a slump? I'm too old to crash and I worry about paying the bills....

My wife and kid. I almost orphaned him today, and I've never ever seen him. I don't know what happened up there, but I was so scared.

I'm holding too tight. I've lost the edge...

It's really a conundrum when you feel the need, ...the need for speed, but don't want your ego writing checks that your body can't cash.

And in the back of your mind you remember one thing; if you screw up just this much, you'll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong.