I've plateaued...what to do about it?
That's right, Ice…Man, I am dangerous
Posted by: JBV
...wouldn't advocate for this approach for most adults.
c’mon now this is nsmb, surely you jest?
Like you I want to keep my body complete and fully functional, but I appreciate what Wade is saying and if you think about it crashing doesn’t have to be a warp factor 9 get off or missing the transition on a 50ft gap jump.
You can have small consequence get-offs that test your mind without breaking your body. Things like trying to go a bit faster through a tight low speed corner can put you in the dirt and leave you laughing. You’re testing a skill set with a low consequence of error but still working on getting your brain to process that challenge and stoking the fire to get just a little bit better at the same time.
That’s using sports psychology to its advantage.
Posted by: syncro
Posted by: JBV
...wouldn't advocate for this approach for most adults.
c’mon now this is nsmb, surely you jest?
Like you I want to keep my body complete and fully functional, but I appreciate what Wade is saying and if you think about it crashing doesn’t have to be a warp factor 9 get off or missing the transition on a 50ft gap jump.
You can have small consequence get-offs that test your mind without breaking your body. Things like trying to go a bit faster through a tight low speed corner can put you in the dirt and leave you laughing. You’re testing a skill set with a low consequence of error but still working on getting your brain to process that challenge and stoking the fire to get just a little bit better at the same time.
That’s using sports psychology to its advantage.
This.
You can be in a slump because you keep hitting the same stuff the same way. If you try new ways, say a different lean angle/weighting through a turn, or an alternate line up some tech climb, you're going to go wrong sometimes. Small tumbles might turn you on to a new way to do something, a new technique to work and boom, new skills. Learning means occasional failing, just try to keep it safe.
...if you’re not crashing you are pretty much in a slump all the time anyhow.
I'd substitute "feeling uncomfortable" for "crashing". It feels great when I ride through something that I'm not 100% sure I'm going to clean, rather than walking it when my spidey-sense starts to say "This is getting a bit sketchy!". But, if it's something that 50/50 could result in a wreck, I'll walk it. Injury recovery takes too long at my age.
On the other hand, most of my crashes have happened on relatively easy terrain, probably because I'm being complacent and not paying enough attention to everything.
Bit of a thread resurrection but I had a great experience with my first coaching worth sharing. I have been wanting to take a coaching session for a couple years now as I was feeling like a plateaued in my skill and what I felt comfortable on and I finally got it to happen. In maybe even dropped down in what I was willing to ride - I blame age (38) and not bouncing back as fast anymore. I also have some great days each year where everything clicks and couldn’t always pin down why.
I took two advanced riding clinics with Wandering Wheels in Revelstoke last weekend. One day of turns and berms and another on steep tech. Total game changer having a coach breakdown the steps of each skill. There are a lot of bad habits that have been holding me back and I find I always struggle with the mental aspect of some of the more silly things we ride.
Having a coach assess my riding through the day and say “you totally got this” when I was hesitant towards a long and steep rock roll to woodwork was a total confidence boost. Riding a technical section at speed and be reminded on things to adjust like positioning or trail scanning really made a difference. I ended up spending a third day riding the Revy bike park and my riding that day was some of the best I’ve ever had.
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