Hey all, just rolled in from great ride! The best part about it is the fact that I nearly turned around about 1-mile into it. I've learned (the hard way!) that with mountain biking, if you don't feel good about your riding skills on a given day, or if things just didn't go smoothly preparing for the ride i.e. forgot to bring your shoes, left your helmet at home, forgot gloves...things like that...your chances of crashing that day are much higher. I have had my share of pretty bad crashes over the years, and as I looked back at the hour or minutes prior to my ride, something has always gone wrong...either I just didn't feel like I was riding good, or I forgot something.
Today started out bad...right out of the gate. Normally, it takes me about 15-minutes to get ready, load the bike, and head out to ride. Today however, I was trying to mount my video camera on my bike to give all of you another view of riding. I struggled to get it to work...45-minutes later I was heading out. I got on the trail, and realized that I had forgotten to swap over the magnet for my cycle computer from my training wheel to my real wheel. Strike two. About a mile into the ride, the camera fell off...and I just didn't feel confident about my skills. I was picking bad lines, and I had to put me foot down twice during a relatively easy technical climb.
I got off my bike, put my camera in my backpack and argued with myself about just turning around, heading home, and hopefully avoiding leaving skin and blood out of the trail today. The proud side of me won, and I kept going. Things got better, I started feeling good, and I ended up riding nearly 18 miles. I only know how far I rode, because I have tracked it before. My heart rate monitor was working, so I had an idea of my energy expenditure, which showed 1386 kcal.
I made it home safe and sound! Thank you God!
it is interesting how the mind can play games with our confidence, it's good you pushed through. keep it up buddy, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI found this post interesting because it really speaks to that inner voice and what to do with it. Like Scott said, sometimes it really is your mind playing games with you but other times.... voice of reason? What happened in the argument with yourself that convinced you to push through?
ReplyDeleteTeresa, I used a couple of tactics actually...
ReplyDeleteI kept telling myself that I was talented enough, and possessed enough riding skill to complete the ride successfully. I also used a sports psychology technique known as re-framing. Re-framing is basically looking at events from a different viewpoint, or perspective.
I was able to re-frame the negative experiences on the trail, and turn them into motivational experiences. The combination of the two tactics provided me with the confidence and motivation necessary to complete the ride.
O.k. so would there be a time where you wouldn't complete the ride based on that voice? Would it be when the re-framing wasn't working?
ReplyDelete