Had a spill about two weeks ago now, back end washed out and I hit the deck hard on my shoulder and popped it out and put a nice big hole in my arm…feeling better now, but went for a ride a couple of days ago and was riding like a girl, confidence has just hit a low.

Have a training day with Ed Oxley on the 21st at Lee Quarry and an event the day before so need to get my ass back on the bike and sort this out, any tips??

Don't beat yourself up if you get the heebie jeebies – it'll come back – taken me 2 years after rupturing my spleen to feel a similar confidence 🙂 Admitidyly my crash was skiing but still has teh same effect 😉

It'll take a while. JUst keep riding what you're happy to and once you're happy you'll start pushing it a bit more.

Do you know WHY you crashed. If so, learn from it and you won't make the same mistake again, so you can ride flat out again.

If you don't know why, then sit down think about it, and work out where it went wrong.

It happened really fast, but loose gravel on the corner (it was on road, just come off a downhill run so was going quite fast!) plus worn tread on tyres…I have new tyres now, but they feel strange…continental verticals…

I got myself some Advantages 2.1 and the grip if fantastic compared with previous tyres inc MK's and Fire XC Pros 😉

I bust my wrist last Feb and still get a weird sensation when turning right, especially on roundabouts. It is starting to fade a bit now but it has noticably affected my riding confidence.

I am trying to specifially learn some new skills which hopefully will help get my confidence back up.

The thing is your brain just takes a while to forget things that cause extremem pain!

JonEdwards – Member
Do you know WHY you crashed. If so, learn from it and you won't make the same mistake again, so you can ride flat out again.

If you don't know why, then sit down think about it, and work out where it went wrong.

I agree with this. I bust my collarbone failing off a dropoff I didn't know was coming up – because I'd never learnt how to do them, I had no way of dealing with it. Just as it mended I went out again, felt really stiff, nervous and out of sorts, wheels washed out in a flat corner and broke the opposite shoulder. Head was a shed and even thought of quitting for road riding or 'low risk XC'.
Got some coaching from Cycleactive – a) on jumps and drops and b) on getting my confidence back. Now riding 2 footers happily and riding smoother and more confidently than ever.
Some days I still feel a bit iffy before I start out – I just have a quiet chat with myself not to put myself under pressure and take it easy. Then not long after when I'm busy dealing with ragging down some singletrack, I find I've forgotten about being nervous 🙂

Hard lines Todd – hope you feel better soon

was riding like a girl, confidence has just hit a low.

Really?

Sorry! Felt the need to stick up for us girls 😛

haha yeah no offence with that…its a figure of speech you know…

also cheers for the kind words, if i crash again on my first ride out I know who to blame 😉

If it makes you feel any better the words 'loose gravel' and 'corners' in one sentence – well they are turning into my nemsis too! Sameish thing recently washed out on gravel on a turn crossing a bridge onto the canal towpath, was commuting and had pumped up my slicks a bit hard – but actually it was cause I touched my front brake and hey presto hit the deck hard – big hole in knee, bruised left leg/thigh, some nice gravel rash … and a confidence hit. Not the first time I've hit the deck on gravel turns either.. Solution .. I need to go practise loose turns. 😉

took me 2 years to get back to where I was confidence wise after breaking collar bone (though I was out of action for the best part of a year)….

I'm a firm believer in the fact its your body telling you you're pushing what you're capable of at that time. Just do what you want, you'll feel the urge to do stuff when you're ready.

Happily I'm now enjoying my riding more than ever, though I won't take any way near as many risks as I used to. But I might just be getting older 🙁

Yeah it always seems the way though…get riding, get fitter, get more confident, get to the point where you just want to push things further, injury and repeat! Always feel like I am starting from scratch and its hard enough to fit riding in, especially around 2 children. Hopefully Ed will sort me out, the course is called 'stop crashing'…

Seconded on the pic. Just cos, you know.
I went over the handlebars coming around a corner into a rock in the middle of the track. I just didn't react fast enough & we'd ended up on Home Baked at Gisburn by accident. I went over, it all happened so slowly there was a gap before the bike hit me. Epic bruises and a still badgered elbow from that one.
For a good few rides, I ended up talking to myself while riding. Um, kind of talking myself out of bottling, encouraging myself, sorting my head out as I went, talking myself through what I was doing wrong. I focused so much on that I forgot to focus on being scared. It's distraction basically, finding some singletrack you know backwards and are totally comfy on also helps rebuild. And getting of your bike and 'gathering' yourself (using a drink or something as an excuse) isn't bottling, it's getting back on the horse but slowly. Cut yourself some slack, be gentle and patient, it will come back and it will all be a distant memory. And perhaps, some reservation is self preservation, which is healthy, you know?

most people ride already set up to crash belive it or not and spend the whole ride fighting it.

Its hard; I touched bars earlier this month at an ride bringing me and another rider down (at 24mph according to my GPS). He broke bones and cut up badly, I had scapes everywhere plus knackered my frame.

At both the Gorrick Enduro a couple of weeks ago and earlier this week at an evening XC I really struggled at the starts, with other riders in close proximity. Ok once riding though.