I'm wondering what people do to pluck up the nuts to do something they think they can't on the bike?
For example jumping a big table top is OK for most of us I expect but make it a gap jump with the same height and length and I expect many of us think twice.
Same with drops etc I know there are some skills trainer on here so what do you guys tell your students?
start small and build up. and practice practice practice...
Still though when you have the skills to do something and have done similar stuff before but something just looks a bit sketchy what then?
If you look at something and feel like you need bottle to do it you don't have the skill to be riding it. Ifyou build up to stuff you just naturally start riding more gnarly as your skill builds.
just do it. dont think about the gap. you arent going to be landing in it.
think of the landing. be confident. hit the landing.
Personally, self belief, visualisation and experience.
Self belief; I know I can clear a table that is Xm therefore I can clear a double of the same distance. I concentrate on what I know I can do, not on what I can't.
Visualisation; I picture myself riding the drop/jump/skinny/other in as much detail as possible. If I can't picture myself doing it, I won't try.
Experience; I've done quite a lot of stuff that scared me. It was much easier than I'd feared every time. It also feels great after.
My failure is that I have the potential to be a far more capable rider than I currently allow myself to believe I am.
So visualisation, I've heard the term but don't really know what it means or how it works?
If you look at something and feel like you need bottle to do it you don't have the skill to be riding it.
IMO that's rubbish. And if that was the case my other half would still be tootling round blue routes instead of having spent weeks in the alps enjoying herself.
If you look at something and feel like you need bottle to do it you don't have the skill to be riding it
I think that's total bollocks!
I personally think I ride very much 'within myself', and I'm probably better than I give myself credit for, but just don't feel I have to prove anything by doing jumps/drops unnecessarily, I don't gain enjoyment from it.
I know plenty of people who will go and try stuff, crash, hurt themselves, and do it again. They don't think they need bottle, but arguably don't have the skills to do it!
On t'other hand, how do you learn without pushing yourself in the first place?
I think following other riders blind is a good way to do things, if you don't know what's coming, you don't have a chance to get scared!
What prompted this is a drop off I've been eyeing up for about 10 years. I always swore I'd do it.
I know I can do it, I have the skill to do it, I have done much bigger drops and I know the bike can take it. It's got a nice clean lip a lovely transtion to land on and there is nothing to hurt myself on if I fall anyway.
Cleared a nice run up got all ready and bricked it.
Can I do it? Can I bollocks!
If you look at something and feel like you need bottle to do it you don't have the skill to be riding it.
I don't think this is complete rubbish.
It might not always be true, but I definitely get the fear more on sections that I don't really know how to ride properly.
Not necessarily gap jumps - as Jools pointed out they're just tabletops with scary holes - but, for example, very steep and technical descents put the wind up me a bit.
I think that's because I haven't ridden that sort of thing enough, so I don't have the required skills - and my brain tells me to be careful, and perhaps to brake too much.
Lots of top riders talk about listening to their fear, don't they?
If in doubt.......bottle out
Why spend months in hospital in a never ending discussion with yourself about how you should have taken one five meter long piece of trail?
If it feels good and you end up injured then that's sort of ok
If it felt all wrong and you still did it and ended up injured then you ain't very clever!
Somedays it flows.........other days it doesn't!
There must be a way to overcome the fear though. I'm not stupid enough to try something way out of my comfort zone but it's important to push yourself I think.
i'm sure someone will be along with bike specific but heres a link to some climbing stuff which will include visualisation
http://www.trainingforclimbing.com/new/articles.shtml
makes note to remember the pic on the homepage of this site for friday a&a
edit forget that the pic has changed to a guy with a beard
Similar points as above really.
I rationally look at the situation and decide if I can do it. Using the example above I can jump the table top so there's nothing except fear stopping me from doing the double.
Visualisation is important for me, if you can see yourself riding it that's a big step.
Back in my kayaking days I used to find peer pressure helped as did doing things quickly so I didn't have time to worry. I would literally scout, jump into my boat and push off as fast as possible, once you're in the thick of it fear isn't there.
There was an article, on here I think, where the guy talked about going on 2 rather than 3. By surprising himself he had less chance to bottle it.
The last approaches are reckless but did lead me to run some of the hardest stuff I did in a boat especially where I had no prior knowledge of how things might pan out (a small spillway in south Wales 
)
Rationalisation is the most sensible and leads to less of an underwear bill.
I must admit Thinking time = Bottling time! Now I've cleared the run up maybe the way forward is to just ride it without the preamble beforehand.
You are right in thinking that there are deliberate techniques that you can use, joolsburger.
more than one or two aborted run ins and i'm not hitting a gap/drop that day.
physics will get me over this is a favorite mantra...
Took us months of return visits and egging each other on, especially as there were no other tyre-prints there when we first looked at it. Then we did it and realised it was a piece of cake and had no idea what we'd been dribbling on about. I tend to be a bit less cautious these days.
remove your brakes and go twice as fast as you think you should
That looks just like the drop I'm trying to clear except the transition is longer and less steep. Just want to clear that first six feet or so without rolling.
Where is this then joolsburger? Is it as yet unridden?
It's actually in Oxshott woods/Esher common, I don't go unsanctioned!!
It's near a big pond there. Not rock though but very similar.
I haven't seen any tracks on the line I want to take though.
Why do you need to clear the top bit? Doesn't matter it it is bumpy and messy - if it is vertical you ain't gonna stop! You only need to clear the top if it has very pronounced roots that are going to get hold of your chainset.
Oh right because the lip to the transtion is around 5 maybe 6 feet and more than vertical there's no way to roll it you'd plough into the ground. It really requires a two wheel landing on the transition or it's going to be very very messy!
It's basically down the hill, off a small root, drop about 6 feet land on 45 degree slope ride it out look fantastic feel a hero!
your problem is simple to overcome.
I find the bigger the deal it becomes, the less chance you will ever do it.... on your own. I've dropped off stuff I would have never have gone near when following other riders as I felt I had no choice (if I wanted to keep up and not look a bit of a scaredycat etc.). I would suggest you get someone who will do it happily or has done it and follow them at full tilt from a distance back (somewhere you can't see the obstacle). They will have the effect of almost pulling you along behind them and over the drop. That works for me. So long as you feel that the obstacle is within your skill level before you start (because lack of confidence usually means disaster no matter what the method employed).
Then it will be done and you will feel top of the world!
I'm pretty interested in where it is as I ride those woods, any chance you can give a more pinpoint description?
cheers,rob
your problem is simple to overcome.
improving without moving outside of your safe riding zone is very possible.
take a mate and egg each other on.
peer pressure/competition is great for advancing what you think you can do.
i am so much more cautious on my own.
Ride down the sandy bridal way to the A3 foot bridge, cross and turn right toward the american school (straight on goes to oxshott sandpit) follow the singletrack along by the A3 for a mile or so and you come to a pond.
Just before that pond on the left is a little hill and the drop is right there - Do you know where I mean the drop is to the right of a massive tree at the top of that ?
Jedi I think I'm likely to end up booking a day soon! My mates are older and wiser than me!
joolsburger, oh ok 
I wouldn't ever try something I thought I couldn't do on a bike.
if you honestly don't think you can do it it's probably time to bow out... not never to return tho
I'm pretty sure I know where you are. When I approach the pond I go left up a little hill and then do a sharp slow right turn at the top and over a drop off down toward the lake again. There are some roots protruding off the lip. Is it this one?
GW I thought I couldn't do a big double last summer, went for it and made an elephant fly! It's a great feeling to overcome the fear and to me that's what technical MTB is all about, it's amazing what can be ridden even by someone like me..
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