I’ve had a torrid time on the MTB lately. 2 bad falls, resulting in shoulder and knee injuries, and struggling to build up enough fitness.

The result is that I’m kind of more fearful out on the trails than I used to be and I find myself bottling things I used to not even think about. I did an intermediate skills course in the hope that would help, but I fell off there too and it damaged my confidence even more. I’m now losing motivation to keep trying, as every time I go out on the bike I’m having a bad time.

Anyone got any tips for building your confidence back up?

A Skills course would probably be your best bet.

Hmmm. Riding on your own, at your pace, to the trails you want to ride on. Be anti-social until the confidence returns!

I know exactly where you’re coming from, just getting back into it myself following 3.1/2 months off following surgery.

Take the pressure off of yourself, change your mindset and just enjoy being on two wheels. It will come back. 🙂

Good luck and do report back!

My advice would be chill out and focus on the kind of riding you enjoy for a while, until the desire to push yourself comes back. Even if you retreat firmly into your comfort zone, the mojo will come back again. Focus less on what you think you should be able to do, and more on what you enjoy about riding.

I find getting straight back on the bike helps.

I crahsed badly in Spain and jumped straight back on the bike, 3 days later I broke my arm, so maybe not the right advice!

I do find just MTFU (or WTFU) works a lot of the time though, sometimes getting back and doing it again results in you tensing up and riding even worse, in that case start slowly/small and build up again. Or it all goes well and you nail it 2nd time around and the crash is instantly forgotten.

I do seem to crash a lot though so I’m probably just getting used to it!

where are you based?

+1 Anotherdeadhero

Do some gentle bike riding that you’ll enjoy 😀

Don’t worry about speed/distance/grrr factor, just build up some good memories of bike riding again.

Once you feel more confident then gradually increase speed/distance/grrr factor until you’re happy 8)

sometimes getting back and doing it again results in you tensing up and riding even worse,

Think this is where I’m at.

Phil, I live in Leeds. There is plenty of riding around where I live, I just don’t have the confidence to ride with a group any more so maybe cinnamon’s advice might be the best for me. I just feel like I suck on the bike at the moment!

Just ride your bike cos you want to ride it. If you don’t feel like riding on a particular day then don’t. Why put pressure on yourself?

You don’t need to make it difficult!

all above advice +1

and if still dont feel like your enjoying it sell up and take up fishing or something?

What CG and some others are saying, just get time on the bike without trying to Achieve anything. When you’ve got space weave about, pop manuals, do some skids, basically play around until it’s fun again.

If you can get to a skills course this will help for sure. You may find that your technique is lacking and this is why or contributory to your unfortunate recent off’s. When you then start to get stuff dialed on the course your confidence will come on leaps and bounds and you will relax more on the bike and it will help even more.

I have many issues with bike confidence and it takes a long time to build it up. Could you perhaps just go back to basics and potter along the canal for a bit, zooming up towards Skipton and back just to get some basic riding time in?

I had a long break due to time pressures and was quite scared about getting back on the bike for fear of not being able to ride even the basic stuff but in the end it was ok and I just needed to start with easy stuff. Do you have a favourite comfort zone loop near you that you can do all/bits of? I have a route involving Calverley woods that I do as my first ride every time I have a break from riding, its not technical at all but helps with just being back out on the bike and feeling comfortable on the bike again. Also, you could try going to Sherwood pines as the red route there is a good confidence builder I feel.

Also, don’t be hard on yourself if you find you get scared on stuff you wouldn’t normally bat an eyelid over, thats a sure fire way to make yourself feel worse!

Another thing to add – I changed from SPDs to flats because I spent so much time unclipped due to wanting to be able to bail easily that the SPDs weren’t doing much for me. Once I changed pedals I felt much better as its easy to just stop and stand off the bike if I want to (frequently…)

+1 on going out and taking things at your own pace, building up the confidence.
I had a similair experience earlier in the year when I managed to fall off and dislocate my right shoulder.
It took over 6 weeks before I rode again and then another 3 weeks before I rode the bike that launched me. (friends again now!)
I am still slightly hesitant on downhill sections and over jumps, but it is slowly coming back.
I used the experience as justification for buying a reverb, so some positives, I think…..

Why dont you try leaving the bike alone for a while and go out on the hills walking then see how you feel.Beating yourself up about it wont help you in the end.Hope you sort it.Bike riding should be fun not a test.

Do something different like going to a pump track or go to a bike park and ride some of the easy stuff.. just focus on fun and getting your flow back

mrsmouse, I rejected SPD’s for the same reason, much happier in flats.

I think I will just have to try and build up again. It’s difficult for me to build a lot of fitness and stamina as well because I have Crohns and that can result in missing a few weeks training if it flares up. Building good, consistent base fitness is hard with that going on because I can be very fatigued, and riding when tired or weakened usually means I won’t concentrate as well. I don’t want to “give in” to having a chronic illness and limiting myself IYSWIM, so I sometimes push myself a bit too hard. I don’t want to stop trying though, I guess that’s the main thing!

Practice small. And often if you can.
Just little things like drops off kerbs, but getting the technique spot on. Then build back up gradually.

Panda – I know what you mean, I too struggle with building fitness (as well as confidence) and know what you mean about not wanting to give in to the lack of energy. Its very frustrating to feel like you’ve lost the thing you spent ages trying to get and I find it difficult to accept that I can’t be superwoman even though I want to!

Be kind to yourself and just do what you feel like doing, even if you’re frustrated that you can’t do things you think you should be able to!

I fall off a lot, I just find taking it easy the first few rides after and building up slowly (and refusing to get egged on by others if you’re riding in a group) works. The things I struggle with are where you aren’t really at fault for the crash (front tyre blow out etc.) so it stays in the back of your mind that it could happen again at any time. I tend to just get to a point though I think “**** it, I’m already going fast enough it would hurt so I may as well go faster and what happens happens”