I am 34 and love riding bikes.

Just lately I have lost my Mojo.

I freeze at the slightest of sketchy bits – rocks, north shore, drops, any gradient greater than rolling off the back of a lady bird.

Do I just need to have a balls out session and break the bad Karma, does anyone else go through this?

I am new to the sport <1yr, so shall I just give my self a break and build up?

What makes matters worse is that I am completely over-biked and feel a fraud!

Help

Ride with someone slightly ‘better’ than you is a good tip

There are lots of things you can do. Look for some riding partners who are a bit more experienced than you and simply follow what they do or ask them for advice. Some on here are professional coaches/riding instructors who will teach you how to ride technical trails for a fee. The last is to analyse exactly what it is you are having trouble with and mentally picture how you can do it.

have a break for a few weeks, then come back to it.

I lost my mojo twice last year, came back after a few weekends of good rides , just stay on the bike and ride
It will soon return , mine was caused by heavy crashes so I took it easy for a while and bingo 😛

Try riding all your favourite bits for a while then get back into the difficult bits again

Sunday I rode the bit I feared the most no probs, also try mirroring the guy in front unless he is laying
in a heap in the trail before you

get yourself on a training course, that’ll build up your confidence

Try not to over analyze the trail.

who told you, you were over biked?

no such thing, so long as its not too heavy to pedal where you want it to go
thats just internet tripe

relax, build up slowly, dont worry about it, ride with better riders, book yourself on a skills course.

oh and buy a new bike and some oakleys

Rein it in a bit, ride stuff you know and enjoy and just have fun.

Have a break and relax, don’t get hung up, go out with some different riders.

Remember its not a war. Come ride with me for a day – i’m crap, you’ll feel like a mountaingbiking god!!

I would try to do some different kinds of ride for a bit – if you’re typical ride is 15 miles and quite techical, do a few weeks of 20-25 miles with less techy stuff and more fitness-type work. That way, you can ‘console’ yourself by gaining fitness (or at least not losing it).

After a few weeks, you will probably be itching for a quick techy blast – so much so that hopefully you’ll be there at the bottom of your most challenging descent before you know it!

Good luck – I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of rides I have regretted going on (crashes and not recovering from colds mainly), but every wilfully ‘ducked’ ride hurts! Especially when you’re back at work on the Monday – “oh, if only I’d made the most of my weekend!”

It’s just like riding a ………… oh, never mind, you get the picture.

Try not to be to hard on yourself, im not the most daring of riders. Im not a fan of drop off’s but do everything else like steep drops etc… I used to ride with guys who are pretty much semi pro when I first started to ride and used to shit myself before seeing technical sections just because they said “be careful here”.

I ride with someone slightly more skilled than me so following him really helps. We now run a rule of not talking about technical sections except for warning you when you have no choice but to go for it. There are things in trail centres that are super easy that became my nemesis on the day because of people over hyping.

OP where do you normally ride?

I have to say the best option I have for mojo returning is to ride with mates who are better than you, at full belt, until you can’t ride any faster.

My mate bought some Yellow mavic shoes…………worked for him!!

It worked the other way for me – did a few local but long rides on my own, sessioned a few techy bits and generally got back into the swing.

Then I went out with the fast lads 😯

Made ’em wait at every gate!

ljs1977, I’ve been there.

Can’t really put my finger on when I stopped “having it”, but I went from someone who thought f-it and launched a large road gap on a sketchy bike to the point I’d lost all faith in my ability to jump/drop, finding myself shying away from a drop I’d ridden the week previous.

It felt like I was going backwards, not forwards, and I often came home from rides so pissed off I just wanted to pack it all in.

Had one session with Tony @ UKBIKESKILLS a few months ago and my “have it” returned this Sunday.

Book yourself a session and you wont look back 😉

Ride somewhere different. If you know the places that cause the fear, you are going to build up mental blocks to riding them. Ride somewhere new or do your route in reverse.

No harm in taking the time to analyse the bits that scare you, but just remember that over thinking a problem will make it more of an issue. Relax and enjoy. Also, generally speaking, if you can hold a line that means the wheels are aligned, the bike will naturally work for you. Just make sure your centre of gravity is in the right place.

Go ride and enjoy …you’ll feel better.

sometimes it can be a simple thing in your riding that you have stopped doing physically, for instance on a bmx if you stop look you dont spin your 360. riders sometimes know what they have done wrong and correct it. if not , it goes unrecognized and becomes part of their riding and then it effects them mentally. does that make sense? go back to the start and ride simple stuff and get that right and build from there 🙂

Go see Jedi.

Also, I find that I sometimes baulk at doing stuff the first time I come across it. But if I stop, have a look at it and take another run, it’s not so bad – much better than just rolling over/around stuff then getting back and wishing you’d done it.

Relax – get in the right mindset (which for me is almost switched off… so I ride without thinking about it).

Listen to some music?

Ride with someone more skilled than you?