I'm off to see Jedi on Thursday morning for a much needed skills session. The following post is a harsh appraisal of my riding:
I've had a couple of big falls off the bike since I started riding, well... more than a couple, I can look back and identify what I did wrong in each instance (following a friends line blindly, saddle too high on techy descent, weight too far forward, riding a section 'blind' downhill staring at my front wheel as it twisted in a rut... stupid stuff!). Each accident has knocked my confidence and more often than not it has resulted in injury. But I LOVE riding bikes with friends, so the diminished confidence is forced to take a back-seat and I always try and get back on the bike as soon as possible, each time with something extra holding me back.
Recently my riding buddies and I have been slipping into the habit of increasing the percentage of the ride where we're pushing the miles in on fire-roads instead of messing around on singletrack. As ride 'leader' I must admit it's largely down to me loosing a lot of confidence from my last 'off' which resulted in many hours strapped to a spinal board and enough emergency service personal to make me feel comfortable paying tax for the rest of my life!
I'm pretty comfortable on singletrack (compared to my other beginner riding buddies), my pace and momentum through it has improved dramatically over time, so despite my knocked confidence... on reflection I must admit that I am faster and my technique is better than before when I was a complete beginner... my head and technique are now the things holding me back instead of bike-fitness.
Saying I've improved is one thing, it's nice to reflect on something positive... but I know there's a lot to learn with regards to improving my technique and confidence:
- I'm aware my footwork needs working on.
- As I get mentally tired on a ride my looking gets closer and closer to the front wheel = silly mistakes.
- I'm not confortable with the back wheel off the ground.
- The steeper the downhill the quicker my brain panics.
So that's how awful I am the bike, reading most of the blogs that Jedi writes up inspire confidence in his ability to take a relative beginner to the point where they're happy with wheels off the ground and reviews are a great way of seeing that the riders loved it and have come away with increased confidence. Mrsconsequence went for a session with him, didnt stop raving about it for weeks and her confidence and momentum when riding has improved hugely, she even pops off every little feature she can spot to get some air 
But Mrsconsequence is a stronger persona than I, and luckily hasn't ever had a crash/injury on a bike... watching the videos of people sailing over tabletops, the gap jump and riding fullbouncyhorses do make me nervous also. I'm worried I'll be the idiot who turns up, then spends the rest of the session in the back of an ambulance after washing out at 2mph in the car-park 
I will admit that I'd still be a happy rider if I never improved as I genuinely love playing in the woods with friends, I'd almost go as far as saying that if more crashes result in not enough confidence to ride over a pebble I'd take up road riding and still love whatever bike-time I could handle... but I'm hoping the session with Jedi goes towards kicking my brain back into the right place, any new skills or improved skills on top of that are a bonus
Not expecting any replies to this apart from maybe 'INRATS' 'TL;DR' or 'man up you wimp' but I would definitely appreciate any replies from people who have been on a session with Jedi about how it helped them, or just a little reassurance I'm not going to die on my crappy hardtail!
Thanks in advance to anybody who's taken all the time to read all that!
fanny and I'm scared!' 
