[Closed] How can I learn to look further ahead?

Remember the Bearded One's words: "Keep your chin up".

Umm.. never really thought about it.

Ok now I've thought about it. I suspect that how far you look down the trail is determined by how fast you are going, not the other way round. Your brain looks where it needs to look I reckon. Just practice lots, you'll get better and find yourself doing it automatically.

Have you tried sessioning a certain bit of trail?

Are you not finding that your percentage of time doing good looking is increasing compared to the proportion of bad looking? Surely that will increase with continued practice? At my first enduro race I stuck some white tape on my bars and wrote "LOOK WAY AHEAD" on it, to remind me if I found myself looking down!

For me it's the corners - I just 'shout' (quietly in my head) "look around the corner, not at the apex".
I'm noticeably quicker if I don't 'death stare' at the apex, rather look at the exit and beyond....

But I know what you mean - it's just a case of practising the obvious!

DrP

I know what you mean, I find myself looking down over every jump or drop rather than where I'm going. But I had a real effort to do it this weekend and I noticed the difference.

I think practice is the way to go.

Here's a crazy idea - how about a helmet cam - go down the trail and try to keep the cam pointed at the vanishing point on the trail - you'll get some good footage and the need to get the cam on the point will make you consciously do it.

Bit of string tied to your helmet and backpack adjusted to pull your head back 😉

Choose a drop or a corner and "session" till you have got it sorted 💡

I just do the talking to myself. If it is a difficult drop or tight, fast corner I just take a deep breath, drop my shoulders, give myself a talking to 🙄

There will be days when your head is full of other "stuff" and your concentration has gone awol, sure it happens to most of us. The other thing is to relax a bit and enjoy till it does come right which it will 😀

Repeat after me:

Head up! Heels Down!
Head up! Heels Down!
Head up! Heels Down!
Head up! Heels Down!

Had to stop doing the "exaggerated" heels down stuff due to it contributing to my knee problems 🙄 30 yrs of biking, squash and concrete floors have taken their toll ❗

Give yourself a running, outload, commentory of the trails ahead.

I find that when I'm tired or it's all happening a wee bit too fast, especially on new trails (but practise on stuff you know too), hearing the words, like a command makes it easier to process than letting my spaghetti brain deal with all the info. It's the same technique they use for advance driving..

Also having clocked feature and said the words you're brain is already half way there with a plan to tackle it and you're already scanning for the next thing.

You might get some weird looks but it works.

I have the same problems. I managed it once in a race by really forcing myself and it had an extraordinary effect. Never managed it since though.

I can see myself ranting on out loud through the woods this winter.....

The 'keep your chin up' thing is interesting.

I have set my helmet light up but have caught myself having a problem with the light not being high enough on nightrides......except it is, or it would be, if I was looking right, with my chin up. So that acts as a good reminder. However, I still have to fight it. I know I am looking at the ground, I know I need to look up, so I do, then 20 seconds later, I am looking too close again.

I try and practice 'looking ahead' every time I go out on the bike, (and when I am driving, although I never have any problem with it in the car) but it just isn't sinking in! Dropping outside foot on corners..that's sunk in. Not braking on roots....that's sunk in. Pumping the trail.....that's kind of sinking in...but looking ahead? mostly not.

This is really basic stuff that I should be able to do by now! I am a reasonable rider and have decent technical ability, but just can't consistently manage this one, basic thing.

It's sooooo frustrating as I know it is the 'glass ceiling' in my riding ability at the moment and I cannot break through it. 😡

Oh btw, I am regularly heard shouting at myself to 'look ahead' when riding so am already working with a running commentary. 'hold your line' and 'don't ******* brake' are also common! 😆

you know what your problem is so:

practice
practice
practice

repeat ad nauseam...

Commentary is a good one- out loud to start with then in your head once you've got the hang of it.
A bright sticker on your stem cap is good too- if you're looking far enough ahead it should just be at the bottom of your vision..

Right then, more practice, more commentary, more chin-up, more heels down (they tend to be anyway as I ride flats)

Will try all the above.......again, and again, and again 😡

I like the light idea... May have to steal that one.

Yeah I still have to keep reminding myself as I seem to default into a lazy mode of looking just in front if not careful. I figure eventually it will become the norm for me to look far down the trails/around corners but I'm guessing I don't ride enough for that to happen atm...

I have the same tendency to look about a foot ahead of my front wheel. But I know that my subconscious has already seen the next few metres and it (and the bike) can steer a safe line.

If I look up fast then I fear that there will be a bit inbetween that hasn't been seen.

So what I do is raise my head slowly and that seems to work.

Oddly, I was on a windy slippery cliff walk yesterday in South Wales and the same thing applied - you were scared to take your eyes off where you were about to step, but that meant you weren't looking at the bigger picture.

practice on a trail and try and push forward at a reasonable speed.

this will be problematic and feel dodgy/scary if you look down, and you may constantly be stopping yourself as you make a mess of a corner.

Look forward, however, and ride the 'processed' trail and you won't have these incidents/frustrations.

Don't just practice at a lower speed were you can 'get away' with either technique.

Commentory should be specific 'what's coming up' rather than, hold your line etc.

'Left hand, off camber corner'
- which leads to actions to be taken for a left hand corner type thoughts ie.- brake(maybe) - off brakes - check exit - wide in / tight out - right foot down - etc etc

Maybe we could fashion some sort of collar for you Jo so that you don't have any choice? 😉

Ha! Well I ride in a neck brace and you may expect that to help....but no.

Perhaps some kind of electrical shock device wired into my eyeline may be the solution - anyone fancy a go?

Agree with practising at speed. I can manage to look up when on cruise speed, it's when I need to up-the-ante I struggle.

Will try the more 'specific' commentary. I can see that helping a lot.

Also agree that your subconscious brain takes in a lot without you realising. Sometimes I amaze myself at what I have managed to deal with when I haven't even had chance to process the trail with the conscious brain. However, a lot of it is also trail memory, so practice on a single bit of trail actually isn't that beneficial as I just learn the trail rather than learn to look ahead.

I was talking to a mutual friend at the weekend about how things change when the pace increases - something I've got to practice.