I had a big crash a week or so ago and knocked myself out and had a trip to A&E for x rays and a CT scan. I’ve ridden a couple of times since (Monday and last night) but seem to be suffering big time with my confidence, even on trails I know pretty well. Both rides have also entailed stupid crashes.

My main concern is that I am supposed to be going to Antur in two weeks time, so need to regather what little ability I had before the crash. I was wondering if a session with Jedi might help.

Just wondering what others have done to get themselves back to where they were pre-crash? Rather than enjoying the riding that I’ve done, I’ve found my self frustrated that I’m not as quick or smooth as I was. I just feel that I’m just hanging on and letting the bike do all of the work rather than pumping and weighting / unweighting the bike.

I’m currently returning from a broken arm and am very reluctant to do anything that might re-break it (which basically means no falling). I found that it helps to think of this phase in terms of a planned rehabilitation. So, rather than just jumping back on the bike and being frustrated that you are not as confident as before, come up with a structured plan i.e. you’ll spend X weeks working on Y etc. So, if the crash occurred on a drop, for example, you’d spend a bit of time practicing on kerbs and building up slowly to bigger drops.

Unfortunately, us humans are really quite irrational!

For us, “normal” is any situation where we have got used to what ever is currently happening being the normal situation. This is why a stunt plane pilot can pull 5g, whilst going sideways at 300mph about 5feet off the deck and not raise an eyebrow, but any other person in the passenger seat would be sh**ing themselves! So, over time, you get used to the speed at which you ride, and you find a speed at which, for the vast majority of the time, you can go without crashing too much. After a big off, the mind naturally goes, “cripes, not sure i want to do THAT again” so you internal speed limit gets knocked down a touch. In order to raise it back up again, you will need to spend time making it “normal” again. That will not happen overnight!

A skills course can help, as can any external re-enforcement to your brain learning again that yes if fact you can ride at your old speed and not fall off too much, but nothing beats just going out and riding. Start slow, work HARD on technique, even if the speed you’re travelling doesn’t warrant it, and you’ll find yourself going faster and faster without realising it 😉

a sesh with Jedi will always help.

As Rover says practice on some small stuff.

Go back to basics, understand what went wrong on your crashes…work your way back up slowly, don’t rush it. It will all come together.

go easy on yourself dude… you been riding with people or on your own?

I had two massive offs at revo on sunday sporting some very colourful injuries and some very wobbly teeth. bike is fine though.

You need to come riding with us dude we’ll get your confidence back 😉

I’ve had many big crashes over the years and a few broken bones and had to pick my self up and regroup to get riding again.

The method that works for me is first understanding why you crashed. Was it bad technique? Did you simply just ride into a obstacle too fast etc… This may require you to get some tuition first so you have the knowledge to analyse the crash. Then once I understand why I crashed, I can rationalise the risk and limit the chance of it happening again.

Once I am thinking rationally again rather than thinking “the whole trail wants to kill me” the second step is to take it easy and simply have fun. The fun aspect reminds me of why I started riding bikes in the first place. Take baby steps so you are always on the rise but at a sustainable pace and always end a ride stopping just short of your potential so you are left wanting more. Also stops you going too far and overstepping the line putting back at rock bottom.

Confidence is key, you might have the best skills in the world but if you go in confident you can mess it up. Personally if my confidence has taken a big knock then I probably wouldn’t be riding at place like Antur. But everyone works differently and I am no expert so might be a different set of rules for you.

I’m in a similar position after spending Easter Sunday in a&e having broken my lid on impact. I’m trying to regain confidence on trails I know well and are well within my ability and hoping the speed and confidence will come back

I’ve found that riding everything except the feature that had me off rebuillds my confidence, until I am comfortable riding it again.

I find that you get to the point of thinking ‘well i’m riding other harder and bigger stuff, time i mtfu’

I recently crashed on my local dh track, I have ridden the certain troublesome section before without thinking twice about it, all of a sudden I have a crash into some big rocks and a tree, I was fine, bike needed a new brake lever and master cylinder. I went back and crashed a further twice in the exact same spot doing the exact same thing.

Coming in from a 10ft double, mad mash of the pedals for a 14ft double, your going in pretty quick, it is a fairly flat rocky and rooty section, fairly steep rocky and rooty 90degree turn, a very steep rocky and rooty chute followed by a nice tight berm, all 3 times went straight over the berm into trees and rocks. Ever since that any sign of steep and rocky had me struggling, even walking, so I went back to crash site, stood at the top and picked a line, found out where I was going wrong, rode it 3 times straight after each other, each time at race pace and rode it bang on, since then, feeling happy with myself, had my confidence back and happily send it down rocky trails again no problem.

In short, don’t rush it, don’t stress out too much, give it time, keep riding the stuff you binned it on, and your confidence will come back.

passtherizla – Member

go easy on yourself dude… you been riding with people or on your own?

I had two massive offs at revo on sunday sporting some very colourful injuries and some very wobbly teeth. bike is fine though.

You need to come riding with us dude we’ll get your confidence back

Been riding on my todd as I often do…I was even mincing around the Dog on Monday. Tried Stile Cop last night but I just seemed super slow down everything.

I don’t really know what went wrong when I crashed – its a drop that I’ve done loads that has been built up and had a lip added. I reckon I just hit it too fast and having crashed already that day and hurt my shoulder I was all over the place in the air.

And that’s why adding jump-like features to obstacles that arent jumps realllllyyyy grinds my gears, not everything needs a lip or a kicker ya kno.

And that’s why adding jump-like features to obstacles that arent jumps realllllyyyy grinds my gears, not everything needs a lip or a kicker ya kno.

Not built by me or anyone I know. It’s not a drop that needed it because it had a fast run in and a nice enough transition to land on.

I went to Antur four months after having an almost life changing crash – it beat me up a lot on the hardtail and I stayed off the upper section of the blacks and went nowhere near that massive drop at the bottom! It was still a fun day out once I’d got over the initial trepidation at the top of the uplift.

I’m still building my confidence back almost a year later. My mindset nowadays is “I’m not riding that unless I think it’ll be no problem at all”. That may sound over-cautious but I don’t trust the fear not to step in and remove all my merely average skills right when I need all the skills I possess!

I don’t know if you saw my post on another thread but you’ve been making a lot of typos – new phone or still a bit addled?!

I don’t know if you saw my post on another thread but you’ve been making a lot of typos – new phone or still a bit addled?!

I did and I think it was due to being a bit addled still – my typing on a proper keyboard feels awful and I’m much slower navigating around Excel on the keyboard than I remember. It’s had a bigeer impact than I thought it did / would have.

Yep, had alot of crashes over the years, one recently that ended in 17 stitches. i always find that getting back on the bike is a big part of getting over the injury, you’ve done that, so i woudlnt beat yourself up about being slower, as previous start back slowly and the confidence will return.

i find that once you start to analyse it you’ll come off more at the worse it will become

OP years ago I had a fairly big one. It knocked my confidence for years. Slowed me down in an instant. I’d try anything and I’d try anything first time without hesitating. After I was full of self-doubt on the bike. Mind-crunchily/couldnt get my head round frustration.

With hindsight I should have just taken it easy and not fought inner-demons so I say this- TAKE IT EASY, it’ll come back.

Since then I bust my knee, almost broke my pelvis/hip/rotor cuff tear, landed on my arm that was a clean through break at the top of the Humerus (that went grean/black all down the arm again but held) and again it didn’t make me flinch. Hopped straight back on after a few weeks each time.

The key is **** relax. Take weeks but take your time.

Loads of threads on here on exactly this subject; it’s getting nearly as common as the wheel size threads 😆 In summary, what you’re experiencing is not unusual and (in my experience) the confidence will come back in time. Be patient, slow down, focus on being smooth and the rest will come. Took me months if not a year.

It is a very healthy attitude that you are blessed with! Having the good sense to ease off a little after a big stack is positive and getting out there and trying is the first steps of recovering confidence and speed.

Keep taking it steady and if you are still taking it too steady at Antur Stiniog then I’d just try and ride smooth, relaxed and within your comfort zone. Enjoy the fact that you are back out on your bike and accept it will take some time – there is no real hurry and the pressure is only coming from you.

I’ve had quite a few big offs in the last 6 months and have battered shoulders and knees on both sides. I am getting more confident since my last stack at the Dyfi and relaxing on rides more. But I am not taking the same risks as I have been.

So go a bit slower and try and ride as well as you can. Speed will come as you get back in the groove.

I lost a lot of confidence after having a few fairly big offs. There was no major damage or anything but it was the regularity of them that was making me realise there was something fundamentally wrong with my riding. I traced it back to trying too hard on things like jumps and drops and as a result ending up totally out of shape leading to bad landings etc. I wound my riding right back, started going slower and working on technique and just worked it up from there. I’m a much better and faster rider now. Its also knowing when to call it a day as well. Nowadays i try avoid big technical descents if I’m knackered because I know its just going to end badly and end up ruining the ride for me.

Not built by me or anyone I know. It’s not a drop that needed it because it had a fast run in and a nice enough transition to land on.

Aye yeah I wasn’t aiming that accusation of adding a kicker round a blind corner on a very popular trail at you – more at the sneaky builders who go behind the backs of the *actual* builders and add something silly on a well ridden trial without thinking about chicken lines for the unprepared!

Be patient – it will take a while to regain confidence.

After I broke my hip it took about 9 months (and changing to a 29er).

My speed and confidence then increased until it exceeded where I was before the crash until ….
I crashed badly and dislocated my shoulder a few weeks ago – now I am back to basics again and once more patiently building back my confidence and nerve.

Hmmm. Not sure I like the sound of months of trail mincing! I’ve always got back on the bike and been ok in the past….although it’s always been cuts and bruises without A&E trips.

May use this as an excuse to see Jedi…it may just work. I normally love getting out on my bike and even enjoy the little rides but I did struggle with the last two mainly because of my frustration.

Carax maybe your not as nimble etc as you once were?

At somepoint we have to start future-proofing ourselves. To enable us to ride for longer into later life rather than hobble around in our 50’s like ex amateur Rugby players.

Riding on your own sucks when confidence is low… nice to be riding with your buddies who are at least there to pick you up when you fall. I had to be driven home on Sunday from Revo, Couldn’t do that on my own and the potential for hurting yourself on any sizeable drop is very real. pootling round the dog is different 😉

If you want some more people to go riding with I am usually free. Ribbesford is so much fun that it inspires confidence, some good practice jumps and generally just ace.

Andy – I may well take you up on that. The other Andy is often busy with family stuff and wants to ride his new road bike a lot at the mo whereas I’ve gone from more or less being a roadie lasts summer to wanting to ride off road all the time.

I’ve had a couple of big crashes. My advice is to only get back on the bike when you are sure you are ready. Don’t rush things if you don’t want to. Then when you are ready start riding and expand the stuff you feel you can cope with – some people do this incrementally, others take big steps.

Most people successfully get their confidence back and get the old enjoyment out of it again – so don’t over-think or worry about it.

More than welcome dude… top drop at hopwas got your name all over it

Which top drop is that? The one at the start of the three drops into sketchy table top? If so done that already.

I’ve booked in with Jedi on Monday to see if he can give me a helping hand.

I went stiniog the other week after crashing on nearly every recent some very quick otb in the peaks to lid smashing on a double, so I was shot of confidence on drops and at speed because of my otb. I was worried when I got there but after the first run I was back to my old self! The trails are so well made that most of the drops you come across on the red and blues are very easy because of the speed you pick up and the fact all the jumps are so well made. I’d be surprised if you didn’t come back with some new confidence.

ah wicked have you done the two gaps next to each other yet? they’re ace! it’s all in the mind! I get a bit sick when i do stuff i didn’t think I could do, adrenalin I suppose. Jedi will be ace you’ll be hitting that 40 footer at kinver in no time 😉

And… as above ‘Stinky’ as we have nicknamed it (stin ee og sounds a bit like stinky dog) is nicely built and the jump lines are nice and wide, so you’ll be fine just take it easy and don’t do the double black straight off.

I had a “silly” off In Molini couple of weeks ago, nowt serious,hurt my ribs, it never runed the holiday but certainly spoiled it a little for me, knocked my confidence for 6 and Molini’s not the place with no confidence 😕 but since I came back Ive been riding like a pig, decided just to ride my bike often and wait until it comes back….as it always does 🙂

I was mincing tonight but my knee is quite sore and the gash not yet healed and I don’t want to set myself back. I am very glad to be riding again after a few weeks off the bike and lots of visits to dressing clinic etc.

Next week will be a bit quicker and the week after that I hope to be ready to attack