Negativity Warning. Skip this post if you're looking for something positive! As I mentioned in my last post, I'm seriously considering if trials comps are something I'm going to continue wasting my time on. Every event this year has had me coming home frustrated that my results show virtually no improvement, despite the fact that I know many of my skills have improved. I come home disappointed, frustrated and frankly somewhat depressed. I haven't even wanted to look at my bike since last weekend, and I usually ride most days. Doing housework and mowing the lawn has been preferable to riding! I don't go to events looking for a win or a place - I'm never going to be at the level of some of the riders with either decades more experience than me, nor those with many decades more life ahead of them. That's fine. I do go to events hoping to ride in a manner that I feel reflects something not too far from what I can do in practice. But it never does. I get faced with obstacles that would be challenging but not impossible in practice and all technique goes out the window, I effectively just close my eyes and throw myself at them. Doesn't end well. Despite getting better at going into events with a more relaxed mindset, feeling slightly more confident and less nervous, I still end up riding stiff and jerky. Most events are 3 hours plus drive from me (last weekend for instance was nearly 5 hours each way) so they often entail leaving the night before, camping somewhere on the way, or a very long day. Then there's the fuel & entry fees so roughly another $150 / day. For what? Frustration. It's nice to catch up with people - I only see Wes at events, and there's a few others I've come to know & enjoy their company over the past few years, but it's a costly (time, effort & money) way to chat to people for a few hours! The trouble is that without that goal of checking my progress against sections and others I'm not sure how my motivation to ride will continue. I enjoy practice a lot more than I enjoy competition, but the comps have provided a certain amount of focus and motivation. The other big part of comps is that I get to ride on different terrain, that's possibly one of the biggest motivators for going. But considering that, the sections just spoil a good day out playing on new terrain! I have been planning on going to South Australia, where I grew up, for Nationals in late Sept. They are running 5 days of comps & 2 days of practice over a 9 day period. Seemed like a good opportunity to get in a bunch of riding on new terrain and catch up with some friends I haven't seen for 20 years or so. But I've backed right away from that now. Probably around 20 hours + of driving, hundreds of dollars cost for what? More frustration? Not worth it! So that's now dropped off the agenda. To be honest it makes me question if I want to keep riding trials at all. There's plenty of other games to play in life. Certainly my family would be happy if I stopped spending all this time on it. Heck, going back to work could be more satisfying than going to a comp, and that's saying something.
Posted by Peter Mack at 2023-08-24 01:46:09 UTC