Good morning (at least is here in Oxford, Uk!) Spring is here and the 🌞 has come to visit! 😀 I don’t know if this is the place for this but I wanted to see if anyone has anything to say to help with issues I’m having, not so much in the skills side but the psychological approach to trials riding. This might be a long post (sorry!) I’ve only just joined up here, I’m in my early 50’s and been riding bikes since I was a kid but only just come to trials, I’ve done six months and about seven trials so far plus some practicing and a days coaching with Alexz Wigg who lives nearby. Static balancing is coming on, figure 8’s are good I think (will post video when I can), basic log hopping works at a low level but I haven’t got RSG down yet. Technically, I’m happy with my progress. My big issue is that when I enter a trial I freeze up and get ‘rabbit in the headlights’ syndrome! I suddenly feel I can’t balance properly or aim the bike, almost like I’ve forgotten how to ride. Despite walking sections sometimes twice I will doubt what I remember and then sometimes miss flags or take the wrong route. Twice on Saturday, on an easy (although incredibly slippery wet clay) section I was aiming for a rut to get out of a ditch and completely missed it and flattened the flag (5!!). Twice, same section!! I fell flat on my back on a slippery ascent as I didn’t commit convincingly or early enough and lost traction. Me in the ditch, bike on top of me! I will see a drop off alongside where I’m going and just panic, grip the bars and then it’s feet down and game over. I could go on but you get the idea. I’m not sure how to overcome this, I need to be able to relax and let the bike do the work but seem to overthink and panic all the while. Not good, and the more it happens the worse it feels. I got a score of 100 on Saturday, at least 25 of which were due to going the wrong route or the wrong side of flags. My mate Dave who has less skills due to not practicing much and has only done 3 trials but just ploughs in. As a result he beat me by 10 points! Has anyone else had this? I’ll be honest, I’ve never been great with heights which doesn’t help but it’s something I’d like to get my head around. Id be grateful for any advice. Thanks for reading the long post!

Posted by Deleted (c95fcca7) at 2022-03-22 10:25:16 UTC