The Mental Game

rossage

rossage

iMTB Hooligan
So, yesterday's ride got some of us thinking about a different aspect of mtbing that many do not talk about, the mental game.
We all talk about physical feats of climbing and singletrack dexterity but few of us mention the brainwork involved in getting there. Sometimes the mental game starts with just trying to get out of bed in the morning.
It's cold and dark and the bed has you in a stranglehold. Your SO might even whisper loving words to try and tempt you into staying under covers. You make the decision and your feet hit the cold floor. That's the first step of many that you and your brain need to make on every ride.
Getting your gear together takes more brain work and for me-a formula just to keep things straight. The day's ride throws in variables about clothing, packs, gear and water availability. For me it's a quick mantra and my stuff is in the bag and ready to go.
At the trailhead things can get interesting too. You see Johnny Mountain Crusher, Frankie Fireroad, and Suzy Singletrack and they are fit and ready to rip. Your ego sulks...the mental game. You are psyching yourself out already. Even though you never train, or ride infrequently at best, your dreams of beating everyone to the top of Denali are crushed at the gate.
We all have fears and doubts and insecurities and they can come to the front when jumping on an mtb. Any boasting about epic feats is soon proven so because it is apparent that you've been watching way more Rampage than actually riding. Or you could just be having a bad day. Even a slight illness or lingering injury can turn a romp into a sufferfest.
That's the mental game. You have to be honest with yourself about what you are trying to do. Use tips and tricks to convince yourself that what you are trying to do is possible-while reminding yourself that maybe, at this time, you might not be physically ready. There is no shame in walking a feature-we have all done it. Use your brain and live to ride another day.
I constantly re-assess my mental condition during rides. Getting grumpy or angry usually has other underlying issues like dehydration or bonking. Fear can increase even a small drop into a life-ending chasm of darkness and fear has kept many from joining our sport-or returning to it after a bad experience.
We can all help by talking to other riders and helping them with their mindset along the way. Encouragement, advice, apat on the back, and maybe even a peice of candy can go a long way to saving the day-and the ride.
Maybe that's why we wear helmets-to keep our wits about us until it's over.
And then we do it again.
 
I just follow you @rossage , well EXCEPT when you try to pull over the side of the trail to let some hikers go by :eek:
I don't wanna pull a tandem helicopter ride to the ER :speechless:
You're right though, I know my limits and I will walk stuff that I am not sure about. I am all about the watch and learn though. Following @herzalot down stairsteps or carwreck down in his hood, or following @bvader down Joplin and the luge, watching @mike work his magic on upper Holy Jim. That's part of my mental game :)
Organizing and leading rides used to be my big fear. Who's gonna show? Are they going to get annoyed waiting for me? Is the trail going to be way above their heads? Is it going to be a big cluster-f? What kind of egos am I going to be dealing with? etc.

Edit: As far a encouragement goes, a pat on the back is only 18 inches away from a kick in the pants ;)
 
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I agree.....sometimes the mental aspect of riding is actually more work than the actual pedaling.

Pushing beyond what you think is physically possible is the biggest mental hurdle I was able to overcome. Followed closely by being able to tune out the pain.

Riding in the cold, I am getting better about....but some of that comes with just having better gear.

I know my limits....but I still like to test them from time to time. Consequences for failure are usually the limiting factor.

I found that setting a goal....whether it be for this ride, this month/week/year, this trail....makes the mental game much easier to win.

All you gotta do is try.
 
I often ride first thing in the morning. I get ready for the ride the night before - and have my bike and gear in the car, and my hydration pack sitting in the kitchen. I even pull out my bike clothing.

Then, when I wake up before dawn, I don't have to bump around in the dark. I feel my way into my closet, shut the door, and can turn on the light and dress without waking up my wife. Then I go to the kitchen grab a fast breakfast and cup of coffee, and fill my pack and walk out the door.

I'm almost on the trail before I fully wake up :) The key is not letting your brain function before you start pedaling :)
 
BonsaiNut said:
I often ride first thing in the morning. I get ready for the ride the night before - and have my bike and gear in the car, and my hydration pack sitting in the kitchen. I even pull out my bike clothing.

Then, when I wake up before dawn, I don't have to bump around in the dark. I feel my way into my closet, shut the door, and can turn on the light and dress without waking up my wife. Then I go to the kitchen grab a fast breakfast and cup of coffee, and fill my pack and walk out the door.

I'm almost on the trail before I fully wake up :) The key is not letting your brain function before you start pedaling :)
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Exactly!!!
Works like a charm, to have all your stuff ready the night before :thumbsup:
 
BonsaiNut said:
I often ride first thing in the morning. I get ready for the ride the night before - and have my bike and gear in the car, and my hydration pack sitting in the kitchen. I even pull out my bike clothing.
Very similar prep for epic rides. Local stuff just put the bottles on the bike and grab the the helmet.

Then, when I wake up before dawn, I don't have to bump around in the dark. I feel my way into my closet, shut the door, and can turn on the light and dress without waking up my wife. Then I go to the kitchen grab a fast breakfast and cup of coffee, and fill my pack and walk out the door.

I'm almost on the trail before I fully wake up :) The key is not letting your brain function before you start pedaling :)
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Well said Rossage and Luis and Zilla and Banzai! My wife says I’m not cerebral, and one day it’s gonna be too late to reconsider taking that line or riding at night or riding at all. Ahh, but the memories of those drifts and full moons and safety breaks in the mean time are irresistible!
 
Nice thread guys.

Getting there is half the battle...

I also like the other side of the mental game how riding can wash away a bad day...or on a long hard tough day that started with all sorts of "Excess Roof Chatter" just become pleasantly "quiet"... Just turn that pedal over ... And relax and flow... nothing else matters right now.
 
When I had a bit of a financial crisis several years ago, I became a dedicated bike commuter. No, the weather wasn't that bad, but I had to do it. I had no choice, I couldn't afford the gas not to. And I wanted the mileage for a specific race I wanted to do.

That got me over the mental aspect fast, as I didn't have a choice. Getting out the door is easier now, still commuting every day by choice now. But seriously, when it is 35 outside or raining, it's hard to get motivated, but I still have to get a paycheck and I refuse to drive.
 
bvader said:
Nice thread guys.

Getting there is half the battle...

I also like the other side of the mental game how riding can wash away a bad day...or on a long hard tough day that started with all sorts of "Excess Roof Chatter" just become pleasantly "quiet"... Just turn that pedal over ... And relax and flow... nothing else matters right now.
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Oh yeah! I can' tell you the amount of troubling thoughts that ended up be ground out of existence by my turning cranks.
Cycle-therapy.

@mike props for the censor dodge!:thumbsup:
 
I had a friend tell me that long endurance racers try to set their minds for a specific outcome before the race, so they don't get distracted during the race. It is cool to hear that some of the racers go into a race with the mindset that the day is going to be hard/painful/exhausting, so they are not let down when it happens. My buddy mentioned that some people go into a ride knowing that they had trained and are in great shape, but when they hit the wall it is a huge distress and sometimes the rider can't snap out of it. Riders that go into the day knowing that they will suffer do not have the mental hit when they meet their expectations.
 
Fanatic said:
I had a friend tell me that long endurance racers try to set their minds for a specific outcome before the race, so they don't get distracted during the race. It is cool to hear that some of the racers go into a race with the mindset that the day is going to be hard/painful/exhausting, so they are not let down when it happens. My buddy mentioned that some people go into a ride knowing that they had trained and are in great shape, but when they hit the wall it is a huge distress and sometimes the rider can't snap out of it. Riders that go into the day knowing that they will suffer do not have the mental hit when they meet their expectations.
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Yep. You know that every race is going to suck, not just the endurance races (they just suck more). When the pain and misery really sets in, you just accept it as inevitable, and keep going.
 
Mental game - divided into the bits that I contend with...

Should I stay or Should I go? The commitment to a ride.

Climbing. Embrace the suck. Often it's more physical than mental for me - once I cramp - which I do regularly at about the 3500' mark - there's no mental game anymore. I'm toast.

Technical prowess - This is the true mind-F@ck for me. I don't have the chops for techy switchbacks (since I rarely ride them), and that makes me frustrated. I don't have the juevos for gap jumps, though I know I can do it. Once I stink up a section of trail, I rarely recover my mindset and just end up tripodding everything. That's why Fontana was so good for me. I ALWAYS rode the first practice run so horribly I never wanted to ride again. But I would push back up and give 'er again. By practice run 3 or 4, I was confident and looking for more. (Then I would see @doublewide ride and want to crawl under one of the many rocks again).
 
My mental game has always been about pushing myself to start, and then carry through on, a ride I've planned. It's way too easy for me to say to heck with it, I'm tired/hot/cramped/not into it/et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseam. In other words, I can talk myself out of something way faster than I can talk myself into keeping after it.

So I consciously try to counter that by telling myself I just need to make the next 100 yards, quarter mile, landmark...whatever I need to convince myself I can get there. When I do this, the ride (or run, I do those too) is broken up into manageable segments.

Another mental problem I run into is convincing myself to stop for just 5 minutes...because my brother got me into this riding gig and he's one of those that says never stop, never slow down. I've found that if I allow myself the luxury of a picture stop, or just a "catch my breath stop" I can go much farther much easier. It's also what convinces me I can't ride with others because I'll slow them down.

My mental game is often played to a draw, but more often now I'm able to work past it. :cool:
 
I think cycling is definitely a mental sport. For the most part, your body can do it, but at what point does your brain call it quits?

And spinning wheels is 100% my therapist. Whatever I'm worried about gets left behind.

This is one of the reasons I can't grok people who want to listen to music while they ride solo... for me, the silence from the chatter (internal and external) is what I'm out there for. My wife is the opposite, in that she gets really bored riding, and wants music to keep her occupied. So weird... :)
 
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When my head is not on straight I like to concentrate on burning my calories, and avoiding technical risk. When I am clear and on point and intensely active with my mind I will push myself over more risky features and higher speed descents and challenge my handling skills. Some days you have it, some you don’t. When you don’t just don’t even F@ck around.

In 2007 I broke my Fibula in half near my knee, and a spiral fracture of my Tibia near my Ankle racing for plastic trophies at Fontana in the sport class.

While I am probably 90% full mobility in the ankle and do not have any pain from it, mentally I have NEVER been able to ride as aggressively as I d,id. I can’t commit to a right hand corner like I did. Not even close. I know it’s all in my head but it’s real.
 
With me it is first the lights, once I go illuminated I can give myself a break after work. Before I mount the lamps, I am in a race with the sun, get home get out, or get back in the dark. My biggest mental problem now is not think about work and thinking about the task at hand. Two of my last three crashes were because I was not thinking about riding. The other was when I went two lamps and my brain got confused, went off the trail and over a small exposure. Woke my brain up, tried to correct and painted myself across a slick rock face. Work sucks, I know. And my rib still hurts.
Happy trying to keep my mind on the ball trails.
 
Nagging little injuries or body weaknesses present themselves when we get tired. That’s a really hard thing to overcome, especially on a high consequence trail, but it’s also a huge opportunity to overcome adversity through mental toughness. This used to happen to me at mammoth at the end of a long day slapping black diamonds. The trick is to adjust your riding styling to a level your body can manage in it’s exhausted state.

I read Laird Hamilton’s book where he talks about focus. Using an example of surfing big pipeline with a cast on his broken wrist. Where a strong focus allowed him to overcome the pain of the injured and cast arm, because a lack of focus would result in a severe or catostrophic impact with the reef.
 
Yeah, I think we have one of those spots, a techy maneuver that we can do with ease, on a good day. But if you wrecked there, it's always in the back of your mind. Reminding you about the penalty for failure.
The fear of injury is real and for me it increases with age. Not because I'm afraid of the move, I don't like the recovery time after a crash. When I was younger I would stack it hard, pop up and ride away, shaking that wrist, not knowing it was broken until the next day.
Now, I'm on the ground, in a soft bed of poison oak, hoping nothing's broken, slowly taking inventory of my limbs and bike.
Stuff like that will mess with your mental game and sometimes I will approach that section, dismount, and walk. The brain won over the body...
Yesterday, as I was dropping UHJ, my thoughts were all about making it. At one point I had @mike behind me on his Gorilla with a helmet camera and I could hear him laughing and hooting as I rode on the edge of my abilities. Oh yeah, we were going kind of fast too!
But my game was on, and even when I nose-wheeled off a ledgey drop, bottomed the 120mm fork, and gave a love tap to my heuvos, I smirked it off, and rode it out like a champ.
Big plus mentally and physically because I'm not picking scabs today.
 
So, I'm back, playing mental games...
Lately I have been putting in a lot of solo miles because when I can ride, most people are working. On a recent ride around Chilao Hillyer, I was able to clean the infamous Wall, but without witnesses it's a hollow victory, right?
That's how I felt. You guys ain't gonna believe I made it up that steep, loose, mother... Besides you saw me bail on it just last week!
But that day was a little different. I had no one to talk to. No one to distract me from the mission at hand. Because the mission requires mental focus on top of the physical requirements.
Alone, I can think about what's ahead. I can visualize what I need to do and I can replay it as often as I want.
Hard to do when you got @Luis cracking jokes the whole way.
@Luis has also noticed that I audibly change my breathing patterns before attempting physically demanding sections. Forcing myself to take deep, belly breaths, actually relaxing my breathing, before slamming my heart-rate like a hummingbird!
Just another mental trick I need to remember so that I approach each obstacle well prepared.
And so yesterday, on Strawberry, I cruised the second switchback, the one that has stymied me for months now.
Yeah, I was solo.
No witnesses.
Hollow victory?
I don't think so.
 
rossage said:
So, I'm back, playing mental games...
Lately I have been putting in a lot of solo miles because when I can ride, most people are working. On a recent ride around Chilao Hillyer, I was able to clean the infamous Wall, but without witnesses it's a hollow victory, right?
That's how I felt. You guys ain't gonna believe I made it up that steep, loose, mother... Besides you saw me bail on it just last week!
But that day was a little different. I had no one to talk to. No one to distract me from the mission at hand. Because the mission requires mental focus on top of the physical requirements.
Alone, I can think about what's ahead. I can visualize what I need to do and I can replay it as often as I want.
Hard to do when you got @Luis cracking jokes the whole way.
@Luis has also noticed that I audibly change my breathing patterns before attempting physically demanding sections. Forcing myself to take deep, belly breaths, actually relaxing my breathing, before slamming my heart-rate like a hummingbird!
Just another mental trick I need to remember so that I approach each obstacle well prepared.
And so yesterday, on Strawberry, I cruised the second switchback, the one that has stymied me for months now.
Yeah, I was solo.
No witnesses.
Hollow victory?
I don't think so.
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Soooooooooo, what you are saying is that pics or it didn’t happen.
 
rossage said:
You might have had one of those moments where you didn't realize you weren't supposed to make it, so you did.
Can you repeat it?
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He told me people have a hard time making it up before I did it, so no on that thought. After the first time I did try to go up the middle, twice with no success. (up the two big step-ups)
I'm pretty sure I could do it again, I'm much like you, I'm awesome!

FWIW This was on my Reign...
 
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