Confidence… Lost in Seconds, Gained in Months

As most of you know, earlier this year I had a slight mishap on my mountain bike while riding up in the Peak District at Lady Cannings. Which may have resulted in me losing half of my face and breaking my wrist. Oops.

Ever since taking the time out to recover properly, which took was about 2 months of being off the bike I have been piling on the miles. I started on the road bike as this was easier on my wrist due to the fact there was less pressure on it, and it’s in a slightly more natural position when on the hoods. It also allowed me to built my fitness back up to where it might have been prior to the crash.

I then braved the mountain bike. A fairly gentle ride around the village first, so that I could get my wrist used to being in a position that puts a fair bit of pressure on it. Next up was a gentle ride around my local trail centre; Sherwood Pines. This was a good place to start as it’s not too bumpy and I know it quite well which meant I could easily head back to the car if I was struggling.

As the strength in the wrist increasesd, I went out and did more on the mountain bike in slightly more challenging areas. A fair bit of time was in the Peak District which was great. We then went back to Lady Cannings, back to where I fell off and broke my wrist. Heading down the trails I started to notice that I wasn’t as confident at throwing the bike into the corners as much as I was before. No surprise there, but it has been a while. It didn’t help that Josh seemed to be riding very well that day.

I also started noticing it when cornering on my road bike. Usually, I can take some of the sharpest corners at a reasonable pace, but I found that I kept tensing my muscles and running wide. It was then I thought to myself that I’m going to have to slowly build my confidence of going around corners back up. Which means, starting slow and, hopefully, progressing back to where I was.

Having been riding for a couple of weeks now with the conscious thought of building my confidence, I’m starting to see an improvement. I’m still not where I was but I’ll get there. It’s amazing how quickly you can lose confidence in your ability on the bike, your confidence that the tyres will stick to the ground, even when you’re leaning over more than 1 degree. But it takes ages to build it back up. Still, I like a challenge and I’m sure that I’ll be back to full confidence soon.

Has anyone else had to go through something like this?

Until next time.

Jack

 

OTHER POSTS LIKE THIS:

An Unexpected Break
Back On The Bike!
I’m Back On The Mountain Bike!