stuck in a rut?

[decline]

ive got a few tips for beginners from a beginner on how to kinda get past any flat spots in ur your skills.

1. leave the bike alone for a couple days. what this does is it allows your subconsious to work out diffrent problems in everything...but your riding if you have been frustrated with it.

2. this one kinda contridicts the first but practice a little every day. any time i leave the house i jump on my bike do a couple track stands maybe a 180 or something. i also have a routine (sorta) for warming up...even if im not gonna stay out and ride. i have marks on the ground and practice pedalkicking whatever distance. ride curbs and skinnies. just do a bunch of pivoting. thats better then just doing nothing at all for several days in a row.

3. reward yourself with a new riding spot every now and then. i have a place i do more extensive practicing at everyday. and i may feel like im not gettin any better but when i go out to new riding spots i find that i have improved. but i dont go out to riding spots all the time because that can get discouraging. at least to me.

4. tinker with your bike. adjust your setup. i felt like i wasnt gettin any better and i went out and adjusted my bars and brake levers and it turns out that position was much more comfortable which improved my riding. run lower presure or higher presure and just find whats comfortable for you. andjust your brakes and find what lever pull u like the most. throw a diffrent set of pedals on anything just see what it does. what is it going to hurt to try something diffrent when your stuck anyways right?

5. remember to just have fun. if your having a bad day and cant get a move dont beat yourself up about it...find something diffrent to do for a while let it have a rest. set up new line in your practice area...just have a good time. im pretty sure that most of us arnt in this to be hard core comp riders. we arnt gonna be be the next CLS or whatever. just have fun.

6. try and ride with other people. it helps a ton even if they arnt trials riders. i have some old BMX buddies i go out with every now and then there is a diffrent energy when your with other riders. although it does greatly help to ride with other trials riders. i have no one that iknow of it a 100 mile radius of where i live to ride with so finding poeple is important.

hope that helps some of you guys and if anyone else has anything shoot.

[hasa2006]

good tips!!! thks..

[trialsrider50]

taking a break from riding really helps. when i started I had trouble pedalling up the rear tire really bad. I would either totally not jump enough or if I did, my front tire just smacked down. I moved and stopped riding for like 1 month and then got back out after watching many a video, and I was able to nail them. vids always help me cause I can watch other people's body positions which is one of the most underrated factors in trials. sometimes the difference is just a movement of the hips. and my hips don't lie.

[Gaz]

Funny but number 1 works for me too. I find if I ride everyday I get stale or something. If it has been a fews days since I rode last, i usually surprise myself with the stuff I can do. Often stuff that I was trying but failing to do before a break seems a lot easier after...

[Stevie]

number one worked really well for me, i went away on holiday for 3 weeks with my bike and after i got back i found that i could do everything a bit better when i came back which suprised me.

riding for fun helps me as well, if i feel like im riding crap and cant do anything i just go home and do something else for a few hours then go back out and it helps alot.

[rush]

I agree with everyone. I can only ride once a week for about an hour or so, and I feel great every time I ride.

[decline]

yep periodic breaks is important. im one of those people that goes gung-ho about everything...and realized it wasnt helping me and thought some beginners may not recognize that too.

[FourFortyOne]

Yeah the breaks probably just help you not get into bad habits. If you keep doing something wrong over and over again you're probably going to get used to the way you are trying it, so taking that break probably keeps you from doing that. Not that I know, it just makes sense.

These are good tips. I just made a thread a while ago about how I was in a rut. I need to find some more people, but there really aren't any in my area I don't think. My area really sucks in general too, its just so suburby that everything is picture perfect...and picture perfect places don't make good trials obstacles. But no one likes hearing complaints, so I'll stop. I am looking into getting some pallets for my backyard to practice on.

[eturt9]

Giving your a self a few days rest, especially after learning new moves gives the brain time to wire them in.. so does sleep. That's science.

[Gaz]

Another thing I find helps is going back to an area I rode a few weeks/months ago. I often find that I try things that at that time seemed really hard but are now easy. I find this really encouraging because you can see how much you have improved. If I have struggled riding up on to a ledge or something I often find I go back to it later and can do it no problem.

[rush]

^^^ Absolutely.

I ride past stuff now that makes me laugh, I cant believe I once had trouble doing it. Its a pretty good feeling.

[Ottawa_biker]

I tend to ride everyday whether it is just in front of my house or going somewhere but now that my back is hurt I am off my bike for a while. Maybe thats a good thing

[trellex]

I usually ride 6 days a week, on average of 1-2 hours a day. on Saturdays, I usually have a rest day, and let my body recovery slightly and wire in some new techniques. Maybe once or twice a week, I ride for 4 + hours a day.

I've been doing alot of urban lately, and I've lost all my power when I went back to the beach. I was done inside of 15 minutes. Don't forget to switch up in the natural and urban, or obviously you'll get sloppy in both.

But that's what I do, and I'm slowly improving.

There's one thing he didn't mention was push urself harder. I live in a city where all the riders I ride with can go big, and do it smoothly. I try to push myself to their level and so for, I'm catchin up! Once you nail a line or technique, give urself a breather from it, or else your muscle memory won't work. Think that you'll make it, and everytime you fail at not making it, just think to yourself that, 'yes, i almost made it, i'm that much closer'.

cheers

ps. i forgot to mention that watching videos can be good. try to mimic your favourite riders technique, watch how they do lines, whether it be more flashy trials or technical trials. I try to copy caisso and hermance. of course, i'm no where close to them!

and this site is GREAT for free internet trials vids!