Dialling technical skills

[braailegend]

Everyday I see a topic about XC/New AM guys asking what they should do to hone their technical skill. So today while I was walking up and down at a new section I built last week I thought I should post this.

 

XC routes usually go in a circle of some sort with a single track with some technical sections. And when you ride it, you ride it once through. Say there is a obstacle of some sort which you have difficulty with, you do it once and then move on. Thus you only practice this obstacle ONCE in a week or how many times you ride!!!

 

To really hone your skills, you need to get of your bike once your done and walk back and do it again...X20-30.. I mean you must be able to do it with your eyes closed, that is the fastest way to get your skills dialled. I'll focus on a new drop/jump for almost a day, until its second nature. This will accustom you to ride difficult sections without thinking and concentrate on more important things like lady hikers

[GLuvsMtb]

832464225 75455

 

I've dialed and got "The number you have dialed does not exist"

[Sidewinder.]

832464225 75455

 

I've dialed and got "The number you have dialed does not exist"

 

I see what you did there^ but you forgot the last 7

[GLuvsMtb]

I see what you did there^ but you forgot the last 7

ok, so if I dialed the 7 I would have actually got through

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Couldn't agree more, Braai-boy!

 

Only way to get better is to carry on doing it. Repeat repeat repeat. Drop drop drop.

 

Just like surfing & bodyboarding. You don't move on to a different swell. You session the same swell over and over and over through the course of the day, getting better and better and better.

 

Repeat repeat repeat. It eventually gets to a stage when you think "oh - drop. Doo-dah. Whoop!" and pump the hell out of the landing to get more speed into the double. You will never progress if you do the tech sections just once over the ride. Why do BMXers take ages to dial in a course? Because they want to get to be one with the course. Yes, wax on, wax off, buggeroff - but it works.

 

When you see a section you can't do - get off. Assess the lines. Decide where to go. Hit it. Hit it again. And again. And again. Until it feels as hum-drum as your late night telly switch-on routine. You will get better. And you will progress.

[Slowbee]

mmmm, if you keep on doing the same ride with the same drops routes etc, are you learning to ride the route, or are you learning to dial your skills?

 

Surely no drop is the same and so you need to do various ride repeats and not just one ?

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

mmmm, if you keep on doing the same ride with the same drops routes etc, are you learning to ride the route, or are you learning to dial your skills?

 

Surely no drop is the same and so you need to do various ride repeats and not just one ?

 

A lot of the time, a drop is only as difficult as you think it is. The mind sees what it has done before, and completed before. Repeats help waylay that fear, and if you see a trail dropping off by x metres / feet in front of you, and you've done one of similar / bigger size before, you think "okay, I can do this" and it's so much easier to get over.

 

EDIT: But yeah, you're right to a degree. Which is why it's important to scope a new trail out, and see what it has on it if you're not that confident. That way, you can guage what you've done vs what you're being asked to do, and ride accordingly.

Edited October 22, 2012 by cptmayhem

[Cassie]

Everyday I see a topic about XC/New AM guys asking what they should do to hone their technical skill. So today while I was walking up and down at a new section I built last week I thought I should post this.

 

XC routes usually go in a circle of some sort with a single track with some technical sections. And when you ride it, you ride it once through. Say there is a obstacle of some sort which you have difficulty with, you do it once and then move on. Thus you only practice this obstacle ONCE in a week or how many times you ride!!!

 

To really hone your skills, you need to get of your bike once your done and walk back and do it again...X20-30.. I mean you must be able to do it with your eyes closed, that is the fastest way to get your skills dialled. I'll focus on a new drop/jump for almost a day, until its second nature. This will accustom you to ride difficult sections without thinking and concentrate on more important things like lady hikers

 

Are you refering to the rock wall at Jonkers, perhaps??? If so....it's a bloody loooong steep walk back up!!! THAT alone will kill me...

[Ratty]

 

 

Are you refering to the rock wall at Jonkers, perhaps??? If so....it's a bloody loooong steep walk back up!!! THAT alone will kill me...

 

That's one I want to ride a few times. I'm a bit chicken of riding it. Thought I'd ride just the bottom of it, but then you hit the rocks. Would love to see someone else ride it first.

 

It's such an awesome trail though, lots of little jumps to get your confidence on. Problem is I now want a more trail oriented bike.

[DR ◣◢]

Also equally important is to ride with somebody that has the skills dialed.

 

Helps to see that things are possible and also to check out lines.

 

Good example was doing the drop at the canoes by Emmarentia onto the grass bank. Slick had the line and I just carried the same speed as hit. No problem. Even on the rigid SS