{"id":773,"date":"2014-05-26T11:36:53","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T00:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eclectic-consult.com\/mooseblog\/?p=773"},"modified":"2014-05-26T11:36:53","modified_gmt":"2014-05-26T00:36:53","slug":"riding-the-hard-stuff-an-instruction-manual-for-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eclectic-consult.com\/mooseblog\/2014\/05\/26\/riding-the-hard-stuff-an-instruction-manual-for-your-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Riding the hard stuff: An instruction manual for your brain…"},"content":{"rendered":"

First up, my apologies for the lack of a post in the last few weeks – busy times. I’ll get back to a normal publishing schedule in a fortnight.<\/p>\n

In the meantime – below is an article\u00a0that I recently wrote for\u00a0Flow mountain bike<\/a>\u00a0and which should be published\u00a0later in the week – apologies: it’s mountain bike specific, but applicable to anyone involved in a sport that requires a combination of regular challenge, fine-motor control, and skill upgrades.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been riding mountain bikes for almost 20 years, and I like to think I\u2019m pretty good. But last season a mate pointed out that my riding was really inefficient \u2013 my cornering was awful, and I overbraked on everything. When I started to think about it I realised that he was right, I was inefficient, and I was massively overthinking the technical stuff (and usually screwing it up as a result).<\/p>\n

\"IMG_1291\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then I realised something important: I\u2019ve never really learnt how to ride a mountain bike properly. In fact, if you\u2019re anything like me you probably learnt to ride your bike by trial and error with your mates (who were maybe slightly better riders than you). Like me you never learnt the basics, like efficient braking and balancing through corners, let alone the harder stuff, like drops, picking lines through rock gardens, or staying upright on sketchy corners.<\/p>\n

So I spent the summer going back to basics. I rode easy trails at slower speeds, and forced myself to concentrate on what I was doing. By slowing down I was able to focus on riding my bike properly and, in the process, reprogram my brain so that these gains stayed with me when I sped up.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m getting ahead of myself. To be the riders we want to be, we\u2019ve got to go back to basics and ask an important question: what controls our riding, our brains or our bodies (hint: it\u2019s your brain)? So let\u2019s start with a bit of neuropsych 101 (I\u2019ll keep it brief).<\/p>\n

As a mountain biker, one of the most important parts of your brain is a region called the cerebellum, an area responsible for most of your fine-motor control. Your cerebellum is the part of your brain that keeps you on the bike when things get sketchy before you\u2019ve even figured out what\u2019s going on*. Most importantly, you can\u2019t access it consciously, it\u2019s basically a completely separate system to \u2018you\u2019, that responds a lot faster than the \u2018conscious\u2019 parts of your brain. Because you can\u2019t access it directly, there\u2019s only one way to train it: lots and lots of practice (see below)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There are two other brain regions mountain bikers should know about: the limbic system (your monkey brain) and the prefrontal lobes (your human brain). The limbic system contains your \u2018fear centre\u2019 – it\u2019s best to think of this part of your brain as a \u201cdon\u2019t eat me\u201d system. This fear centre activates a process called the \u2018fight or flight\u2019 response, which kept your ancestors alive when bears tried to eat them. When activated, it triggers a cascade of physiological reactions (including increased release of adrenaline and cortisol) that helps you to run away \u2013 including a shut down of your prefrontal lobes: the parts of your brain that you think with (you don\u2019t need your prefrontal lobes when bears are chasing you). This is crap for riding, because it\u2019s hard to ride well when you can\u2019t think.<\/p>\n

As humans, we\u2019re often the victims of the more primitive parts of our brains (like the limbic system), but we\u2019ve also evolved an amazing ability to learn to do complex and remarkable things. Being a good rider is about learning to use the parts of your brain that help, and getting over the parts that get in the way. So, let’s look at how to (re)program your brain to make you a better rider.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with how we learn and what we can reasonably expect to learn. Riding a mountain bike is about programming in a very complex series of fine-motor controls so that we don\u2019t have to think much on the trail. When we program our cerebellum to ride for us, it means we don\u2019t have to think about every obstacle, so we can just ride over them (this is why good riders look like they\u2019re riding without having to think about it \u2013 they\u2019re not, at least not consciously). We can do this because our cerebellum reacts way faster than the conscious parts of our brain. The downside is that if you program in crap, you\u2019ll ride like crap \u2013 automatically<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Learning a motor skill is a slow and frustrating process. When you learnt to drive, you had to think about everything, and it was hard to react properly in real time. Eventually though, you were able to program in these skills so you didn\u2019t have to think about them. The same goes for mountain biking. When you\u2019re learning you rely on conscious processing, and this is slow (reaction speed of seconds rather than milliseconds).<\/p>\n

The good news is that while you\u2019re riding under conscious control, you have the option to monitor what\u2019s going on, and to make modifications \u2013 if you make the right modifications this means that you\u2019re learning good stuff. In fact, whenever you\u2019re riding under conscious control the conscious part of your brain is programming the automatic control systems (in your cerebellum) so you\u2019ll be more efficient later on. But as soon as you speed up beyond what your conscious brain can process, you\u2019ll be riding on your automatic systems without the ability to monitor or modify.<\/p>\n

Annoyingly, most of us don\u2019t learn to ride like we learn to drive. Rather than getting proper instruction and then practising until we\u2019re competent, we usually just \u2018go out and ride\u2019. And because we often practise bad habits, we end up with these bad habits deeply programmed into our brains (meaning you\u2019ll ride like crap whenever the trail gets tough and you don\u2019t have time to think).<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s how to program your brain in order to learn or improve a bike skill (whether you\u2019re a beginner or an expert), so that you won\u2019t have to think about it on the trail.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 Start by figuring out what you want to improve: braking, balance, cornering, line selection, drops, rock gardens, whatever.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 Get some information on how to do whatever it is you want to learn. Maybe from an instructor, a mate who\u2019s good at whatever it is you want to get better at, a website, or a video.<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0 Find an appropriate spot to practise and start basic and slow. For example, for a drop, find a kerb and start by rolling over it, concentrating on getting your weight distribution right. When this feels easy, try going a bit higher and slowly rolling off, focusing on smooth weight transitions and landings. The trick is to make sure that you\u2019re always consciously aware of what you\u2019re doing and in control of your actions. This will be frustrating and the temptation will be to speed up and go bigger. Don\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0 Keep practising until what you\u2019re doing feels easy, and then get some feedback from riders who know what they\u2019re talking about. Modify based on their feedback and keep practising.<\/p>\n

5)\u00a0\u00a0 Start speeding up and, or adding complexity. Make sure you never go beyond a point where you can maintain conscious control of your bike. As soon as you find yourself reacting rather than thinking, slow down.<\/p>\n

6)\u00a0\u00a0 If you find yourself freaking out or getting anxious, stop. Go back to a simpler or slower version and practise until it feels easy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

7)\u00a0\u00a0 Likewise, try not to overthink. Picture what you have to do in your mind\u2019s eye, and then do it, keeping track of the key factors (like hand and body position). If your mind wanders, bring your attention back to the task at hand.<\/p>\n

8)\u00a0\u00a0 As your ability increases, try mixing it up and trying out your skills on new sections of trail. Try to stay slowed down and in control.<\/p>\n

9)\u00a0\u00a0 Remember that skills programming is slow, but not necessarily boring. Whenever you start to get bored, remind yourself that this will make you a much better rider. It\u2019s worth thinking about what riding means to you, and remembering that mastery isn\u2019t about getting to the bottom of a trail, or about having big balls, it\u2019s about being good on the bike. Lots of riders can get down something or huck a big gap, but not many do it well.<\/p>\n

If the steps above sound strange to you, you\u2019re not alone. Very few of us actually learn to ride this way, so instead of consistently getting better at the thing we love, we just ride the same stuff week by week, making the same mistakes and getting frustrated because we\u2019re not improving!<\/p>\n

Obviously, it\u2019d be boring to stop riding and just do skills work. I suggest taking a deliberate 1-2 weeks every 2-3 months (especially when you come up against an obstacle to your riding) and going through these steps.<\/p>\n

As a psychologist I often advise athletes to trust their competence, not their confidence. Competence is about having the real skills to do something. Confidence, on the other hand, is unreliable and can get us in big trouble. If you know what you\u2019re capable of, you can go out and do it. Confidence is mostly bullshit.<\/p>\n

So how do you increase your competence? The best place to start is to learn to gauge both your skills and your limits. I always suggest developing a realistic skills hierarchy and to use other riders as a gauge for determining where you sit. For example, for drops, a hierarchy might start with drops or rolls of \u00bd metre or less with an easy exit, moving up to drops (no rollout option) of up to a metre, then incrementing all the way up to 2+metres with difficult exits. Maybe give each increment a grade (e.g., 1A \u2013really easy, to 5D \u2013 stupidly hard) and then determine where you are now and where you could realistically get to (with practice). It\u2019s then pretty easy to rate a given trail based on its features and level of technicality, and to decide whether you can do some or all of it, and what you\u2019d need to improve in order to ride the whole thing.<\/p>\n

Knowing your skills and limits also means that it\u2019s realistically easier to say \u201cno\u201d when you come across a feature that you know is beyond your current skills. It\u2019s worth pointing out that just because other guys make it look easy, doesn\u2019t mean that it is, or that you should even ride it. If riding is about fun, then figuring out the maximum grade of risk you\u2019re prepared to accept, and then working your way up to that level systematically, will result in a lot more fun.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, grading trails and features, and then figuring out your current skills and limits, helps you to be able to ride without letting your head screw it up for you. Once you accept that a feature is beyond your current skill level, it\u2019s a lot easier to simply walk your bike around it, and then work on developing a training program to build your skills up so you\u2019re able to clear that section later on. This is probably the best way to get around the whole \u201cmy head won\u2019t let me\u201d scenario that all of us have come across. There\u2019s no need to punish yourself or feel like an idiot because you don\u2019t have the skills you want right now \u2013 instead of looking at a drop and giving yourself shit about not being able to ride it, use it as motivation to learn to be a better rider.<\/p>\n

Increased competence is by far the best way to increase your enjoyment out on the bike. In sport psychology the term \u201cflow\u201d is used to describe a feeling of total immersion with an activity, where everything goes right, and time disappears. It\u2019s an amazing feeling, and one of the main reason I mountain bike. Flow certainly isn\u2019t guaranteed though, and there are lots of things that get in the way.<\/p>\n

So how do you get to have one of those rides where everything just works, and you finish up feeling totally buzzed? Here\u2019s my recipe for riding a trail with flow.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 Flow is much more likely to happen when you get the balance between your skills and the level of challenge just right. This means knowing your limits and your skill level and then matching it to the trail. A trail that keeps you on your toes, but doesn\u2019t scare the crap out of you is a good match. Go for enough challenge so that you max out at about 80% of your skill threshold.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 You can also increase the chances of flow by upping the challenge on easier trails (e.g., focusing on technique, like attempting to keep your hands off the brakes in corners, or getting your balance just right on a drop). Increasing skills levels also helps, because it means you can attempt increased challenges. See part 2 for an idea of how to do this.<\/p>\n

There are two things that will always kill flow: too much challenge (resulting in fear and overthinking) and not enough skill. The kicker is that, when the challenge is too high and you get a fear response, you\u2019ll probably go into fight or flight (see part 1) which means that you won\u2019t be able to think clearly and your fine-motor control will reduce, meaning you\u2019re more likely to stuff up. In other words, too much challenge gets in the way of skill.<\/p>\n

When this happens, don\u2019t just balls through it. Stop, take a breath, come back into the present moment (look at your bike and the trail and the trees), and then get on your bike and ride something that you know is within your ability (ramp down the challenge to match your skill). If your head starts giving you grief, take another breath, acknowledge that your head is giving you shit, focus on the trail, and remind yourself why you\u2019re out there \u2013 you\u2019re not<\/strong> there to go big or go home, you\u2019re there to enjoy the ride as much as you possibly can.<\/p>\n

* We call this muscle memory. In reality, however, your muscles don\u2019t have any memory: they\u2019re controlled by our brains (specifically by a combination of our motor control strip and the cerebellum).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First up, my apologies for the lack of a post in the last few weeks – busy times. I’ll get back to a normal publishing schedule in a fortnight. In the meantime – below is an article\u00a0that I recently wrote for\u00a0Flow mountain bike\u00a0and which should Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"The Eclectic Moose has a new blog post! Riding the hard stuff: An instruction manual for your brain... 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