How do you reset during a ride?

[i_am_the_koi]

So this morning I was commuting to work on my normal motorcycle mountain road between Sonoma and Napa.

Super goaty, super bumpy, but a road I've done for 20 years.

I learned to ride on this road. I learned to drive on this road. I had my first crash on this road. Hell, I lost my virginity on this road. Norly

Today though I felt like a noob all over again. I target fixated. I stopped on every corner and creeped around it. I stared at cliffs like it was a certainty I was going to go over them. I got caught by a Prius and let them pass me. I even put my foot down once to help me balance on a turn like a noob...

Dafuq?

I was very happy when it was over and I was on the main road in Sonoma going to work. It took me 45 minutes, not my usual commute time.

I didn't think about it, planned on taking a different route home, but when I got off work I instinctually took the mountain road home.

Same bumps, same cliffs, same goaty nature, but no fear.

I did my normal pace, not flying but a healthy clip, and did my average time of 34 minutes door to door.

What changed? How did I reset? What was I afraid of?

I have no idea.

Somehow I reset myself and lost whatever was bothering me.

So how do you do that while riding?

How do you go from recognizing you're out of it and reset?

Or do you? Do you accept there is something in the air that you don't like and just go slow?







:dunno

 

[Lex Talionis]

I keep resets in the tailbag, six of 'em, just in case. Never leave home without 'em. :laughing

Lex

 

[gixxerjeff]

The timing of your thread is eerie. I had this very discussion with myself last Tuesday. I was at Carnegie riding my usual bike on my usual trails and for the first 45 minutes I didn't recognize who was riding my bike. I blew a few corners, let the rear step out when it shouldn't, etc. Ultimately I headed back to my truck, took a brief break, had some water then went straight to the intermediate track. Within about 3 laps I had re-found my mojo and headed back to the trails and crushed it.
Obviously none of this is of any use to a commute scenario. Who has the luxury of a few track laps as commute prep? :laughing
It got me thinking, none the less. Where did my rhythm go.....and why?

 

[injun]

Some times we just do that, intuition just thinking ahead.

 

[NoTraffic]

I've done this a couple times on longer rides (350 miles+) in a day. It reminds me when of when I go snowboarding. The first 2-3 hrs are killer, than when you start getting sloppy and start falling for no reason - you realize it's because of exhaustion (and a bit of altitude, fatigue, and lack of sleep).

This is the same feeling for me on a bike. For me to reset, it's to pull over, hydrate, read the funnies, and let the mind wander OFF the bike.

When I get back on it's like none of that bizzness happened before.

 

[rodr]

I think there's an underlying question: should riding skills be developed as instincts, or as conscious awareness and actions?

I'm going to say both, and that the incident should be embraced as a wake-up call to work on that second category.

Not pretending to be an expert (which I'm not), just offering food for thought.

 

[kamaji]

Did you reset/focus before starting to ride? This is something that you need to do on purpose, and have a routine for. For me, it is clearing my mind and focusing while putting on ear plugs, tying up the bag, putting on the Aerostich, etc.

It is harder to develop a good "during the ride" reset/focus method, because it is never a "routine." (Maybe if you do lots of track days it can become one.) My suggestion would be to realize you need to reset, stop riding, and get in the zone again.

 

[KazMan]

Back when I used to ride in the Peninsula foothills almost every day, I had many of the roads memorized much like you Koi, but I had reference points for literally every road so it became more about hitting marks and letting the marks set my rhythm or pace.

But there were definitely days where it was more of a struggle than others for many different reasons. Sleep or lack of it, ate/didnt eat, party day/night before, weather, etc. But everything again related back to my reference points. This made checking for cars, animals, road conditions and even the rare bicyclist, much much easier as I knew exactly where I am and where I was going.

So not sure if that helps, but after 20 years on the same road I'm sure you've developed many. And of course, happy to talk to you about more if you like.

Ride safe and happy brother!

 

[ScottRNelson]

If I'm feeling out of it while riding, I just have to slow down a notch or two and let instincts take over. But I'm not sure I've ever been as out of it as described in the original post. I've been riding for enough years that I don't usually have to put much thought into it. :afm199

 

[ThumperX]

Sometimes, you just have to get off the bike and get your mind right.

 

[Maddevill]

OP. I think this is completely normal. Some days I'm sharp and focused and can do no wrong. Other days I'm tense and sloppy and just suck. What's important is recognizing what state your head is in and adjusting your riding and pace accordingly. That can mean being even MORE focused on your off days. There are some days when I just don't take the bike out.

 

[russ69]

It happens. When you are not "feeling it" slow down and ride your ride.

 

[Not Karl Malden]

The psychology of distraction is an odd thing. What were you thinking about in the morning before you mounted up? It sounds like once you got to work and had to focus on other things you naturally shed whatever your were thinking about. The ride home was long enough in time from earlier in the day for you to regain your center. What's odd with that theory is riding usually *is* the thing that clears your head because you have to pay attention. But then since you knew the road perhaps your intuition was down.

I backed out of my garage the other day and caught my left mirror on the door then slipped on the shift peg leaving my driveway. Earlier in the morning I had been thinking about something that kept rewinding and playing. To reset I recognized my riding Chi was off and forced myself to compensate as a matter of survival before getting on the freeway. Yeah, it's weird but I think it's more common than riders suspect.

 

[redtail]

This is a good subject, not a subject people often talk about. But some days your mind is not "in the game" and you have to force yourself to focus on parts of riding that usually come as second nature.

I think the fact that Koi recognized it and compensated for his distractions is a sign of a good rider, a rider should always self evaluate.

 

[UKSteve]

tiredness can play a huge factor... was out riding at a pretty fast pace for a long time yesterday and towards the end of the day the odd mistake started to creep in... dial it back and understand that you cant be 'on it' all the time

 

[Whammy]

Chalk it up to an off day nothing more.
Don't overthink it.

 

[Cornfish]

I get this occasionally now that I don't ride as often. Sometimes the same experience happens when I'm mountain biking. Currently I work as a mountain bike guide and am a certified instructor. Many times I am guiding clients when I am tired from back to back trips. What I've learned is to go back to basics, work on technique and try to be efficient. And go slower. Before long I get into a rhythm and I am actively working on technique. It may not be my quickest pace, but it pulls me out of the "wandering mind" mode. All of the same stuff has helped on the motorcycle; focusing on very basic, building block fundamentals when I start riding like a noob. Riding the dirt bike is similar, but on a dirt bike I am a little too griped still to get to wandering mind mode. Not too mention the consequences of crashing into lava rock here in Central Oregon is a good motivator for paying attention.

 

[DataDan]

How do you go from recognizing you're out of it and reset?

1. Get my head back in the game.

2. Refocus on basics.

Don't want to dredge up the 1980s newage crap, but one benefit of meditation is an improved ability to clear out the random thoughts richocheting around in your skull, even when you aren't actually meditating. Quiet your mind: round up extraneous thoughts and expel them. Be RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

The basic skills I focus on are, in order: vision, line selection, steering, throttle, and brakes. First re-establish good visual rhythm--eyes picking up reference points and moving quickly to the next one. With that working, good line selection falls out almost as a side-effect. Then the physical skills of applying steering input, smoothly rolling on the throttle, and as speed picks up, more aggressive use of brakes.

A consequence of centering on basic skills is that you'll slow down. Instead of everything happening simultaneously, controlled semi-consciously by asynchronous parallel processors, you have to think about one thing at a time, which limits speed.