Crisis of confidence 2

[stewie]

Following on from silverelephants thread about her lacking in confidence, I was wondering who else suffers from this ocassionally, Ive not been out on the bike since the Glencoe massacre due to a couple of minor things occurring, and was just wondering if it happens to others as well ?

[shonadoll]

I do, but I don't think I'm unsafe. I think I'm a very inexperienced rider, who needs lots of practice. I do feel better the more often I go out, it's like anything.

I've scared myself a couple of times though, but not in I'm going to die or kill someone else, more as in got a fright. When that's happened I practice doing whatever scared me again and again, and get better at it. I passed my test first time, but I do feel that cornering is something you should be taught - that's what I struggle with, but am trying to improve.

I think most riders would agree they never stop learning and have been scared at some point - all the good ones anyway, I'd think. The people who scare me are the ones who know it all, and in my opinion, tend to be the ones who take the risks.

[Shellywoozle]

It happened to me, I ran wide on a left hander, pulled it back but had brown textiles for a moment, had a month off the bike because I just didnt have th confidence to go back on. When I did go back on I had a great day out, then I had my off the same day so I am now convinced I can't ride. Haven't even got the guts to take her to the MOT testing station by myself ...... it's all in the head. We naturally remember bad experiences and forget the good :(

[sv-robo]

it's all in the head. We naturally remember bad experiences and forget the good :(
+1......just try & ride it off asap.

[BBadger]

im wasnt worried about mt driving before...but just everyone elses.
only went for a small ride 1hour ago

-cut up twice by the same guy 10 secs apart ( to$$er )
- huge discovery decided not to stop at a junction, and i amlost dropped the bike =/

and now i am just getting worried as ive just got over my last accident

[custard]

yup. locked the front wheel on crappy wet roads. now have emrgency stop in the wet fear!

also had the fear of giving it the beans out of corners following a highside...
800 miles round yorkshire over the weekend seems to have cured it

[Nostrils]

The first couple of miles on every ride my brain is doing overtime looking for things that aren't there, but once I get onto better tarmac roads I just get into the swing of things. As others have said, the more I get on the bike the better I feel and I appear to ride with more confidence.

[fizzwheel]

I used to when I first started riding, I used to over worry and think to much about things and then I wouldnt relax and it made my riding worse.

Stuff happens, if its out of your control etc theres nothing you can do about it anyway so I dont worry about that anymore. I try and stay relaxed and make sure I ride in the best way I can, I dont always get it right but I find having the right frame of mind and as said shrugging off things if they happen is important for me. If I've done something wrong I try and analyse it and think how I could have handled done things differently so that I dont repeat the same mistake etc etc.

I think that all this comes with milleage and time on the bike, after a while you get into very quickly the "right" frame of mind and then it takes a massive incident to actually phase me.

[Taz66]

Everytime out on your bike is a learning experience and everytime you fall off you will learn even more! Experience is the key and to relax. You ride a bike, your a biker and ppl who dont ride are missing out on one of lifes great pleasures. Sure you'l be fine, go sit on it and clean it, you'l soon want to go out again.

[etuna]

I can't ride for toffee relatively speaking. Passed test 2 months ago and on a steep learning curve. Came off at 30 on a lesson and got straight back on. Good eye opener I feel.
Have nailed it on A roads and love a naughty overtake but I still wobble in the Supermarket car park and am rubbish at mini roundabouts.
You passed your test, you have the basics to be a good rider. Keep your wits about you and as long as someone else doesnt f*ck it up for you you will be ok.

[BBadger]

Keep your wits about you and as long as someone else doesnt f*ck it up for you you will be ok.

Perfect advice there.
just remember everything you were taught and pay attention
then nothing should go wrong.

If it dosent feel right, slow down and dont do it.

[lukemillar]

I know the feeling. I was having an awesome run of crash-free trackdays (maybe 15?) and then lowsided at around 130kmh. It was totally my own fault at the end of the day and even talking to other riders afterwards; I just asked too much from the front tyre. Until that point, I thought I was pretty invincible. I used to run fast inters/mid-fast group, but now my pace has dropped back to slow inters. I'm building up again, but it is taking a lot to shake the feeling of the front disappearing! I'm so early and ginger on the brakes now, it's silly :( and it's where I'm losing time (even though I crashed mid-corner/exit i.e not on the brakes).

Only thing I can think of in these situations is just to get back in the saddle and build up again! 2 trackdays since (with one more slow speed off, that wasn't my fault) but it's coming back again, just not as fast as I would like.

[gemma1675]

I dropped my OH's bike on a right hand junction and since then I tense up really badly for slow right turns. I have to make a real effort to relax, otherwise I just wobble round like a right idiot. I also get quite nervous generally prior to taking the bike out. Feeling a bit better after our 500 mile weekend - lots of right turns, lots of slow speed stuff, lots of bad surfaces (gravel, mud, grass, really cr*p tarmac) and I feel I faced my demons somewhat. Hopefully I will remember those positive experiences when I get back on. I just need more miles under my belt I think.

Oh, and I haven't ridden OH's bike again. It is too heavy for me and I don't want the responsibility of dropping someone elses bike!

[ogden]

The only fix for a crisis of confidence is getting back out there and riding.

The only time I've actually considered giving it up was after a particularly horrible accident when I didn't think I was ever going to want to even drive again, let alone ride. And then I snapped out of it and stopped being a big girl's blouse. Gertcha.

[northwind]

I never used to, even after I did my leg in, then I had a really fairly minor roundabout lowside that really spooked me badly, that was ages ago (in fact, just before last year's AR) but it still gets me sometimes, it took a long time to get any pace at all back in rights and occasionally one will just freak me out for no reason at all. End result being, I end up sometimes messing one up a bit and that feeds back into the confidence thing- it's never been unsafe but it could be if I let it. The brain's a complicated and treacherous organ :smt076

[ogden]

When you mess up, it's too easy to let that snowball. The simple fix is to ease off a bit, recognise that you just botched it, let your brain reset and then carry on as you were (only without the messing up part). It takes a little conscious effort, but it avoids that feedback loop.

[BBadger]

once its happened, it happened.... and your always left thinking if i didnt overtake that one car i wouldnt have been there and had that accident.
I really feel riding with some one helps, its not the fear of a crash, but just being helpless and i find everytime i ride with my dad i get even better and make sensiable decisions.

[ogden]

Everyone's different, I guess.

I started riding when I was 16 and had the whole teenage invincibility thing. Falling off was an almost daily occurrence back then and some of that devil-may-care attitude sticks. 16 years on two wheels and bikes are pretty much in my blood, so it'd take something pretty extreme to make me decide to give them up.

Even after my big one a couple of years back, when I really thought I'd never want to drive again, let alone ride, six months later I found myself playing bike games - TT Superbikes, Tourist Trophy, MotoGP 4 - on the ps2 all day every day. That was when I figured the whole giving up thing wasn't going to happen and I went and bought another bike.

I swear, bikes, right, they're more addictive than crack.

[BBadger]

I swear, bikes, right, they're more addictive than crack.

tell us how that one goes .... if you havent sold your pc to pay for crack and petrol.