Getting Over Fear After Crash
#26
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Makes sense !
What doesn't make sense is the earlier comparison to riding a motorcycle. Comparing apples to oranges.
What doesn't make sense is the earlier comparison to riding a motorcycle. Comparing apples to oranges.
#27
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The extra caution is your adaptation to the whole traumatic experience. It's not necessarily something that we have to get over, but if there is an level of confidence that you want to push through I suggest repetition, with gradually getting accustomed to slightly higher speeds.
#28
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I crashed coming down a mountain road in May. I basically ran off the road during a turn and tumbled. Broke a rib and a vertebrae. For the last 3-4 years I've been doing a lot of riding up and down mountain roads, with fast descents. I've gone out a few times since my recovery, and I'm pretty timid about descending. I brake a lot so I'm not screaming down these hills, but my bike wants to go fast. Obviously, I don't want to crash again, but I'm worried I may crash because I'm trying to brake too much.
How do I get over this? I really don't want to injure myself again, but I want to enjoy cycling again.
Alan
How do I get over this? I really don't want to injure myself again, but I want to enjoy cycling again.
Alan
#29
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I crashed coming down a mountain road in May. I basically ran off the road during a turn and tumbled. Broke a rib and a vertebrae. For the last 3-4 years I've been doing a lot of riding up and down mountain roads, with fast descents. I've gone out a few times since my recovery, and I'm pretty timid about descending. I brake a lot so I'm not screaming down these hills, but my bike wants to go fast. Obviously, I don't want to crash again, but I'm worried I may crash because I'm trying to brake too much.
How do I get over this? I really don't want to injure myself again, but I want to enjoy cycling again.
Alan
How do I get over this? I really don't want to injure myself again, but I want to enjoy cycling again.
Alan
#30
Full Member
I'm 75 and have stopped going all out around those blind turns because I know the proper line. There's always the chance that some dumb driver will be cutting the turn and hit you. Also the roads are getting so bad around here that you can lose control from the potholes and if I'm losing control I would just as soon it was at a speed where I could regain it before leaving the roadway.
#31
Full Member
Agreed. You don’t want to learn to override your brain’s natural instinct to take it easy on the descents. I tried my absolute hardest to “unlearn” my fear of lean and kinda succeeded. It felt amazing to fly at pro pace - until I slid across the tarmac.
https://youtu.be/qBQC4trgLX0
^here’s what my crash looked like, almost exactly.
Good descenders aren’t good because they’re fearless or suicidal. They’re good because they know their limits in various conditions and can consistently get close to those limits without going past.
So you should not work to overcome your fear or to ignore it. The fear is rational. You crashed because you made a mistake. Now the process of learning your limits will begin anew.
I personally learned a lot from my crash. I now have a much better understanding of what my limits are. After recovering, I PRd by 10 seconds on a 3 minute descent I’ve done 20 times before. I promise that you will get faster as well if you’re willing to learn from your mistakes.
https://youtu.be/qBQC4trgLX0
^here’s what my crash looked like, almost exactly.
Good descenders aren’t good because they’re fearless or suicidal. They’re good because they know their limits in various conditions and can consistently get close to those limits without going past.
So you should not work to overcome your fear or to ignore it. The fear is rational. You crashed because you made a mistake. Now the process of learning your limits will begin anew.
I personally learned a lot from my crash. I now have a much better understanding of what my limits are. After recovering, I PRd by 10 seconds on a 3 minute descent I’ve done 20 times before. I promise that you will get faster as well if you’re willing to learn from your mistakes.
#32
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Best recipe I've ever found for getting "comfortable" again with a sport that has inherent risks: keep doing it, though with added precautions. In the "practice makes perfect" sense.
Have fallen only a couple times on a bike, "pushing" things (either in inclement weather, or on hills, or when lots of road impediments existed (ie, on trails). Chalked it up to being a fluke, and just backed off for awhile until I felt okay with it again.
Have done surfing, kayaking and snow skiing, as well, each at a fairy "pushy" level of difficulty and situations. Each of those is much like cycling, in the sense that a "crash" can be a fairly dangerous thing. Almost drowned kayaking, once. Fell about 20ft off a cliff skiing, one one occasion. And had countless "oops" moments surfing, when the weight of water that dropped on my head (and back) was incalculable. In each case, I've followed much the same recipe (above). Eventually, the basic precautions and increased experience equates to wisdom and improved skills ... a good combination, often yielding improved performance along with a reduction in frequency of bad "spills."
I wish there were an iron-clad way to address the psychological aspect. Time, I'd say. Time enough to learn from the mistakes, to learn about those conditions and what led to the crash, to get better sufficiently to avoid such situations in future. Sort of backing into the psychology, once proofs abound that it's safer.
Have fallen only a couple times on a bike, "pushing" things (either in inclement weather, or on hills, or when lots of road impediments existed (ie, on trails). Chalked it up to being a fluke, and just backed off for awhile until I felt okay with it again.
Have done surfing, kayaking and snow skiing, as well, each at a fairy "pushy" level of difficulty and situations. Each of those is much like cycling, in the sense that a "crash" can be a fairly dangerous thing. Almost drowned kayaking, once. Fell about 20ft off a cliff skiing, one one occasion. And had countless "oops" moments surfing, when the weight of water that dropped on my head (and back) was incalculable. In each case, I've followed much the same recipe (above). Eventually, the basic precautions and increased experience equates to wisdom and improved skills ... a good combination, often yielding improved performance along with a reduction in frequency of bad "spills."
I wish there were an iron-clad way to address the psychological aspect. Time, I'd say. Time enough to learn from the mistakes, to learn about those conditions and what led to the crash, to get better sufficiently to avoid such situations in future. Sort of backing into the psychology, once proofs abound that it's safer.