stayingalive
Ever have an "off-day"? You know, a ride where things simply don't feel right?
I do. I don't mean a ride where I push beyond my limits or make a daft mistake and shake myself up (that happens too), or one where there's a minor problem with the bike I end up having to ride round, but one where my performance on the machine simply doesn't gel, where I don't feel entirely comfortable. Some years ago I was riding with friends in the hilly region of Alsace and had an awful morning. I was tense, and just couldn't get the bike to go where I wanted it to. Mid-corner I was off-line, off-throttle and generally off- key. And the more I concentrated on trying to get it right, the more I got it wrong. Sometimes there's an obvious reason. At a basic physical level, there are natural highs and lows on a daily rhythm that means we don't perform at the same level at all times of the day; mid-afternoon and the early hours of the morning are low points. There may be other distractions competing for attention (work, personal life). Maybe we have a cold, are on medication, are tired or out of our normal pattern of sleep. Disrupted sleep patterns (for example, doing shift work or having babies in the home) is well-known to lower performance even if the individual doesn't feel tired. I won't mention hangovers! There's not a lot we can do about those kinds of issues, except to be aware of them and perhaps avoid using the bike. Maybe we're uncomfortable – tired and saddlesore, or too cold or too hot. Even dehydration associated with warm weather can lead to a drop in performance. Perhaps shorter rides or changes of clothing are long term solutions but getting some fluids on a hot day or stuffing a newspaper down the front of our leathers on a cold day (really, it works) can help as a temporary measure, as can taking a mid-ride break.
Maybe it's the kind of ride or where we are. It's easy to switch off on a regular ride, particularly the final miles to a familiar destination. Try varying the route. I do a lot of riding back and forth to Oxford, but I try to change the route at either end, and sometimes ride through central London rather than use the M25 yet again.
Or perhaps it's unfamiliar roads in unfamiliar conditions. If the situation's not what we're used to, the best course is usually to slow down and allow more time to assimilate information or even stop and think about how we're going to deal with the hazards. In Alsace, the obvious problem was that I was on the ‘wrong’ side of the road for the first time in a year, and also (hard to believe) riding in the wet for the first time in
months. Dropping the speed and making cornering easier by avoiding wide 'advanced' positions, stopped me getting more stressed and a lunch stop allowed me to think about the issues. In the afternoon I got my act back together and as the stress dropped away, the performance came back.
But just occasionally and unaccountably, we can't pin it down so easily. Why is it that a reasonably competent rider can suddenly have issues in a riding environment they'd normally handle with ease? And what can we do to snap out of that below-par state? We need to recognise our performance problems are mental. If we were competent yesterday, we're not suddenly incompetent today! And with a few years experience under our belt, there are increasingly fewer ‘new’ situations to catch us out.
Kevin Williams: Prepare, Perform, Polish
Why is it that a reasonably
competent rider can suddenly have issues in a riding environment they'd normally handle with ease?
But the rub is this: each ride, even on roads we know well in conditions we're used to, is different. And that's where I suspect the real issue lies – the fact that when we start to treat any riding as routine, we stop thinking ahead, and the result is that even issues we know about and dealt with easily yesterday tend to surprise us today... up goes the tension level, in come the small mistakes... and we end up having an off day. I believe the issue of unexplainable off days is one of ‘pre-flight preparation’; or rather, lack of it. So start the ride with a bit of ‘pre-flight
preparation’... ie, ask ‘what am I trying to achieve, what problems might I find?’ I'm not talking about in-depth analysis, but taking a few seconds as we pull our riding gear on to quickly ask ourselves “am I out for a bimble / sporting ride / daily commute? What are the roads like? How's the weather? What kind of traffic?” Even on roads we know well and will have to ride yet again, just mentally reviewing the route will mean that we don't forget that blind junction round a bend, or get surprised by a wet patch in shade under trees. All this can focus our minds on the issues, just as racers take a moment to focus on the startline. It's true that things can change mid-ride and we have to react to those changes, but whilst slowing down or even stopping to think and de-stress is good ‘in-flight technique’, it's essentially reactive; ie, the problem's already happened. And that mid-ride self-awareness is far easier to achieve if we start from a condition where we're aware of what we're trying to achieve in the first place. My belief is that riders who perform this ‘pre-flight preparation’ quite possibly unconsciously have fewer off days. Whilst good preparation may not lead to good performance, to quote an acting coach: "Prepare thoroughly, perform freely!", then review the performance at the end. That way we can polish it and improve it for next time.
Kevin Williams
(c) Survival Skills Rider Training 2011 Post test training for everyone from newbie to experienced with a BTEC qualified professional instructor Enjoyed this column? Order our book 'The MAG Columns' with 40+ articles from 'The Road'
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