Awhile back I did a post on “How To Wreck”, where I touched on the importance of getting back on the horse after you wreck. For 99% of mountain bikers, it is a “when” not “if” situation when it comes to going down on the bike. It is the risk that we take as mountain bikers for the payoff we receive.

The long term mental affects of a wreck can keep you off the bike or riding well below your ability level. The sooner you tackle the mental obstacles, the faster you will be riding the bike like nothing ever happened. As mountain bikers, it is important to learn from your mistakes, but also compartmentalize them so that they do not scar your riding to the point it is not fun anymore.

Here are some tips that I use to “get back on the horse”.

1. Try to seclude the accident as a single unrelated incident. – This may be difficult to do at first, but find that one thing and make it the reason the wreck happened. “Well if that one stick wasn’t there…” It sounds simplistic, but these little, simple mind games can push you just far enough over the edge to get past the incident.
2. Re-ride that section as soon as possible. – The sooner the better. When you clear the section that caused you so much grief in the past, it solidifies in your mind that it is not going to be a normal occurrence.
3. Ride something harder! – If you clear a section of trail that is harder than what you wrecked on…the other section will look like nothing in comparison. This, of course, assumes that you should not ride too far above your abilities…
4. Blame a part on the bike and replace it. – “It was the tires that made me wreck!” In reality…most of the time this is not the case, but it can help those little mental games. The is also a great excuse for UGI (I am guilty of this one).
5. Listen to your fellow riders instead of the voices in your head. – Chances are…the people that you ride with probably know your abilities better than you do. If they are telling you that you are able to do it…they are probably right. No one wants to take a friend to the emergency room, so most of the time it is in their best interest to see you succeed.

There are many other little tricks that I use to get over the crashing fears, but these are the main 5 that work every time. I also find that I use these tricks to help me in other areas of my life besides biking. Every single one of us are capable of things that we never thought were possible. We just have to stay out of our own way to get them done.