I’ve long believed that a big part of my battle with “the Fear” has been down to a lack of time snowboarding, and it seems as though I am proving myself right. I rode 2 sessions again last week, 2 hours on Thursday and 4 on Friday and really felt like I was able to build on what I had learnt the week before. Previously it could have been months between my riding sessions which has made it really difficult to convince my head & body that I can do side-on hits, feel settled & confident on kickers and just generally not feel like I’ve taken one step forward and three back everytime I ride.
In the last month I have ridden 7 times and really started to see some progression this Thursday & Friday night. Having finished the previous week’s session on a high, having managed to start hitting the top gas pipe I was able to keep up the momentum and actually start trying tricks other than 50:50. The week before I’d been too scared to try and move my board once I was on the pipe, but this week I soon started to relax a bit and get some swivels into a boardslide and then popping into a tailpress with a few (starting off accidentally) attempts at 270 outs. Just by riding more often I’ve been able to keep my confidence high and also start to feel my riding a bit more. By spending more time on my board I’m finding it easier to predict how it’s going to behave when I get into certain positions and how I can correct it when things go a little bit wrong.
I’m really excited to get riding again this week and hopefully I can keep the progression coming, I want to succeed and beat my personal goals and really hope that with practice I can do that without too many bails along the way! The park at SNO!zone MK has been great since I’ve been back riding there and I’m hoping they’ll have the same kicker out as last week as it was the perfect size for some decent airtime, with a nice landing too…bring on the shred.
Friend I rode with here for a while has an MSc in Sports Psychology. She suggested to me a rubber band around the wrist. Anytime you have a negagtive thought about your next ‘performance’, you snap the band on your wrist. You come to associate negativity with pain and you then naturally avoid it before it becomes conscious….most reliable method apparently
Nice idea! The only problem is finding my wrist under all my padding….I’ll come up with an alternative I’m sure though so thanks for the tip 🙂
I think you are totally right. The more time you spend on a board the more it becomes natural. Each week you spend more time building more confidence. The trick is to not get cocky … Thats when it starts getting painful! See you on the slopes
This is why I run any ideas for new stuff past an experienced rider, not that it prevents me getting hurt as you’ll have seen from the bruise I picked up Friday but at least I know I’m capable of doing it and just failed momentarily rather than people then telling me I shouldn’t be anywhere near the toy in the first place 🙂