Has this happened to you?

[Nigeyy]

So I have a loop I do after work (Landlocked Forest, Burlington, Mass. http://singlespeedphoto.com/landlockedforest), which is lovely. Usually (excluding water breaks and catching my breath) I can complete it dabbing only once or twice, or on rare occasion without dabbing at all.

Anyway, there is a section that I can't recall ever stopping at, but.... recently a large fallen tree was chainsawed and left close (about 5 meters) to the rocky lead in to a board walk, and rather surprizingly, I found I couldn't clear the rocky section. At first I thought the fallen tree had somehow changed my approach, but I was able to approach it from almost any angle... with the same result! I tried different speeds... same result. Probably tried it at least 5 times in total. It's really puzzling. And what's more puzzling is the change with the tree shouldn't in anyway have affected clearing this rocky section as it doesn't mean any scrub-off with speed or a change in approach angle, but it's the only thing that has changed. I'm going to give a really good go next time I'm out there.

Anybody else had something similar happen?

 

[Levo-Lon]

I suspect the fallen tree has just changed the look, and that has upset your approach to the obstacle.
this time of year everything has grown uncontrollably so that quick little section is obscured and makes a fast flowing run difficult.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Definitely - there's one section o trail I've ridden a fair bit where all the trees were taken out. Shouldn't make any difference to the riding of it, but the open feeling makes it much less tricky to carry speed into the corners.

I guess there's a fair bit of subconscious psychology in MTB'ing... I know the only time I've attempted the steep rocky run-in on a black trail, my sub-conscious decided it didn't want to and slammed the brakes on just before getting past the point of no return!

Nice pics in the link BTW, are they yours?

 

[Nigeyy]

The pics aren't mine, just a link to show what it's like.

Hmm I might be in a funk; I was out at a different place today, and if I didn't have the same problem with another section I can clear half the time! Maybe I'm going through a bad patch... Or getting to be a worse rider (and tbh I'm not that good to start off with!). Anyway, just enjoying getting out.

 

[Nigeyy]

Ha! Out today in the same place, Landlocked Forest, absolutely no problems, dabbed once and that was to get over a large log blocking the trail. The difference? Maybe I took a bit quicker -but I'm not sure. Either way, I'm a happy camper; I think I was just having a severely bad off day. Got to get through the section in my other ride now!

 

[Black Sheep]

Now you're thinking about it you'll notice / do it more!

I have days like this on the way to work or back where I seem to hit every pot hole going or keep getting a bit too close to the vehicle in front (easily done on a motorbike) or corners aren't smooth.

If I stop thinking about it and just focus on what I'm doing at the time I'm ok, if I focus on trying to not do it, then I do it even more.