Find your Flow on the Trail

Find a State of Flow*
From Mastering Mountain Bike Skills by Brian Lopes, Lee McCormack


Mountain biking satisfies so many desires. It transforms a gunnysack full of kittens into a ripped, hard body. It carries you through stunning places with exceptional people. Its sites, sounds, smells, and sensations block out all your inner demons. And, of course, the speed and magnitude of it all excite you like nothing else.

You can go for half a dozen rides and enjoy them for half a dozen reasons. Your lunchtime loop keeps you fit, Moab’s Porcupine Rim Trail enthralls you, a twisty singletrack whips you like a roller coaster, a huge jump scares the heck out of you.

These are all fantastic ways to enjoy our fine sport, but the ultimate experience happens when your thoughts crawl into your CamelBak and your body flows along the trail without effort or voice. Time changes. Tension disappears. You’re focused but not forced. Controlling your bike becomes effortless. You’ve entered the magical state of “flow.”

Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes the feeling of flow in his groundbreaking book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience:“. . . Concentration is so intense that there is no attention left over to think about anything irrelevant, or to worry about problems. Self-consciousness disappears, and the sense of time becomes distorted. An activity that produces such experiences is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, with little concern for what they will get out of it, even when it is difficult, or dangerous.”

Does that sound familiar?

Flow only happens when the demands of the situation intersect with your abilities. The trail isn’t so hard it scares you, nor is it so easy it bores you. The further the demands lay above your perceived abilities, the bigger the rush. Savor a peaceful cruise down a local trail, enjoy a thrill behind a faster rider down a new path, or transcend all you thought possible by pinning it for an entire cross-country race. You might vomit at the end, but it feels so good, doesn’t it?

We say “perceived” abilities because that’s what counts. Most of us can climb harder, corner faster, and fly farther than we usually do. When you can let go of your inner mother and flow along in this zone, you’ll have max fun and improve your riding.

Unfortunately, we can’t just put on a Flow-Tron 2000 helmet and instantly feel that ecstasy. (If we could, we’d never do anything else.) According to the book Good Stress, Bad Stress by Barry Lenson, flow is a precise psychological state that requires these elements:

Adequate skills. You don’t learn to flow. You learn to ride your bike. When you can corner, hop, and jump without thinking, then you can flow. You might achieve ecstasy in the soft Santa Cruz woods but flounder amid the raspy Phoenix boulders. When you worry about surviving the ride, you do not flow.

Goals. If you ride around--la la la--with no mission, you miss the rewards of accomplishing your goals. Set a goal. Spin smoothly, rail corners, stay on your buddy’s wheel, or just stay on your bike for a change. If you need a ready-made structure, compete in a race. You have to know you’re doing a good job.

Excitement. Too little stress and your mind wanders. Too much stress and you freak out. Go ahead and let some butterflies flutter in your tummy. They tell you you’re being pushed, and that a huge stoke awaits.

The good news is, achieving flow is neither random nor extremely difficult. Here are some tips to help you achieve flow more consistently and in crazier situations.

Break ’em down. Break big tasks into small components. If you’re an intermediate jumper and you try to nail a technical 10-pack all at once, you’ll end up more broken than satisfied. Instead, try to get a perfect takeoff on the first double, then master the landing. When you get that down, add jumps number two, number three, and so on.

Practice. Don’t just go out and ride, either. Pay close attention to what you’re doing. Systematically build the skills you need to rip. Focus your mind on pedaling perfect circles. Then do a million of them.

Hang with the right crowd. Ride with people at or above your skill level. You will rise or fall to the level of your peers. Beware: If you feel inadequate around superior riders, or if they take you places you aren’t ready for, you’ll find it difficult to have a good time.

Pick the right tool for the job. You should not be worrying about your bike tracking correctly or holding together. You heard it here first: Go forth and buy!

Conquer your obstacles. Pay attention to the things that prevent or interrupt your flow. Maybe you tense up every time you encounter baby head rocks. Either stay away from them or learn to ride them.

Don’t pay attention to yourself. As soon as you realize you’re ripping, the ripping pretty much stops. Remember that scene in Empire Strikes Back when Luke stood on one hand with his eyes closed, with Yoda and a bunch of stuff balanced on his feet, and he started to levitate his X-wing fighter? He was definitely ripping. As soon as he opened his eyes and thought, “Yes! I’m a Jedi Master!” it all came crashing down. Don’t be self-conscious like Luke. Be confident like Han.



To get this Book goto: https://www.humankinetics.com/products/showproduct.cfm?isbn=9780736056243