Developing Your Own Focus Formula or Process for Approaching Riding Challenges

Why learning to think intentionally and develop your own process is the key to thinking less while riding.

So often, our goal as everyday mountain bikers is to get out into nature, challenge ourselves, have fun, and let go of all of the information that was floating around in our minds before the ride. It’s because of this that when I ask a rider to think intentionally, to plan, or to visualize, it’s often met with some resistance. But Jake, “what about the flow state?”

“When I ride at my best, I’m not thinking at all - I just let my body do what it knows.”

Or, “I ride to let go, to pause the thinking.”

While I agree and also personally identify with all of these statements, the wisdom from many thousands of hours spent on the trails myself, and the time spent with the hundreds of riders I’ve coached tells me that what separates those who achieve consistent progression, have fun, and find flow from those who get stuck in cycles of fear, frustration, and stagnation is that the former learn to think with intention and develop a process they can trust.

It’s this trusted process that creates a safe space for our brains and bodies to adapt and change. These changes lead to increased ability through the refinement of riding skills. And with intentional practices and plenty of mileage, we develop a sense of confidence and trust in ourselves, our bike, and our skillset. It’s this trust that allows us to begin thinking less, riding with a quieter mind, and allowing simple cues to take care of complex motor movements. Hello flowstate. So, if you’d like to learn how to develop a process for approaching challenges on the bike, managing fear and nerves, and riding without overthinking, I invite you to join us for our Deep-Dive Webinar happening next Tuesday, March 3rd, at 6:30 pm.

Not only will I walk you through my exact process, but I’ll also teach you how to develop your own, and tie together all the tools we have spent this past winter exploring in our other webinars. Free for Full Circle members to join - reply to this email or in the Telegram member chat to RSVP. Open to all others, sign up via this link.