Don’t Think, Just Be…

I’m pretty sure if Bruce Lee had been a mountain biker, he’d have had some philosophical mantra along the lines of “Don’t think about being in the groove, just be in the groove”.

Have you noticed this phenomenon? You’ve been out on the trail for a while, nicely warmed up, hitting all the lines, railing the corners, a grin on your face. You know the feeling.

You’re in the groove!

Your subconscious mind is seemingly connected directly to your body, instinct takes over, tunnel vision sets in, you only hear your breathing, the whirr of your rear hub and the swoosh of the tires as they cut a perfect line around the corners.

Then your conscious mind notices what’s happening. It’s like a spectator thinking “wow, now that dude’s an awesome rider”. Suddenly you are observing yourself in the groove. You really aren’t there any more – if you were, you wouldn’t notice…

That’s usually when stuff figuratively hits the fan and you physically hit the ground. At high speed. Ouch.

Yup, that was my ride on Sunday. Railing a berm I’ve railed numerous times before without thinking about it. And then I went and thought about it. Damn! The resultant shin, knee and quad carnage wasn’t pretty. Luckily today’s my day off so we’ll see how things look for tomorrow’s session.

So if you find yourself observing how well you are riding, rather than just riding well, chances are high that the next thing you’ll be thinking about is picking yourself up off the ground.

And because this is a mountain biking proverb, there has to be a gratuitous picture of my personal carnage. As Coach so succinctly put it

“Nice, that’s gonna leave a mark!”