How to Get Your Confidence Back After a Hard Fall

It’s June 2021 and I’m at Lewis Morris Park in New Jersey racing in the H2H mountain bike series. I take a turn with a bit too much speed, get thrown off my bike and dislocate my elbow. After a few months off the bike, healing and doing PT, it was time to get back after it. One small issue. I was really nervous riding my mountain bike. I couldn’t ride all of my local trails. It was like I had lost my mojo.

It can be a challenge getting your confidence back after a hard fall. In a sport that is about overcoming visual obstacles, everything started to look a bit sharper, steeper, and more rugged. Below are a few things I learned on my way back:

• Allow yourself time to heal. Don’t be in a rush to get back on the bike. The best thing you can do is to make sure your injury does not continue to linger. Especially with things like dislocated elbows / shoulders, the likelihood of reinjury significantly increases with each subsequent dislocation.

• Be patient. I found that I needed to be gradual with my ramp up to technical trail. I had to start back at green trails to work my way back up to black.

• Ride with friends. Friends provide a great morale boost. Additionally, it’s really helpful to follow a friend’s line through some trails. Instead of focusing on the obstacle or freezing up picking your line, you can relax and might ride over a few extra things you would not have otherwise.

• Practice falling in a controlled area. After dislocating my elbow, I didn’t trust myself to try trails slightly out of my comfort zone and put a foot down when needed to bail. The first time I fell after my injury, I was at a CX clinic in Queens practicing picking up my water bottle in the grass. My heart rate went through the roof. Once I realized I was fine, it was liberating. Falling is part of mountain biking and it felt good to come to terms with the fact that I can still fall and not hurt myself. Additionally, practicing the way you fall can be helpful as well — generally the advice is to tuck and roll and avoid falling on your hands / wrists.

• Embrace the session. Repeating trails and features is helpful for gaining confidence. If I’m in a rush, I’ll usually give a feature one try and then hustle over it to not hold any friends up. Pausing, looking at the feature, evaluating your line, talking it over with friends, will give you that extra push to ride things slightly out of your comfort zone or nail something that you’ve already been able to ride.

• Try pants and pads. Wearing longer layers or having some padding on your knees and elbows may make you feel more secure riding technical trails. If you do fall, you will scuff up your clothing or pads rather than your skin.

  It took some time but after a top notch trip down to Pisgah National Forest in March 2023, I finally feel like I’m back on track and riding even better than before.