[Sirref]

Originally Posted by csmith12

I challenge you to figure this out for what worked for you. For when you identify it, you can start using it as a base to judge future events.

When I was coming up, your words ring LOUD and CLEAR in my mind. It was like magic... one day I just went faster for no good reason. No smoking gun, no evidence to the cause. It just kinda happened and from what I have seen is fairly common. It took me 2yrs to figure out why and start taking advantage of what the breakthrough was for me. For me, it was vision/throttle/terms. When I saw what my arse (terms) and my eyes agreed upon what my right hand was gunna do, BOOM! I went faster, leaned more. Perhaps yours is similar?

Like I have mentioned to others here, there is yin and yang. You can learn from the positive just as much as the negative. It just takes a flip of the mind.

This 1000x this, last season I had so many unexplained breakthroughs but wasn't able to keep hold of those streaks of brilliance. Some days I was hot, some days I was cold and I couldn't tell you why because I didn't know.

I made it a point to figure that out this season and it took recovering from a crash for me to finally understand it. My breakthroughs came back when I stopped thinking so much and just directed the bike with the flow. Thinking while riding is great while practicing, but for me thinking too much means I'm not focused entirely on the execution of the task at hand so I can't ride nearly as well.

If I had to put it into a more tangible skill/technique I'd say it's my steering confidence in knowing exactly how the bike will respond to my inputs. Only now am I starting to reach issues that are limitations of the bike rather than limitations of my mind

The amount of confidence that comes from understanding yourself better as a rider cannot be understated.