This Is Why You Keep Crashing On Technical Trails

I got this race completely wrong. In today's video, I'm going to explain to you just what I think went wrong and how I could change it to get a completely different outcome. When I first started racing mountain bikes, my only knowledge and interest of Tasmania was with the Tasmanian Devil out of the Looney Tunes. However, in 2023, the EWS decided to host not one, but two World Cup rounds in this mystical land. One of these races was situated in the north of the island here in a town called Derby. What was a former 19th century tin mining town has now been transformed into one of the most exciting and exotic mountain bike destinations. Situated on the Ringaruma River with over 125 kilometers of blue Derby trails and a unique floating sauna, it's easy to see why this has become one of the world's foremost mountain bike destinations. Before we get into exactly why I'm here in blue Derby, let me tell you a little bit about what I've been up to on my trip so far. Thanks to the guys at Tourism Tasmania, I've been on the most incredible journey around this beautiful and diverse island. Kicking things off in Medina, I watched Red Bull Hardline with some of the fastest racers in the world hitting some of the most iconic and massive features. We then moved on up the island to the blue tier where we got to ride 45-minute descents before returning to blue Derby where I find myself today. With unique trails and stunning landscapes, it's easy to see why these trails offer the perfect terrain for a World Cup. Arriving into Derby was like nothing I'd ever experienced, a town reborn through mountain biking nestled in its very own rainforest. However, being a rainforest and with some truly apocalyptic weather, I was faced with not only these gnarly new features that I was unfamiliar with, but also with some really, really technical conditions. This left me to lock into the only approach that I knew how, which was going hell for leather down the trail, and this is where things started to unravel. I smashed myself and my bike down through a few trails before eventually DNFing this race, something I put down to bad luck and was quick to forget. Upon further inspection and a few years being wiser and older, I think I know what went wrong and it's something that I think could help you guys too. It all has to do with flow state, but more importantly, how we adjust our approach depending on the style of trail. To many of us, myself included, finding flow is very track dependent. On a pump track like this, finding flow is easy. When it came to technical features like this, the idea of flow went out the window and in fact, survival became the main priority. For years, I applied a blanket approach to whatever the trail threw at me. Imagine the flow state as a sliding scale where you can slide it up to be more relaxed or down to be more intense. If we want to improve our flow state, it involves dialing down the intensity and focusing more on flow. Whilst on the other side of the spectrum, if we want to dial up the intensity, we have more of a focus on muscling through the trail and getting from A to B as fast as possible. In 2023, I very much found myself stuck on that high intensity and red mist side of the scale. Unfortunately, the trails here in Blue Derby required something completely different. Today, we're going to retrace my steps, including a few of those key stages where I know I got things completely wrong, including where I crashed, and see if we can adjust that approach and hopefully get a different result. Here we are at the scene of the crime. This is where I slid out and had my huge crash that actually ended my race. Now being up here three years later, I can see I was even more wrong in my approach than I first thought. The problem here was, of course, my approach. I was riding with as much intensity, trying to go as fast as possible, lighting up this sector right here. Partly helped by the fact there was a bar set up and so the crowd was all here and it was really exciting. Obviously, being a slightly younger and less experienced rider, I got sucked into the excitement. In reality, what I should have been focused on more was my flow and therefore also improving my average speed. You see, by slowing down through this section and setting myself up better on entry, what I could have done is got better drives through these and I could have improved my cornering. I not only wouldn't have crashed, but I also would have carried better speed probably on the exit and to the end of the stage. This is what I really want to focus on. It's how we can improve our flow, adjust our intensity, which not only improves our top-end speed overall of the trail, but it also helps us to stay on the bike and ride with more consistency. How do we maintain that average speed whilst also dialing in our flow and lowering our intensity? Well, it all has to do with how we perceive these sorts of sections right here. If you look at this trail and think of it more like a pump track, what we can do is we can relax our we can drive through the sections and that will keep our average speed high whilst also allowing us to ride in a more relaxed manner, which is not only energy-saving out on the trail, but it's also much smoother and much safer. I hear what you're saying. No, this isn't a pump track or a flow trail, but like a flow trail and a pump track, there are transitions and rollers. Right here, there's a downward transition. We can pump down here and it's nice and smooth. This is not only going to generate speed, but it's going to save us vital pedal strokes, allowing us to be much more composed and relaxed on the bike. Then we have this nice little roller right here where we can de-weight, again, just getting a real nice flow and a feel for the trail, and then we can pump down again on the backside, which then if we're going fast enough actually allows us to then double down onto the backside of another roller. Now, obviously, that is a slightly more expert line, but if you're a beginner, you can still just roll down through here, pump, pump, and turn rollers into doubles or just turn them into double pumps. Even now when I'm trying to show you guys how to flow better, these kind of trails, it's so hard to do. Your brain wants to ride stiff and just go really, really strong in a position, but you just need to relax your body and really slow that sliding scale down and just ride smoother, but super hard to do when you're looking at the features. It's just all about mindset. How do we translate that flow state we experience on a blue trail across onto the more technical and rougher terrain of a harder trail? Well, the premise is exactly the same, but the transitions are a little bit more hidden and, of course, a little bit rougher. I like to call these smaller transitions micro-transitions, and the more of them that we can hit down the trail, the more we can turn any track into a massive pump track, and this is going to be the ultimate flow state. Riders like Jack Moir are past masters at this, and that's why they've been so successful in the world of enduro. The more and more technical the terrain becomes, the smaller and less obvious those transitions are to see. This is where I came truly unstuck. I was unable to see those transitions and also ride them, and thus I lost so much of my flow state, and this took not only a load of energy out of me, but it also led to me riding with way more intensity to try and compensate. This section right here is a prime example of where I chose to use max intensity instead of that flow state. I chose to do an absolute max sprint along here, although it's a shorter piece of trail, led me to have a tighter corner on exit. Instead, what I could have done is found this transition right here, got a nice pump down into the back, and although it's on the outside, there's then a lovely double that then would have given me better drive into the next section. How can you guys build your own flow, whether it be on the trails of Blue Derby or even at home? As I'm sure you've seen, a lot of professional riders use their hard tails in skate parks and pump tracks to build that flow state that they then take out onto the trails, but this requires an entirely new bike, and I know not everyone has one of those. How do you do it on your own trusty steed? Well, the no pedal rule is a great way to start. Get yourself to the top of your favorite trail and simply drop in with no pedal strokes. This forces us to pump for speed and find those all-important micro transitions down the trail. Be sure to start on an easier trail first and then build yourself up. Another little side note, breathing helps to relax us, which will improve that flow state. Oh, man, it's so good. Which kind of rider are you guys? Are you a max intensity, full send, or have you been working on your flow since day one? Have you ever considered dialing in a different approach? Let us know down in the comments what kind of rider you are, and of course, I will catch you in the next one. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can teach an old racer some new tricks. I'm going to see if I can teach an old racer some new tricks.