Going Big Or Learning New Moves?

[Greetings]

I've recently found that this sport is no longer something that gives me a sense of achievement. It's ok in the way that I go out riding and enjoy myself but that's probably like having a smoke. I mean for those who have been into this sport for many years, it's just like an addiction.

A few years ago trials was something special, progress was slow and therefore the sense of achievement when one nailed something just right was greater. I'm not talking about a huge drop-gap but say a simple pedalup onto 2ft. Now, after tapping +4ft I feel like I've done my job and can go home. There isn't a single move I can think of doing that would give me the satisfaction a small sidehop would years ago. I guess this means the whole joy of riding is no longer there.

This leads me to the conclusion that some are more pleased by learning new moves rather than going bigger. But what can one do when all moves have been learned? Ditch trials and start riding street/bmx? One has to have quite a mind to develop one's own style like Leech has, and immense skills to follow it. I'm just sick and tired of going out riding and trying to tap the same wall and do the same gap, or trying to tap a larger wall and do a bigger gap. Guess the problem would disappear if I had some rocks around but I don't.

I'm pretty sure some people on this forum have had a similar problem. What did you do? Carry on riding and "vegetate", or did you ditch trials and try a different sport?

Edited December 28, 2006 by Inur

[Danny Kearns]

Go bigger, Do things that scare you and then you will be happy with what you have done, Perhaps try something technical, I am in the same position as you and i have just gone bigger and more technical and its getting me more interested again.

Dan...................

[GTF]

Be creative

[poopipe]

buy a bmx and take the brakes off.

seriously - even just popping down the shops is an adventure ( someone might have nearly got run over on the way home tonight )

to elaborate...I think I know how you're feeling - trials seems like a lot of work for very little gain to me these days. An example of what I mean when is when you go on a group and it'll basically amount to a herd of people failing to get up something for half an hour, finally succeeding and then repeating the process somewhere different. It's a laugh if the company is good but it's not really all that creative and you spend 80% of your time failing. If I take the bmx out I'm still shite but I have many more options open to me and it's just flat out more fun riding one around aimlessly - the part between spots can be fun as well if you can roll at more than 5mph.

don't quit trials because you're bored of it - just add a bmx to your collection and expand your horizons

Edited December 28, 2006 by poopipe

[boby-bob]

Big thing suck.. Try street-trial bike

I feel like this sometime.. and with a street-trial bike you can switch riding style!

Try new hard things(front wheel manual,..), smooth thing, manual lines, .. work on your style

Big drop, big gap are not really nice to see... like bender but in trials ...

Creativity for the win!!

[Conor the basher.]

I understand the problem, i have not been riding long really to have this problem but i do see what you mean.

It seems to me that you not getting the most you could out of being a trials rider its not just bout getting high or doing big gaps <that helps. a lot of it is about creating your own style a 2ft wall can be amusing for ages if you are trying every thing you can,group rides are amazing because you get the opinion of all the riders and learn new moves to establish your own style.

Even try to get smoother is a challenge, going different places is good you can meet new rides and make new friends.

You just have to think positive watch a vid before you go out to get in the mood and try 100%.

Make some more vids get some new pics get out there ride have fun and think positive.

thanks conor

[paolo]

I'll go with the flow, be creative. Try adding stuff into your riding, of course you could add spins and street inspired stuff but your'e a real trials rider, putting street stuff into trials is just an excuse to ride with style without actually being briliant at trials trials (myself included). So I guess if you have been riding for quite a while, there are stuff that you can do and other people find incredibly hard to do. Make a style of your own, put stuff your'e good at and exploit them at their'e full potential, after which you'll probably be enterested in stuff you probably suck at and you'll learn that and put all that in a blender and come up with something fresh. You might want to take a look at other freeflowing sports for ideas in the kinda way you want to inspire your kinda flow: parkour, break, gymnastics tumbling, who knows ? Probably the ferthest apart from trials, probably the cooler...

So, why higher, why longer ?

[t33zr]

Going bigger=give you pleasure (the feeling that you look for...)

You say you dont want to get bigger or tap higher. because thats not the problem.....

I think if you realy get higher it would give you that feeling you had when you nailed 4 pallets sidehop first time.

im stuck on 7 pallets sidehop for a long time. and i KNOW i will make 8 if i dont give up. i almost does everything to make my goal.

Yesterday i bought weights so i can do squats.... maybe im crazy and i take it too serious?

i dont know.... but 1 thing is shure.... to get higher makes you want to ride more...

I can ride for hours on the same spot. just with some simple stuff.... i try to get up every single way its posible to get up. even if its easy to do a sidehop there, i try front to back, pedalup, tap, 180 sidehop, 90 degree front to back, hook?, sidehop to rear....etc etc etc...

Try to ride with someone thats better than you. make youre self some goals. maybe be better than youre friend.

Try compete with youre friend. u dont need to do big stuff. make lines in a natural area.

Try riding places that you never been ridden before.

if u realy want to get better (to make youreself real happy) try doing weights.

Squat for example.

You will get the taps higher and the sidehops bigger....

I get tired and bored often. but i try my best to dont give up.

I always look up to TRA, CLS or what ever......they can always make me better in someway. i know that i never will make 10 pallets sidehop like CLS or TRA, but i want to see what im capable of.

Im so lucky that i have a car and i can go to new places all the time. Thats a BIG plus. I can always find new spots to ride. Ive always been a "street rider". But lately ive been trying to ride natural.

Just to learn something that im absolutely NOT god at....

I realy hope that you dont give up...

[Ali C]

enter some comps?

Then theres always somthng to look forward too. Even just riding natural is fun. If I didnt do comps I would probably give up trials tomorrow.

[will]

Learn to ride switch foot.

[Nick Garland]

Im doing a mixture of the above stuff to be fair,

Im going to enter comps this year, be a laugh, leaning to sidehop now as I have always been pants, also learning to take a different angle on stuff such as "that wall can be backwheeled, as well as up to 90, possibly sidehopped, up to front, possible front back" etc just add more variation.

I find creating a line out of a few close object is always fun, abit hard in urban areas so learn to manual between

[A!!]

I have been feeling the exact same way that you describe, and have felt like it for a while. It is like you say, when i first started trials the main thing that kept me going was the great feeling of achievement, but now thats not there anymore.

Like the other week i was riding a stack of pallets in my garden, trying to pull a big bunnyhop to front wheel up them. I eventually got it in the end, but when i did i didn't get a great feeling, nor a sense of achievement, just an "i'll try doing it higher". And all this has made trials feel pretty stale, and made me feel like i either needed a change, or start a new sport a long side it. Even if it is a move or line i have been trying to nail for ages, then i do it, it's just an "that was good", and a second later it's forgotten and back to getting angry trying a new line.

So in the end i started bmxing, as well as trials. And needless to say it has helped a lot. It all feels a lot more fresh now, and i have found my self just enjoying it more, wether that be going for a quick blast around the block (brakeless of course ), or going to a spot and getting some moves down. It hasn't got the feeling of achievement to the same extent as when i first started trials had, but all the same it's still there.

Also when you do get back on the trials bike after having a week or two off riding it, it doesn't feel like the same old stuff. You get on and feel a lot more fresh with it all, as well as having a new frame of mind from combining the two disciplines together.

Soooo, i'm with poopipe on this get your self a bmx, and let the inspiration begin. If you do, make sure it's brakeless

[HargrovesToby]

i have a story like this

moral was low with the lads recently, what with crappy weather and no light late at night, all getting a little bit boring riding, then suddenly, we all got right back on the ball, and as nick so lovingly said, "upped the level."

Now were all back into it, riding huge natural lines that we would never have imagined riding, which in turn brings a massive sense of achievement, like today, a line was a 6 foot gap with about 4 foot upwards to an awkqardly facing rock, at an angle....that was a challenge, these things ive me sense of achievement, sometimes falling off is good as it does prove that you cannot do things first time al the time.

Just go out, look at trials with a whole new view, try everything and anything, i think when people start getting good on the things they have been riding for years, they forget to look outside the box a bit, now im a better rider after just 1 day or natural riding, some huge lines today, huge sense of achievement and even though i have a dodgey knee and shouldnt be riding, iv come away with the biggest buzz ever.

go find some huge lines, try them, then perfect them.

toby

[lankyri]

i understand where you are coming from mate this is where i have changed, the riders round me are progressing every time i ride with them and i feel that i am not going anywhere, thats why i have not as much fun riding now as i did a year ago or so now i try to do what ashton and hawyes said in BI-KING, try and do the same trick but your only allowed to do a certain amount of pedal hops or your only allowed to do 3 pedal strokes before you hop up a wall. i find this more satisfying (sp) because your trying to get up the same object but in a different way.

also i try and through in tricks when i hop up a wall, i.e. wheeliehop up a 3 foot wall and then pull a x-up and either put your front wheel down or backhop off again, ive learnt this and now im tryin the same trick but im trying to add a spin into it, so wheeliehop to x-up to 180 off. and so far i have got it to 90 out but its something to try when i next go out riding

[Tomm]

when you go on a group and it'll basically amount to a herd of people failing to get up something for half an hour, finally succeeding and then repeating the process somewhere different.

Haha, I totally know what you mean. 3-4 years ago I remember laughing at all the skaters that used to hang around (That fad seems to have disappeared a bit?) and the fact that they make maybe 1 kickflip in 20 attempts. But that's trials now.

I know what you mean though, without progression trials can be a bit dull. So you've just gotta mix it up a bit and see what happens. If you're still not enjoying it, give up for a few months, and then when you get back into it everything is an achievement

[Andrex]

Rick I think you should come out riding with me more often and try and develop your progression and try and jump up bigger things. Try and back wheel high enough that you could get on to a car crash barrier, or do some more practice so you can attempt the toilet gaps down the seafront. You should get a job and get a car and call me then we could go on roads trips and go to big rides where riders with more experience can inspire you to push yourself a bit more. I can see what you mean you no how to do the basics of most things but still there is no harm in trying to push yourself much further. Do some stuff that scares the absolute shit out of you then you will be so pleased with yourself that you are doing trials and everyone is complimenting you. You should still stick with trials because you never know that one day you could be remembered by many trials riders for what example you set.come on Rick you can do it!!! Come out this weekend and I'll push you over your limits. You need to feel the adrenaline of bigger things. I hope to see you riding soon. Andy

[Deonn h]

Haha, I totally know what you mean. 3-4 years ago I remember laughing at all the skaters that used to hang around (That fad seems to have disappeared a bit?) and the fact that they make maybe 1 kickflip in 20 attempts. But that's trials now.

I know what you mean though, without progression trials can be a bit dull. So you've just gotta mix it up a bit and see what happens. If you're still not enjoying it, give up for a few months, and then when you get back into it everything is an achievement

Thats good , least it shows someones pushing themselves to do something they havent done before.

[Alex.loves.boys]

RIde natural, and new places.

Im get like this allot, just think im never going to get better.and i get super bored of trials, but like youve said its like an addication and i cant stop riding.

bUt seriously.

Try going to new places, and deffinaltly try ride some natural.

Theres so much more to be done on two rocks then there is two walls.

Natrual is what makes trials fun imo.

The way you have to try that little bit harder to get up that rock or accross it.

Ridining the same stuff over and over again will just make it worse.

Edited December 29, 2006 by alext

[manuel]

I'll go with the flow, be creative. Try adding stuff into your riding, of course you could add spins and street inspired stuff but your'e a real trials rider, putting street stuff into trials is just an excuse to ride with style without actually being briliant at trials trials (myself included). So I guess if you have been riding for quite a while, there are stuff that you can do and other people find incredibly hard to do. Make a style of your own, put stuff your'e good at and exploit them at their'e full potential, after which you'll probably be enterested in stuff you probably suck at and you'll learn that and put all that in a blender and come up with something fresh. You might want to take a look at other freeflowing sports for ideas in the kinda way you want to inspire your kinda flow: parkour, break, gymnastics tumbling, who knows ? Probably the ferthest apart from trials, probably the cooler...

So, why higher, why longer ?

I think paolo has hit mr nail on his head with mr sledgehammer.

Go riding on your own is my advice - get the mp3 player on and just ride. Challenge yourself on everything you come to - try every wall in every different possible way - use the brakes as little as you can, just change it up .... dont get bogged down with inches or what "everyone else" can do because that is balls and makes no difference to how much fun riding is to you.

Learn to ride switch foot.

ha thatll do it for achievement ... but you might give up with frustration quickly

[PaRtZ]

Im learning new moves, because its easier and still gives me the same amount of fun. I would say learn things like 270 endos but you've got them already

We play a game where we go to a wall and see who can get up it or down it in as many different ways without repeating one. Its quite fun and shows creativness

[Brian Bleech]

Just go out and have fun with your riding. Mess about, it's only riding bikes at the end of the day. If you don't feel like doing sidehops (or whatever) simply don't bother.

Progression is important, but you can progress in other ways than inches

[FoxRacer]

heal your anckle at first, as like you said that it stops you of doing some more streetish stuff. Maybe buy fullsuspension bike?? You were legend on this!! Look how it changed freeride scene in Poland more and more people started to try trials on full suspension bike, and it's quite big challange to struggle with suspension to make it smooth and flow. So maybe not bmx but FS?? I don't see you on bmx;p

Edited December 29, 2006 by FoxRacer

[Clarky]

I know exactly where you are coming from, I was the same but then i tried some new moves it made riding less boring and i went bigger which i was proud of and now it feels ace.

Jason

[Greetings]

Thanks a lot people. Having seen how many replies this topic had to treat myself to a beer and crisps before reading them. I guess every single one of you has made a good point. It's hard to sum it all up, but after reading this thread I have realized how many things there are in trials that I'm missing - especially what Rowan wrote about using the brake as little as possible, and Lankyricky about eliminating correction hops and unnecessary moves. This is something I used to do and completely forgot about after getting a stock. I'm on the verge of going dual disc again which was the main thing that pushed me towards a new level of riding about a year ago.

Partz - indeed that is a great game, we played it with a couple of mates on the rocks one day, really makes you think hard after the 6th jump . Alternatively you can play knockout and take turns jumping onto a medium sized wall.

As funny as this may sound, I now feel like riding again. Some of you mentioned rocks. The closest good spot is 7 hours by train from where I live. We do have a park in which there are quite a few rocks but they're fairly small and usually very close to each other which makes them nothing more but a good spot to ride on once every year.

If anyone has anything more to add, please do!

[JonCongreve]

I see what you mean as i felt like i was beginning to get bored of riding the same places, same moves etc. Starting trials i only ever rode 2 places. It was good for beginning but when i started developing my moves it got boring. Then i became friends with a really nice guy who had a car so i got to go to new places....woah. I was more interested in the sport then i ever was . It was great, i had found inspiration again by riding with other people and at new places.

In winter i don't feel motivated to ride with the weather and everything. But i started to ride in the wet a little bit more as it's always a challenge. The other day i did this fairly big gap, then i thought how about trying to do a half pedal stroke then gap instead of hopping on the spot for ages to get ready. I'm trying to learn manuals and other more streety moves, and because you're learning it's interesting to you. I do like to go big and try my hardest to push myself, but i find it good to try and be as smooth as possible and developing a style that is unique to you. Maybe try riding less often, so when you do ride you feel more motivated? Try and be as creative and smooth as you can, while still going big like Rowan for example. After all it's only a hobby, just enjoy yourself and have fun