unusual strategy

The sun was shinning and I was feeling great rolling through the iPark on Mt Bachelor. Soaring through the air with style and confidence landing my tricks all over the place. I was feeling good because I was doing things right, following my own techniques for improving my riding. Over the years I've heard all sorts of advice from the guys who really kill it in the park most of it was poor advice but now I'm beginning to understand what they meant. Here are 3 unusual strategies you can use to improve your park riding.

1. "Don't think about; it just do it"

This is an odd statement to make and I do not encourage people to go breaking themselves trying difficult tricks. However more than enough extremely talented riders have told me in the past that they don't really think about how to do their tricks they just decide what they are going to do and then do it! The lesson here isn't in just hucking your meat all around the park the silver lining is CONFIDENCE and COMMITMENT. These riders all know they have the skill and truly believe they are going to land their tricks. This is a common belief among good riders while average riders believe many tricks to be too difficult and fail to learn because of fear of injury and failure. Stay within and just beyond your ability when trying tricks with full commitment and confidence, then just DO IT!

2. "Think About it"

Clearly the opposite of unusual tip #1 but what almost every good rider does consciously and unconsciously to become great is think about their tricks and when I say THINK I mean VISUALIZE. See yourself do the trick in your minds eye perfectly then visualize the trick once more focusing on how completing the trick will feel every step of the way from drop in to landing. This will literally begin to hard wire the tricks into your brain and body, give it a shot!

3. "Use the Force"

Whenever your shredding do your absolute best to consciously create confidence in your riding. You know those days you just kill it and everything goes right? Think about those days and deliberately attempt to put yourself into that type of mindset. Once you are experiencing that mindset completely you'll have tapped into your own mental force and tricks will come easily and naturally.

BONUS TIP

"Stretch"

Stretching helps a great deal (increase balance on rails, decrease chances of injury, jump easier, feel better the next day, generally good for health)