Need some encouragement from my girls...

[cierralisette]

Hey ladies, I needs some female commraderie-type encouragement.

I was doing really well learning on my bike, even considering doing some track days. I was very confident, never panicking, and constantly improving.

Then I crashed.

Now, I'm not the type to give up. In fact, I got right back on the horse again. But it seems like I'm much more timid now around corners. Even silly little ones in town. I slow down to 10mph and worry about lowsiding again. I'm not doing it on purpose, I'm not thinking I'm going to crash, it's just my automatic reaction to slow waaaaay down for corners. My confidence is shot. I feel like I'm back at square one again. I'm starting to make excuses not to get on my bike because I am so ashamed of how I am feeling.

I need some encouragement. :-[

[DuCaTiGiR]

c'mon neeeeenja... you can do it!

i haven't gone down yet,
so i can't put myself in your shoes.
but riding is something you know how to do, and did well, before your incident.
you can get there again.
i suppose it's only natural to feel a little intimidated.
i've been told by experienced riders, confidence is built in seat time.

GO! NEENJA!

[cierralisette]

Originally Posted by DuCaTiNi

c'mon neeeeenja... you can do it!

i haven't gone down yet,
so i can't put myself in your shoes.
but riding is something you know how to do, and did well, before your incident.
you can get there again.
i suppose it's only natural to feel a little intimidated.
i've been told by experienced riders, confidence is built in seat time.

GO! NEENJA!

Thank you tini, that means a lot to me.

[DuCaTiGiR]

Originally Posted by Neenja Mastah

Thank you tini, that means a lot to me.

[t-byrd new]

Keep your chin up sister! If you haven't picked up 'Twist of the Wrist II' yet, let me recommend it, highly!

It will help a lot with understanding what happened and how to keep it from happening again, I think that may help a little bit. That and to keep riding! [thumbsup]

Tanya

[NoMods]

I normally don't post much, but this thread caught my attention. Dear Ms. Neenja please pull yourself together. Do go to the track, the experience will serve you on the road as well as make crystal clear what it is that you need to know and how to execute those slow speed turns. In my limited experience owning a motorcycle, I think that some slow speed turns are best done in second gear. Mind you, I am no flipping expert on the fine art of riding a Ducati, I just love to ride one. Tom Petty said it best, "And I wont back down."

Now go out and ride!

Eileen

[ljj]

I have not been bucked off my bike yet, but I grew up with horses.... Instead of letting me get some sleepy old docile nag for my first horse, my mom insisted I get a green broke half arab/half welsh pony that had been spoiled rotten as a racehorse companion at the local track (essentially an S2R with a piss poor attitude). Then she put me and that pony together in a sandy paddock and let us duke it out. She said if I didn't ride her, I couldn't keep her. Keep in mind, at 8 years old, I wanted a pony more than just about anything else in the world, so there was no way I was gonna not ride her. Needless to say I probably got bucked off a thousand times in every way shape or form, onto every surface you can imagine. Not only did that pony have a bad attitude and was a biter, she would shy at _anything_ and if you've ever ridden a horse, you know how that can dump you before you even know what happened or why. I kept getting back on. and back on... and back on...

I think my mom did it that way so I'd learn to "get back in the saddle" so to speak, and that lesson has served me well through my life... Not just in the physical sense, but in the emotional sense as well.

After a year or so of riding that little brat every day, she turned into the best, sweeteest pony in the world and years later my siblings all learned to ride on her. (a different experience for them than I, I'm sure) I moved up in the world to train bigger horses (100% arabs, even WORSE!!) and continued my 'getting dumped' and 'getting back on' way of life but with much less frequency... As I got smarter and more crafty, so did the horses though, and it would take a special brand of pill to chomp the bit in their teeth (removing my ability to steer) and scrape me off on low hanging apple branches and poles at high speeds....

I know this story is probably really random, and not completely applicable...

but every day I get on my bike, I consider myself lucky that despite what it seems like from time to time, it does NOT have a mind of it's own, and is, in general, if you know what to look for/expect, rather predictable....

And if/when i take a spill on my bike, well... that's why I spent all that money on and wear all this fancy gear EVERy time I get on her... (just like I always rode with a helmet when on horses) and hopefully, just like in your case, I'll just be able to 'dust myself off' and get back on the bike (in a manner of speaking).

My knees always shook a bit after getting dumped, and I often hurt the next day and occasionally had rather nasty bruises, scrapes and breaks... BUT what I was taught was this... My mom's words of wisdom so to speak... She insisted that I always get right back on, IMMEDIATELY. For two reasons. 1) that way the horse doesn't learn that it can just get out of doing work by dumping you; and 2) (more importantly) so that I wouldn't stop riding out of fear of pain, and I could fix the mistake I made that got me dumped... I'd always be back on that darned horse before I realized how bruised I was ... the adrenaline pumping yanno... heheh... even the time i broke my ankle and finished the day of showing with a running shoe on one foot and a riding boot on the other

So you need to figure out if it is the fear of pain or the fear of embarrassment or the fear of hurting your bike or what that is keeping you out of the saddle.

Yeah, so you got bucked off... you and your bike got a bit of road rash... you now know you can go down and it wasn't the end of the world... Learn from your experience! Try your best to not do it again...

If you need to ride timid for a bit, so be it.... Take some time to get your mojo back, at this point, don't expect it back overnight... You've given your brain a little too much time to think about it... Do the track class when you feel ready... find some fun rides that you can do yourself or with a slower rider that isn't pushing you... Maybe try dirtbike school, I hear it does wonders for in city handling and is actually better than track from that perspective... Doing something totally different but still on a motorbike might give you a bit of a reset button....

[hangin_biposto]

Neenja-
First and foremost, I’m glad you’re Ok!

I’m not in the saddle yet, so I have no tidbits of wisdom to give from personal experience, but from what I’ve gathered you’re a no BS kind of girl. You don’t strike me as the type to accept limitations, and I also can’t see you appreciating it when others make excuses for themselves. So why look for reasons not to do something you love? I read a good quote recently in a letter from a female rider published in Motorcycle Consumer News; it basically said that if you argue for your limitations long enough, surely they will be yours.

Start by thinking about the things you do well on your bike if it helps your confidence. If your location allows, find a nice parking lot or industrial park to practice those slow speed turns so you don’t need to worry about traffic. Bring someone you’re comfortable with along. It might seem elementary, and it might feel like you’re going backwards- moving from the street to parking lots- but if it’s the traffic and in town things that are freaking you out, take yourself out of that element until you find your rhythm again. If you have to take one step backwards to take two steps forward to restore your confidence, do it. There’s no reason to put a timeframe on getting back at it.

I can see myself having the same reservations and fears if I were in your position. I would say the way you’re feeling is completely natural after an off, so just ease into it at a rate you’re comfortable with. You have nothing to prove, and you have nothing to be embarrassed about; even guys get timid when they take a digger. It’s all a part of learning, and even for the most experienced riders there’s usually someting left to learn.

Would you forgive yourself in the long run if you let your riding suffer? I would guess probably not.

[msincredible]

Sorry to hear about your crash Neenja, but glad you're ok. [thumbsup]

I think it's very natural to have a loss of confidence after some kind of incident. I know I have certainly experienced it, more than once, even after doing a couple of trackdays.

What I can tell you is that it does come back, and for me the confidence comes back much quicker than building it in the first place.

I'd say just keep riding, take those corners slow for now. Keep doing the same corners (for example, your regular commute or ride), and gradually you should feel better and better about them and take them more confidently. For me, riding my bicycle (I'm a bit bike crazy) also helped since I am so much more confident on it. Maybe you might think about doing some parking lot practice, if you have a convenient place available to you?

Keep posting and let us know how it's going, we're here for you.

[gwendy]

I'm with everyone on this. I am very new and as most of you know a bit timid on riding. I have dropped the bike twice, thankfully both times in a parking lot low speed but still it threw me for a confidence loop. I think the track helped me a lot and I would encourage it!!

I'm glad you weren't hurt and the confidence will take time. But it will come back. Let the rest us us know how it's going.

Gwendy