sports psychologist (for racing, not the divorce thread)

I appreciate all of the insight. I have read alot, and I'm going to put some of these titles on my list. Part of the problem, most of the stuff I've found is stick and ball sports based. Even the motorsports stuff is all for cars. The point being:

Overcoming Fear or personal limits in regard to most sports will lead you discussions of fear of failing, fear of looking bad, etc. While those may be relevant, there is very little threat of serious injury in most sports. So learning to push past your "fears" in basketball or golf is decidedly different than pushing through your fears in motorcycle racing or rock climbing. If I go past my personal limit / comfort zone / barrier, it's usually by accident- I get sucked in too hot, or miss a brake marker and throw it in. I'd like to be able to work on that.

@Phl218 I do way more thinking than I should- over thinking it is part of the problem. I've done some work on calming the mind, great in theory, hard to apply when I swing my leg over the bike.

Believe me, I have thought about the drug option. I have personally seen people go way faster than formerly capable by using drugs- adderal or cannibis, etc. But that is just not me. If I can't access my talent naturally, I'll just accept that. I am open to nootropics and supplements, and I'm trying a few here and there.

 

Try peeing in the helmets of your competitors. That seemed to work for Gobert.

 

Just my non-professional $.02...

I think having an openly calm mind really is the order of the day. It seems there's nothing your mind needs to process for first, second or instinctive nature, so just react appropriately as the situations present themselves. Instead of wasting time actively thinking about the things you're processing, I think, the secret is not to think about it at all. Eye to hand...you see it, you know what to do.

Why stop to think about it? Hittin' brakes, initiating turns, rollin' throttle...you know how to do that, you know where the controls are, you know how to use 'em and you see the references that initiate those actions. Let it happen!

Why do we get caught up thinking about it?
I don't know, but I find that separating what I see from what my brain wants to "talk" about precludes me from thinking about it. Our bikes are designed to take care of everything we put in their paths, let the bike do its job. Our job is to put the bike where we want it, let yourself do that. See where you want to be, be where you want to be.

Quite simply, if I don't give a fuck and just do what I know how to do, the lap times drop by seconds and the spare processing power for thoughts leads to things like, "Wow, the bike feels great today, this is what it should feel like, like an extension of myself. What a cool feeling?" I'm not thinking about riding the bike at all, I'm just doing it, and it's a great relief not having my mind cluttered with what ifs and second-guesses. It's almost play and almost too fun!

TL;DR...don't give a fuck, have fun and JUST DO IT!

You can workout the details of your "impressions" afterwards. Maybe that's why they call it "the pits"?

 

You're a pilot right? Me too. I don't race, just a track day nerd, USPSA shooter, and instructor pilot.

You didn't learn how to fly all at once, you were taught individual tasks, broken down into sub tasks, broken down into individual skills. Each sub skill/task is drilled in isolation with a data driven debrief to remove our perception of things vs reality. You can't just try harder to go faster, you have to actually be faster and know it.

Shooting example: It's common when learning USPSA to feel like you're shooting blazing fast, only to find out that you're missing left and right and your time wasn't actually all that fast. Then have an epiphany later when you shoot a stage where it didn't feel fast at all, in fact you notice all sorts of things you don't normally notice, then find out your time was awesome and you hit everything. Or you make a mistake on a stage and subconsciously try to speed up to make up lost time, only to make another mistake and destroy your score. The trick to re-creating number 2 is you can only shoot as fast as you can see. You drill to make individual skills faster/more accurate, you train to see more faster and eliminate wasted time. Your skill level on competition day is what it is.

This is the root of the often mis-used "slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Slow isn't fast. When you're going as fast as you (consistently) can given your skill level, it will not feel fast. But it will have that switched on feeling.

Okay, I'm done with my stupid example / diatribe on adult learning theory.

 

This, right here.

 

@Gino230 have you tried meditating before getting on the bike? I know it's hard to do when you're pretty much a one man band in the pits and have to make sure everything is taken care of before you go out. I know when my adrenaline kicks in, it calms my brain down and I get into a deep focus.

I honestly believe that the more seat time you have, the more you will learn how to process stressful situations on track. Have you tried mini bikes? Learning the sensations of suspension chatter, sliding the front and rear and correcting/managing them at 30mph will be less mentally taxing than having the fear of crashing an expensive race bike at higher speeds.

 

I missed the F60 boat. On the bright side, I've got a couple of years to train for Formula 70!

Good luck with your progress, Gino.

 

You should get hypnotized, and while under have them train you to subconsciously hold the throttle wide open on the straights and wake up when you get to the "1" brake marker.

 

Hey jerks, stop helping this guy! He’s trying to use your advice to beat me! Now I’m going to have to start some threads about edge grip, being smooth, and race craft. Thanks....

 

We/I had a guy who was awesome. It wasn't intentional, but he came on and helped us out for a couple years. He was smart and had a great knack for saying just the right thing to get me going. I think I had a couple of my best seasons when he was around.

 

What do you do for check rides or things like that? I've got my com single coming up and I've been a ball of nerves but been working on making my world small and thinking one thing at a time. Get the oral done, then I'll move to pre flight, then move to flying and maneuvers and can only control those smaller increments. Get the lazy 8 done and move to the next maneuver. It'll be my First check ride in like 7 years and the dude is known to be "very thorough"

I just need to Fking relax and go slow

 

I think as long as your oral is strong he'll probably overlook the rest

 

a good oral and keeping the ball in the center are keys to success!

 

you mentioned rock climbing. while i don't love his writing style, there's a lot of useful mental process i was able to implement from:

https://warriorsway.com/

but, of course, if Ken Hill has a guy... that's where i'd start.

 

We talking flying or life here?

 

Didn't read the posts (back to work and limited internet) whats in your head is in your head, hiring someone won't make you go faster. Have fun and enjoy the Florida tracks at your level. Always some faster and someone slower

 

Can sitting on a couch talking to a "friend" for 250 dollars an hour make me jump higher, dive deeper and pick up tan 25 year old Spanish girls too?????

 

@Gino230
You might want to check out Dustin Dominguez. He uses EFT Tapping to teach riders along with traditional methods.
He’s riding on my endurance team this year and we have discussed it. He swears by it.
He’s offering assistance to riders at the track.

Hit me up via pm and I and I’ll get more info to you directly.

Ride safe,
AAron