Author Archives: Syd

I Haven’t Ridden My Bike in a Month

Stop Wasting Your Failures

A Five Step Plan to Getting Epic Crash Photos

Breaking Points

Stop Pushing Boulders, Start Moving Mountains

Stop Saying These Four Things and Improve Your Game on the Bike

Gone Viral, an Update

When To Quit a Bike Race

Why I’m Reframing the Way I Think About Results

Books for Athletes: The Power of Habit

Step Forward, Step Back

How to Fly With Your Bike Like a Pro

How Do You Train for Enduro?

Remember that bike racing is a privilege. Remember that bike racing is a gift.

I was pretty bad at wheelies previously (spoiler alert: I am less bad at them now).

In the spirit of this post, I’ve posed some questions to Lee McCormack. Lee has coached thousands of athletes, beginners and professionals alike, so he has an intimate understanding of what makes a good learner.

n the past, while I would occasionally pick up a MTB skill quickly, my learning process was a certified disaster. If I didn’t pick something up in the first session, I immediately assumed I would never figure it out.

I have a few strategies for dealing with fear while riding, some better than others.

I’ve been struggling to write a blog post for the past few weeks because I feel a desperate need to explain why I’ve been racing so terribly. I feel like I owe my fans, my readers, my sponsors an explanation. I feel like I owe myself an explanation.

You are tough enough. You’ve done good. You have nothing left to prove.

With racing, there are good days and bad days. What no one ever tells you, though, is that there are also a hell of a lot of “other days” that are neither totally good nor totally bad. They just kind of are.

Mountain biking can be frustrating AF. It’s also fun AF too, of course, but I think when we’re trying to sell our non-bike friends on the sport we often oversell the fun factor and forget to mention that, oh by the way, this sport is kinda HARD.

On Sunday, I had what was easily the scariest mountain bike crash of my life. While I’m tempted to moan about how this year really seems to be trying to crush my soul, on this occasion I have to be thankful.

“I just don’t want to be last” is the equivalent of wanting someone else to fail, instead of wanting yourself to succeed.

I made myself a promise — I would just do the best I could under the circumstances. And I would accept (and forgive myself) if my best wasn’t actually that good.

Since I always try to be as honest as possible, let me lay it out for you — I have not been in a great place mentally or physically for the past month.

The last month has been rough. Like, seriously, I don’t know what I did to piss April off, but it certainly retaliated with a vengeance.

To the kid who stole my bike — here’s what I need you to know.

All-in-all, another challenging, frustrating, enlightening, empowering EWS weekend down.

This past week was not what I was expecting. EWS races usually aren’t, but I do admit I sort of thought I had an idea of what I was getting into this year. Wrong again, oh well. This time, instead of being shocked by the sheer treachery of the tracks, I was absolutely blindsided by the amount of climbing.

I plan on writing a post with some real world tips on how to develop a growth mindset, specifically in a mountain biking context, but first I think we need to clear up what a growth mindset is and why it’s worth it.

The following are two books that have influenced me over the past six months and (I hope) made me a better, stronger and more mentally-balanced athlete.

Over the past few months I’ve made a concerted effort to replace “sorry I’m slow” with “thanks so much for waiting for me,” and the results are pretty astounding.

This was definitely a race, but it was more about the experience, the people, the magic of being high in the mountains and riding your bike fast.

Will power can work for you, if used sparingly, or you can drive yourself up the freaking wall trying to battle your mind over every little task.

Mountain biking is basically a microcosm for real life. You crash, you fail, you get frustrated. You succeed, you achieve, you improve, you push your limits, and then maybe you crash some more. In the process, you’re constantly learning, and those lessons extend far beyond the trailhead.

It’s my personal opinion that being bad at things in a graceful, helpful way is a very important skill that not nearly enough people have devoted time to mastering.