HOW TO...RIDE ON THE LIMIT

Pushing just beyond your comfort zone is the key to progression, but just how far should you take it?

- LUKE MARSHALL

If you only ever do the same things, you'll never progress further than where you were. This is true for more of us than we care to admit when it comes to our riding. It's easy to stay in our comfort zone and not take unnecessary risks because we all have lives to carry on with after the ride. Still, we want to improve, so how best can we push our riding, and when is it wiser to calm things down?

HAVE A GOAL

It's all very well wanting to push your abilities and get better at riding, but making your goals more specific will help. For example, do you want to improve your jumping and drop skills cornering ability, or how you tackle steep technical descents? Trying to achieve all of those in one big, long ride will be a tall order.

Set smaller goals so you can focus on them one at a time. Then formulate a plan of action to tackle the aspect(s) of your riding you most want to improve, whether that's by setting a certain amount of time aside each ride to work on that skill, or joining a coaching session.

MAKE SURE YOUR EQUIPMENT IS DIALLED

IN You don't want to doubt your kit when trying to push your limits, so make sure everything is in good working order. That'll help reduce one significant stress factor.

SEE IT. THEN DO IT