How to go mountain biking in 2024

Imagine the perfect ride. That feeling when everything aligns, everything is working, time disappears, and you become totally lost in riding. Nothing else is on your mind, purely being one with the bike, the trail and nature. Your work or school deadlines or family stressors are gone. Your bike is moving and performing effortlessly soaking up the trail. You are confident in your ability, and you know what to expect on the trail. You are in complete control not stressed about crashing or worried about performing over a risky obstacle. 

Everything is happening automatically, and you are fully focused on riding. You have transcended your own perception of self and time entirely lost in the ride. This feeling is known as “flow”, an optimal state that is effortless enjoyable bliss being fully absorbed in the ride¹. We crave this state and often it’s what keeps us coming back. It’s a reward for prior effort, training, and preparation. 

Flow is all about finding the sweet spot between worrying about crashing, your bike breaking, or not being good enough to conquer a trail or obstacle and doing something so mundane and ordinary you feel bored. Matching presence, ability and confidence with a trail is how flow is achieved. Together with a team of scholars from the University of Queensland, University of Tasmania, and University of Otago, we found out exactly what enables flow, what are flow killers, and how local businesses can help².  

So, what can we do to experience flow and kills flow? 

Before and during a ride there is a lot to consider in creating the ideal setting to reach a flow state and staving off “flow killers”, the things that suck us out of the moment and back into reality. 

Be free of distractions. When we get an email from an annoying co-worker, an angry text from a scorned lover, or a notice we missed paying a bill it takes us out of the moment and kills flow. These moments suck us out of flow and back into the world of worrying and stress. So, consider keeping your phone on silent and your worries at the trail head and your focus on the trail ahead. 

Being prepared. Have you ever been railing your favourite trail feeling the flow to then be derailled by a broken chain? Or absolutely crushing a trail segment to then be dumped into a confusing trail intersection unsure where to go next? Well, these moments kill flow. Mechanical issues, squeaky suspension, a skipping derailleur are all flow killers. So, keep your bike in top shape and be prepared for the inevitable with all the necessary repair bits. And know where you are going and what trails you’re going to hit in advance.  

Ride with like-minded partners. Having a trusted and supportive riding partner of similar or a slightly more advanced skill level than ourselves provides us with not only a social vibe, but also confidence in ourselves. Following the line of a riding partner and chatting about a trail before and after creates confidence we can tackle the trail and an atmosphere full of stoke and flow. Less self-doubt and more confidence create a setting ripe for flow and partners can help. 

Ride the same trail more than once. Commonly we are on the look out for the hottest new trails and when at a new trail system, we seek to ride as much variety covering as much new ground as possible. But the more we know the features of a trail and know what is coming around each corner or after a drop, the more likely we are to achieve flow. We reach a flow state when when we are flawlessly and automatically executing the ride, not when we are having to figure out where to go or what line to take, or worried about a potential upcoming obstacle above our skill level. So, after you hit a trail, comeback again for seconds. 

Manage fear. A healthy dose of fear on the bike can be good to bring us to be present in the moment, but when it’s overwhelming it kills flow. So, be mindful on what you have the skills to conquer and wear safety gear to remove the worry. Coaches help too. 

Embrace Zen riding. Although performance tools like Strava can be a great training aid for getting fitter and faster, focusing on pure athletic performance and competition can be a flow killer. Maybe don’t worry about capturing segments and more about enjoying the presence and leave the GPS at home.  

Travel. One of the best things we can do individually to reach flow is to travel. Getting out of your own usual environment leaves the stressors and worries at home. And the further we go to a different environment, the further we become separated from our worries. When we travel to riding destinations, we mentally take a break from the usual daily worries that plague our minds. Even more so when we ride in new places that are far different to what we are used to at home. So, load up the car or on get on a plane and travel!

How can mountain bike businesses help in creating flow?

A vital facilitator of flow experiences are local mountain bike businesses ranging from shops, rental agencies, trail builders, accommodation providers, and guides. Wrap it all into one provider and you can spend less time thinking, and more time riding. The team at the Blue Derby Pods Ride in Derby, Tasmania have perfected this trade in considering every element from travel, bike hire, trail selection, accommodation, and food and drink. 

Trail design. Creating trails that provide seamless experiences, are easy to navigate, have longer sections, are easy to gauge difficulty, and have smooth flowy sections are key to providing flow experiences to riders. In trail design, we often think creating long flowy pump track type trails are the key to achieving flow, but it’s more than that. Riders need to be able to easily wayfind, asses their ability and the difficulty of the trail and experience longer uninterrupted sections of trail, and link together trail sections to experience flow. 

Tours and guided experiences. Typically, guided tours provide one size fits all experiences with a set schedule and route. But, to achieve flow, tours need to be flexible idealised experiences, not bounded by strict schedules or routes. The tour needs to change with the evolving needs of riders on the day. Splitting up groups and offering intuitive experiences based on the riders’ skill levels, confidence, and fitness throughout the experience are conducive to creating flow. Get away from the A to B mindset and get into adaptive, intuitive flow experiences.  

Professional guiding. From our research,professional, friendly, emotionally intuitive and trustworthy trained guides were the greatest facilitator to flow experiences. This all starts before the riding begins, by the guides listening to and assessing the guests’ skills and expectations for the experience. Breaking through the awkwardness and building a friendly connection before the ride begins goes a long way. Great guides can sense what a guest is looking for and how they are feeling prior to and during the experience and troubleshooting and tweaking the ride along the way to suit each guest. Intuitive guiding senses when a guest has experienced flow or is still craving more by observing non-verbal cues such as smiles, high fives, fist bumps, sounds of joy or frustration, and blissing out at the end of a trail. Guides can will help by instilling confidence through gentle encouragement, verbally describing trails before riding them, and alerting you to potential dangers/trail features and conditions. Front end and rear end guiding create an ideal flow setting. And, generally by monitoring morale and keeping the group positive the conditions to experience flow are better.

Stress free accommodation. Where we are staying, and the stress associated is important to consider. If you are staying in a place that is difficult to get to or settle into, this could be a flow killer. Ideally, our accommodation is immersed in nature, easy to get to, stress free and is bike friendly. Accommodation that allows for ride in and ride out trail access without having to navigate loading up the car and finding parking is ideal.

Food and Drink. At the end of the day, we are looking for a good feed, most likely a beer and burger to be specific³. It needs to be easy, accessible, nutritional, and satisfying. Planning removes the worry.   

Events. Great planned events with a variety of thoughtfully marked courses simplify the entire riding experience and create less to worry about (e.g., getting lost, selecting trails, preparing food). 

Alright, flow seekers, let’s get out there!