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Thread: Can you get obsessed with too much training?

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  1. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #11
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    This is a debate I had many years ago after I had been riding non stop for over 20 years. My Mum suggested it as she would feel better and even after all these years still worried if she knew I was out on my bike (Like I'm on holiday riding around Europe etc).
    Anyway, I took the IAM test after some observed ride outs and passed. The instructor said the ride was so good that he wanted me to become a observer myself and train others. You normally have to wait 6 months to do this, but i did it from that day. At first I wasn't sure. I then thought long and hard and had to admit to myself that whilst prior to the test I thought I rode well and could learn nothing new, I had learnt and improved from it.
    I decided to put something back to the hobby that I had had so much pleasure from. I went on to help numerous people pass their IAM Advanced Test.

    Just take from it the bits you want too and forget all the bearded old git jokes and you will enjoy and learn from it. I know it has made me a better, safer and faster rider. Pillions often say how smooth it is on my bike and that's down to the riding, not the bike. I wouldn't knock it again.

    I would be happy to do it again every so many years, but not every year. There has to be a time when you have done enough. It could easily become an obsession to keep doing it, but if that floats your boat, so be it. I gave up observing some years ago, but often consider going back to doing it again for the challenge. I often do unofficial ride outs and help friends with advice.
     
     

  2. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #12
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    And I disagree with Ducatista in that I don't believe fast and safe riding is the exclusive preserve of IAM riders
    Well being a Rospa member I would never say anything like that

    I don't think that's what I said at all, or at least it's certainly not what I meant.

    I was trying to point out that safety does not equal slow, because when you can identify hazards well, then you can also identify the lack of them and apply [ftp]appropriate[/ftp] speed.

    I have never meant to imply that you can't be good/skillfull etc. without advanced training, so I'm sorry if I didn't convey my point well.
     
     

  3. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #13
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    and it does seem to have become a bit of an obsesssion
    Trev - I think the reason that it does appear that way is that when some of us learn we realise how much we don't know and how bad we are.

    I think it's probably a personality thing, if you are the sort of person who isn't easily satisfied and beats yourself up a lot then you might be the type to become Obsessed.

     
     

  4. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #14
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    and forget all the bearded old git jokes
    I have to admit I used to look at those bearded old gits and I had an age related prejuidice (innate to some degree).
    But some of them are Nurburgring guides and are very good riders indeed, so there's a lesson in there.
     
     

  5. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #15
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    Is your bike, ride it how you wish. If training is your thing then go for it. If a sunday blast is your thing great! If plodding about on a clasic makes you smile the do it. Just enjoy riding.
    "there's no aspect, no facet, no moment in life that can't be improved with pizza"

     
     

  6. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by kdxgsxmt
    I don't really agree but think I understand what your other half means. I've got a very good mate who has always been a biker since we were kids and has used his bikes as everyday transport for almost the last 30 years. He did his IAM test a few years back, achieved a very high mark then did advanced, then on to being an observer and recently completed his national observer badge. He's now looking at the 'masters' and it does seem to have become a bit of an obsesssion.
    He persuaded me to do IAM last year (also after 30+ years of riding) and although I found it very enjoyable and learnt quite a bit I've not really caught the bug. Will do advanced in a year or two but need to fit in around my other biking time.
    My mate analyses every ride, piece of road and feedback from his bike and sometimes I'm not sure he stands back from the detail. Mind you he loves the whole thing for him obviously an enjoyable obsession
    Absolutely Trev.

    Its perhaps difficult for some people to grasp what my husband meant unless you know someone such as your friend.

    I must admit I struggled a bit at first to appreciate what he was saying, immediately jumping to defend the many benefits of advanced training, but that’s exactly where he was coming from.

    He’s not challenging the merits of advanced training one bit.

    What he was saying is that when people get so obsessed with training and spend so much time constantly seeking to ‘improve’ they are no longer riding for the same reason most of us do, or the very reason they did say when they started.

    The ride is no longer just a ride on the bike; the basic fundamental enjoyment of riding a bike goes and it just becomes all about constantly striving for the perfect text book ride, never being satisfied that they have achieved perfection, analysing every situation and every aspect of the ride in detail. They no longer just simply enjoy riding a bike.

    Of course it’s each to their own, but actually standing back, it may just be one of the things that deters some people from advanced training and joining IAM and RoSPA?

     
     

  7. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #17
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    They no longer just simply enjoy riding a bike.
    Personally I don't agree with this (although I am NOT saying it's not true for everyone).

    I'm "obsessive" but I can go along on a rideout/social occassion and just enjoy the riding/scenery without spending every second in deep concentration.

    I hope some of the training still "rubs off" as it becomes habit/second nature, but I'm pretty sure I can switch on/off degrees of concentration.
    In fact I KNOW I can micro sleep on my bike - and here I'm sure we'd all agree that lack of concentration is a BAD thing.

    So I personally don't think that trained riders cannot relax and just enjoy themselves and I'm speaking from real experience.

    Of course it’s each to their own, but actually standing back, it may just be one of the things that deters some people from advanced training and joining IAM and RoSPA?
    Maybe, but for me it's the complete opposite.
    I join the groups to relax and enjoy my riding as well e.g. socials, rides, weekends, foreign trips just as many people do with this club.

    So some of us do training and relaxing in the same groups.
    We do not watch each other like hawks for mistakes on group rides, it's a social occassion to relax and enjoy the ride.

    I can certainly switch off and enjoy myself and the training does become seond nature so much of it happens sub-conciously.
    My observation of other obsessives, is that they can switch off the intense concentration they would apply on a test and enjoy themselves too - very much so.

    But you could well be right, that pre-conceptions that we are ALWAYS intensely concentrating on best behaviour may be putting people off.

    I'm not sure how we can counter incorrect pre-conceptions except to have lots of positive images of people enjoying themselves.

    But at the end of the day, if some people want to do it and others don't then you have to accept it.
    We are all different and it doesn't float everyone's boat.
    Whilst some are evangelical about saving lives others are not interested and we have to accept that.
     
     

  8. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #18
    Tricky one.
    On here the IAM and ROSPA trained riders can come across as being a bit smug and holier than thou and their view shouldn't be questioned.
    The trouble is, it is a forum and something is lost in translation when it is written and it can be hard to explain without preaching.

    It may seem to us mere mortals than these guys are bike geeks who don't know 'how to enjoy' a ride but in reality they are using their skills without really realising it.
    Hazzard awareness becomes second nature so in actual fact they're thinking less about the dangers but doing more to prevent it allowing them to get on with the ride.

    Your natural instincts (as a human being) can be your worst enemy on a bike. Learning to over-ride them is key to safe, fast riding.

    As long as you don't corner me in the pub talking about it, you're all fine by me! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
     
     

  9. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by dan_geoghegan
    Tricky one.
    On here the IAM and ROSPA trained riders can come across as being a bit smug and holier than thou and their view shouldn't be questioned.

    [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
    Fair point...have a sneeky feeling I can fall into that one, without meaning too :-[

    Quote Originally Posted by dan_geoghegan
    The trouble is, it is a forum and something is lost in translation when it is written and it can be hard to explain without preaching.

    [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
    SO TRUE

    Quote Originally Posted by dan_geoghegan
    It may seem to us mere mortals than these guys are bike geeks who don't know 'how to enjoy' a ride but in reality they are using their skills without really realising it.
    Hazzard awareness becomes second nature so in actual fact they're thinking less about the dangers but doing more to prevent it allowing them to get on with the ride.

    [smiley=thumbsup.gif]
    For the majority yes but actually thinking about it I do have to agree with the OH and do think some start to loose some of the basic enjoyment of just riding a bike constantly striving for the perfect text book ride.
     
     

  10. Re: Can you get obsessed with too much training? 
    #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ducatista
    They no longer just simply enjoy riding a bike.
    Personally I don't agree with this (although I am NOT saying it's not true for everyone).

    I'm "obsessive" but I can go along on a rideout/social occassion and just enjoy the riding/scenery without spending every second in deep concentration.

    I hope some of the training still "rubs off" as it becomes habit/second nature, but I'm pretty sure I can switch on/off degrees of concentration.
    In fact I KNOW I can micro sleep on my bike - and here I'm sure we'd all agree that lack of concentration is a BAD thing.

    So I personally don't think that trained riders cannot relax and just enjoy themselves and I'm speaking from real experience.

    Of course it’s each to their own, but actually standing back, it may just be one of the things that deters some people from advanced training and joining IAM and RoSPA?
    Maybe, but for me it's the complete opposite.
    I join the groups to relax and enjoy my riding as well e.g. socials, rides, weekends, foreign trips just as many people do with this club.

    So some of us do training and relaxing in the same groups.
    We do not watch each other like hawks for mistakes on group rides, it's a social occassion to relax and enjoy the ride.

    I can certainly switch off and enjoy myself and the training does become seond nature so much of it happens sub-conciously.
    My observation of other obsessives, is that they can switch off the intense concentration they would apply on a test and enjoy themselves too - very much so.

    But you could well be right, that pre-conceptions that we are ALWAYS intensely concentrating on best behaviour may be putting people off.

    I'm not sure how we can counter incorrect pre-conceptions except to have lots of positive images of people enjoying themselves.

    But at the end of the day, if some people want to do it and others don't then you have to accept it.
    We are all different and it doesn't float everyone's boat.
    Whilst some are evangelical about saving lives others are not interested and we have to accept that.
    Thanks Ducatista - very interesting to hear your point of view.




     
     

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