Dynamic Life Cycles
Dynamic Life Cycles
Trail Tactics and Mental Mastery - Jake Johnstone
What mental strategies could elevate your mountain biking skills? In this episode, I chat with seasoned coach Jake Johnstone, who shares his insights on managing the mental challenges of group rides. From the trails of Squamish, Jake talks about riders’ anxieties and offers practical advice.
We dive into Jake’s dual-pyramid framework for blending mental and technical skills, with practical tips on managing trail anxiety and setting intentions for each ride. Our conversation underscores the power of mental preparation, clear communication, and intentionality to enhance your riding experience. Jake’s insights on group dynamics and pressure management are bound to boost both your performance and enjoyment.
Whether you're new to riding or experienced, this episode sheds light on the role of group rides in personal growth and community. With Jake’s unique approach to coaching, you’re encouraged to embrace the challenges of riding together. We wrap up with an exciting look at the growth of online mental skills training for mountain sports enthusiasts. Join us for a conversation to elevate your biking journey and build a supportive, informed community.
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- Hosted and Produced by Jarrad Connolly
Welcome back to the Dynamic Life Cycles podcast. This week I wanted to dive into the topic of group rides and how to mentally prepare for them. As you'll hear and I'm sure you've all experienced at some point in your riding journey you're not the only one who feels anxious about joining group rides. To help tackle this, I brought on Jake Johnson from the Mine Mountain. Johnson from the Mine Mountain. He is a coach out of Squamish and I feel like he's a great person to chat about this, as he's dug into the topic a bunch of times online. It was super interesting hearing him break it down and we barely scratched the surface. So if you have any questions or concerns about what we were talking about, please reach out to Jake or myself and we'll do our best to help Before we jump in.
Speaker 2:if you enjoy the episode or you enjoy any of the past ones. Please get on and leave us a five-star review, as it really helps us reach more like-minded writers.
Speaker 1:Enjoy the episode. All right, Jake, how are?
Speaker 2:you Doing great. Thanks, jared. Yeah stoked to be back here, stoked to be in your new little studio here. Yeah, sweet setup.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's been a few. I don't know what do you want to call it. A few months between, I guess.
Speaker 2:Definitely yeah, I mean, I think I last seen you over Crankworx up at Whistler.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The last podcast we did would have to be maybe this time last year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would have to think so It'd be around that time, but how you been anyway. What have you been up to? Doing really good.
Speaker 2:man had a good day out on the trails today with a couple of clients. Yeah, it's been wild weather out there, as as you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've got rain, we got sunshine and a little bit of hail. Yeah, okay, mixed conditions up there in squamish, but good times and people are still keen to get out in the weather yeah, yeah, it's like.
Speaker 1:It's definitely like takes a certain folk, but I think I'm a big believer in getting out there in those adverse conditions because from a training perspective, it yeah stronger riders yeah, for sure, and it's something you don't really think about practicing in until you're in it, and it's like I know so many times that it would be pouring rain and I'd be like ringing people hey, can you drive a shuttle for me, can you drive a shuttle for me? And everyone's like why do you want to go out in the rain? It's like it's actually quite fun.
Speaker 2:That's it. The hardest part is leaving the couch a lot of the time, I find.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. My old coach once gave me a rule because, like in Australia, it never rains, as you know, but the times it does, rain is like you have to get out and on your bike and you then make the decision whether you want to stay out there or go home after five minutes. And if you decide after five minutes that you're going to go home, then it's okay. Otherwise, by the time you get out there and you've done all of the hard work of getting off the couch, it's like by that stage you're going to stay out there for a little bit longer at least.
Speaker 2:Anyway right, I like that one.
Speaker 1:I might steal that yeah, yeah, it's quite funny. I still get messages from him now and he's like you're still doing the five minute rule and I'm like not as much, but yeah yeah, it's kind of dangerous over here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a little different.
Speaker 1:Little different when it's bucketing with snow, but, um, yeah, no, it's. And how is the coaching business going?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's awesome man. I'm having loads of fun with it, I think, just really really grateful to be able to do what I love for a job. Still early days, right, it's only been like. This is the second season out there on the trails in Squamish yeah, wow. So I feel like I'm still learning lots adjusting lots of different things and just figuring out what works best for like my method of coaching and my clients, yeah, but having lots of fun along the way.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's, that's so awesome and it's like I guess there's so many different questions I want to ask you about this. But, um, with it being only your second season, have you found like word of mouth is a big thing or like what's what's really driving people to come and see you? Because it's. I even found when I was doing a bit of coaching, it was like quite hard to break into that market, but it feels like you've done that sort of first sort of shadow yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:I don't want to use the word done, because I definitely feel like there's still like a lot of work I can keep doing in terms of like building a sustainable business model, um, and having like enough business for it to to feed me like year round, which is not currently doing yet. Um, but yeah, like, where's the business coming from? Like, I think, going into it, I had a like a pretty good online presence already. I was already doing the podcast, had already been like uh, coaching for endless biking down here, on the shop.
Speaker 2:Um so like had a like a pretty good local network and had people that coached and a little bit of word of mouth, yeah, but I think the yeah, the biggest thing like since actually like setting up shop in squamish has been like meeting more local people and yeah connecting with people organically on the trails because are you based out up there now, or are you still floating between here and north van?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, so based out of squamish, but I'm right now like living up there yeah, nice. So we yeah, we did a season down in new zealand, yeah, last canadian winter, and then since then we've been up in squamish okay, yeah, and how?
Speaker 1:how was that down in new zealand? Because you did a bit of coaching down there, from what I saw.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah that was another awesome experience, man, super lucky to have been able to go down there and, yeah, like see how they're doing it down there. It's very like grassroots mountain bike industry down there compared to like the quite mature coaching industry we've got here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it was really cool to see people you know these entrepreneurs just kind of flying by the seat of their pants and making things happen.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I had a couple of different jobs down there, which was cool. One of them was an e-bike guiding job. Oh, wow, yeah, I think I never thought of doing before, but, um, we're essentially guiding tourists from all around the world up this gravel road, up, you know, through a sheep paddock, to a place with beautiful views. Oh wow, and a lot of them weren't mountain bikers, yeah, but that, uh, that actually made it really cool because we were able to, you know, with the assistance of the e-bikes yeah get people into the back country and give them a taste of mountain biking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people that wouldn't have necessarily had that opportunity otherwise yeah, that's, that's such an awesome thing.
Speaker 1:And it's like I did something earlier in the year or something similar with a wine tour, and it's same thing. Like they're on e-bikes, or most of them are on e-bikes, and we would ride from the villa we were staying in, out to wineries and back and we did that like five or six days in a row. But same thing. Like there was two or three people that probably hadn't ridden a bike in over 20 years, but they were there because their partners were there and there was a. I think there was like 15 or 16 of them in the group and same thing. It was like they were so pumped on being able to ride a bike again and it's like the whole. I'm so happy that the whole e-bike hate, I feel, has gone. It's like people are realizing that e-bikes are actually a good thing that's it.
Speaker 2:Hey, I think even those, yeah, like the able-bodied people that maybe hated on e-bikes at the start and now like actually they're kind of fun, yeah, yeah, exactly and like not to say that I ever hated on e-bikes at the start and now like actually they're kind of fun, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:And like not to say that I ever hated on them because I was always like a believer in them. But even myself like happy to go do a 200k ride if I need to, but at the same time, if I can go do two laps of like the local mountains versus a single lap in the same amount of effort and time, like that to me is like way better so exactly, yeah, from a coaching perspective, I love them as well.
Speaker 2:Because of that, it's like you can go and repeat the same trail twice. Yeah, with the same amount of energy it might have taken to ride it once before for sure are you riding an e-bike at the moment? Uh, every time I get the opportunity to okay I'm not an e-bike owner yet okay, not because I don't want one, yeah, fair I'm, I'm the same.
Speaker 1:I'm like I've got my regular bikes. If I had a spare spot in the house I'm in, I would definitely have an e-bike, but it's just like that extra bike that I don't know where I can fit it. Yet I need to get permission from the housemates, yeah I hear that here so um, I guess.
Speaker 1:one other question I have, and something that I really want to bring up because I feel like it is super important, is when I was doing some research on your website and I appreciate you put this on your website is the dues paid? I get asked I don't know, I reckon almost weekly about me doing coaching for people and going out and coaching. And I started to look into it and you and me even had a chat about this maybe 12 to 18 months ago, and the amount of paperwork and red tape and different things that people don't realize, and then the insurances and just general having that business set up is so crazy and epically overdone. But at the same time, it's like, obviously, if things go wrong, you need need that paperwork there. Tell me a bit about what that looks like because and why you feel it's important to share that on your website, because, like, I understand why it's so important, but like, what is it to you that means that you should put it up there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's such a such a rabbit hole to go down, so try and try and keep it short and sharp, but I mean there's kind of two sides to it.
Speaker 2:We'll talk about the importance first.
Speaker 2:I believe it's it's important to have permission to operate as a commercial operator on any of the trails we use.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because underlying that it ensures that we've we've gone through all the processes and put in place all the framework to be what I consider to be like a good professional operator and to keep not only our clients, our guests, safe but also protect the industry as a whole. So what it means is like under that commercial crown land tenure, you have professional insurance, you have the right qualifications, you have the first aid certifications, you have emergency management plans, you have, you know, instructor guidelines if there's other people working for you, and you also have consulted with all of the landowners that you know own and oversee the land that we're operating on. Our trail networks here in BC are on a variety of different land that's overseen by a whole bunch of different bodies, from governmental bodies to First Nations to private landowners, and if we just go out there and operate as a commercial operator without getting that permission, we're not really giving them the respect they deserve for giving us access to their land. And that puts not only them out there as a guide at risk.
Speaker 1:It puts the whole community at risk our access to those trails might get shut down yeah, I, I completely agree and, as I say, it's like something that, as you and me spoke about a while back when I was looking at doing it and for what I wanted out of it was a lot of extra work where you've gone into, obviously, the full, full business side of it. And it's so good that you have that on there, because whenever I refer people to you and it's on the front page if anyone wants to have a look at it. But the amount of times, as I say, I'm like I don't coach people anymore because of that chat that we had, essentially, and it's like in Australia I did tons of coaching and I had all the permits, so I understand where you're anymore, because of that chat that we had, essentially, and it's like in australia I did tons of coaching and I had all the permits, so I understand where you're coming from and it's like it's just, yeah, I don't feel like it's ethically right for me to coach when there's people like yourself out there. So I just wanted to point that out and have a quick chat about it, because I get asked ridiculous amounts of times. I'm like, no, I can't do it like, go see an actual coach, go see this website, whether it's yours or whoever, depending on what they're chasing and how they're looking for for certain things, but it's, it's definitely a big, big point.
Speaker 1:I think that a lot of people need to understand and I like the way that you say it's. A lot of it has to do with being respectful to the landowners, and I think a lot of it has to do with being respectful to the landowners, and I think a lot of people don't realize that. If you were to look at seymour mountain, I think there's four or five different landowners across the trail network and it's everyone from, like, the district of north van to the city of north van, to crown land, to other private owners. Um, and to be able to coach on certain trails, you need permission from four to five different people. So it's like if you were just up there just doing whatever you wanted. It's. It's not really right, I don't think.
Speaker 2:But yeah, and it is like, because of the complexity there and the amount of different landowners, it is like a big, long, frustrating process. Yeah, it takes years and costs a lot of money as well. So I see that side of it. But then, yeah, like from a client's perspective, seeing that check on someone's website and that's why it's on the front page there kind of shows you that they've got everything in place and you know this person is in business doing things properly, yeah paying their dues and also giving back to the community as well.
Speaker 2:Another part of that, uh, is an agreement with the local trails association. So for me that's Sorker up in Squamish, yeah, and that ensures for each client I take out on the trails each day, I give a certain contribution back to the trails as well yeah, which I think is so awesome as well.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, really appreciate you taking that like respectful standpoint there as well. I know for a lot of people out there it's really tempting to just go out and start coaching and start guiding for sure and I remember when I was that guy uh asking my old bosses, darren and kelly, yeah, on this bike in there, like how does this all work? And they told me I was kind of like whoa that's a lot like and I actually like sat on it for a couple of years.
Speaker 2:I was like, is this a process? I want to go down? Yeah, yeah, anyone that's uh like immigrated to Canada.
Speaker 1:I find it kind of felt like doing permanent residency again yeah, it's like kind of shut up and wait stay in that process but, uh, definitely a rewarding process to go through for anyone that's wanting to start up a guiding or a coaching company yeah, no, and, as I say, I think it's it's so awesome for you to have that there and and just show the legitimacy of what you're doing. And I appreciate that it's up there because so many people do ask. But yeah, no, it's sick. Um, and then the other one before we dive into what I want to talk about with the group rides. But I noticed you posted about a week or so ago about the skills pyramids. Tell me a bit about that, because I feel like that is going to lead us into the group sessions. But I didn't really get to see on there how you broke them down. But I'm interested because I understand what you're talking about. So just tell me where that comes from and how that comes from, because there was two different pyramids on there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got it. So, yeah, I'm a bit of an intellectual thinker in the way that I learn and the way that I process information. When I first started coaching, I was trained under the PMBIA still am to this day and I really loved their, their manuals and their diagrams, and it really helped me understand the the skills of mountain biking and how to break them down and teach them to other people. So when I started on this journey of learning about the mental skills and then applying them to mountain biking, I wanted to create similar ways to to break the processes down and not only understand them on a deeper level myself, but also be able to pass them on to my students and my clients yeah so the first pyramid you're seeing there is like the, the technical skills of mountain biking, and that comes straight from the bmbia textbook.
Speaker 2:So you've got like position and balance on the bottom of the pyramid to foundations of all foundations. Yeah, moving up, you get like operations of control, terrain awareness, direction control, pressure control and then timing and coordination at the top, so that not only, like gives instructors a framework of how or where each different skill fits in, it also gives them a bit of an idea of, like, which skills are most important and where to start. Okay, we start coaching someone. So, yeah, when I learned about the mental skills, I worked with a whole bunch of different coaches, different mentors. Some of them were from mountain biking, but a lot of the other, uh, sports psychologists I work with are actually from different sports, sports like snowboarding, which is pretty similar, but then we've got mentors that like specialize in golf or tennis or something kind of completely different yeah so for me, I really wanted to figure out which of these skills actually apply to a sport like mountain biking, where we do have this inherent risk involved and we're not necessarily hitting a ball across a net and competing against someone else.
Speaker 2:It's often a very individual sport. So, diluting all those skills down over a few years, what I came up with was a similar pyramid where we've got motivation at the bottom, move up, we've got anxiety, concentration, confidence, imagery and then decision making at the top of that.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I kind of use that as a framework where I fit all of the nuances or all the strategies into that framework and it helps me make sure I blend the right mental skills with the right technical skills at the right time in a writer's progression.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so break that down for me. So you've got foundations and motivation together. How do they pair together? Like that's obviously your starting point, and is it? Yeah, I guess, break that down for me versus me taking a guess here.
Speaker 2:yeah, you got it, so like yeah the uh stability and balance and the technical skills pyramid and then the motivation on the mental skills pyramid. They're our foundations together. So stability and balance. A lot of the mountain bikers listening here will know what that relates to. A lot of the mountain bikers listening here will know what that relates to. A lot of it relates to our body positioning, how we're standing on the bike, how we're moving on the bike.
Speaker 2:The motivation on the mental skills side is like why are we actually riding what we're riding? Why are we actually trying to do this? Yeah, is that coming from an internal standpoint? Do we want to do it because we feel like it would be a cool challenge for us? We're excited about it. We think it would be fun, yeah. Or are we trying to do x, y or z because we think it will look cool on instagram? Or because we're trying to keep up with our buddies who we think are really cool? Um, or because we think we should be able to do that because we've been writing for x amount of years?
Speaker 2:yeah so, from the start, I want to make sure the riders I'm working with are setting appropriate goals.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:If we go out there from the truck and we're going towards goals that are not appropriate, that's just going to create stress, right, Because we start focusing on things that are outside their realm of control and it doesn't matter how good their position and balance is or how good their cornering is. If there's stress they're going to have that mental interference that takes away from that ability.
Speaker 1:For sure, whenever you're going into something new and trying a new skill or a new feature or whatever that is. I guess that is like yeah, definitely the first question, and that makes a lot of sense. And then what was after that? You had the um, sorry, what was the anxiety is the next one on there that we talked about and that's not necessarily talking about, like clinical anxiety.
Speaker 2:It's talking about this, you know, worries, fears, nervousness or unease that might come up in relation to experiences we have out there on the trail. Yeah, so once we're sure that we're going after good goals and we're setting appropriate goals, we might find that, in situations where we feel challenged, we will experience some level of anxiety on the trails, for sure. Yeah, some level of anxiety on the trails for sure. Yeah, so that's where we'll or work with clients to blend in a couple of different strategies, depending on who they are and the challenges they're facing, but blend in some strategies. Um, probably the most simplest form of that is a little tool like all the mental skills journal. You might have seen that in the video yeah on pressure there as well.
Speaker 2:That's on youtube for anyone that wants to watch it, uh, but the mental skills journal is just a way of bringing some of this talk or some of these abstract concepts down into a physical form and actually using them in our writing. Yeah, so what we'll do is we'll set an intention for the ride. Again, we'll make sure it's an appropriate intention, the motivation's coming from the right place, and then we'll come up with a bit of a plan, which is just two to three skills mental or physical that'll help point us towards that intention. Once we get out there, right in, if we feel like we're getting a little bit challenged, we're feeling some of that mental interference or anxiety come up often, going back to that plan can be a good way to refocus. What was I trying to achieve here? What were the tools I was going to focus on? Cool, point us back towards the intention yeah, for sure um.
Speaker 2:Another yeah, really foundational way we'll manage anxiety is using breath work as well while we're writing um. So breath work is probably a bit of a buzzword in the self-help world these days and I know there's lots of different iterations of it. Different methods work for different people and I think there's no right or wrong. But generally we'll find when we take longer, slower exhales we'll help our nervous system calm down, we'll help trigger that relaxation response.
Speaker 2:So that can be a great tool we'll use out there on the trails, maybe taking a moment, hiking back up, taking some nice deep, long breath to calm ourselves down from there we're often able to think a little bit clearer, maybe have a bit of a reset and ride the section of trail we want to ride yeah, one that I've used a lot with more on beginner skills.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't maybe wouldn't so much recommend this in a an advanced situation, but if I find somebody holding their breath and usually holding their breath relates to what you're talking about with the anxiety and the, the fears and the, the different bits and pieces and things like that is either sing a song or sing a lullaby, and I'm sure you've done this as well with people, but it's like it just creates I don't even know what you want to call it, but taking their mind off the, the task at hand, they are able to relax and they get in back into that rhythm of breathing.
Speaker 1:Um, I do a lot of like coaching in the indoors. Uh, like jump park down here in north van, and it's like, with that side of things, people hold their breath over the jumps and it's like, all right, I need you to sing a song, either internally or externally, I don't care, but it just makes them breathe and then they relax so much more. So, yeah, I completely get the breath work thing and it's it's quite funny because whenever I get on and do a demonstration, someone's always like remember to breathe. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And yeah, I love that example. My client today was singing Queen as she went down the rock rolls. I think it's two parts. Not only does singing or humming help you remember to keep breathing, it can also form part of like a positive stimulus response, which is where we pair a certain physiological state to a certain trigger and that song or that act of singing can become the trigger if we practice it enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, interesting.
Speaker 2:Super interesting one. One more thing I wanted to add on the breath work. I think a lot of riders know that breathing is important by now. When they stop breathing, they'll stiffen up. That's detrimental to their performance on the bike yeah but often we'll start to breathe by breathing in. I don't know about you, but I find when I breathe in and then I get onto the skinnier, I get onto the rock roll, that extended section of jank it's still yeah, you're quite easy to hold my breath, yeah all right.
Speaker 2:So actually got a great tip a couple of years ago from a friend of mine who used to race uh, motocross bikes competitively, and what he told me was right as he would come into a corner, he would exhale. And that meant that when he was in the hard bit, or that bit where he was prone to holding his breath, his body naturally wanted to, needed to inhale, inhale. So that cycle, where he was prone to holding his breath, his body naturally wanted to, needed to inhale, inhale, so that cycle of breath was complete without having to consciously think about it while he was in the hard bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really interesting because whenever I've talked about breath work it's always been depending on where your body is positioned in.
Speaker 1:The movement is related to where the breath work is and obviously, exactly as you're saying, it's like you would not naturally take a breath in and then realistically, you should technically breathe out as you're relaxing and then you breathe in.
Speaker 1:I think I got that the right way. I always get this back to front, but you breathe in and the way I sort of think of it is like if you were tensing through your, your call and through and like, essentially, with the strength, that's where you would be in the middle of your breath and it's sort of like you breathe in, you move and then you you relax and breathe out, and it's sort of finding that. And if you think about pumping down a trail, it's kind of like you're breathing in through the, the outward or the pushing of the bike into the ground and then you breathe out as you come up and over the top of the roller and then you can find your rhythm with your breathing to match the trail as well. So that's such a good idea and I never thought about doing it in starting with an outward breath because as you say it makes you have to breathe.
Speaker 2:It's in reverse to the way, I think, we get taught to breathe, and a lot of breathwork practices always start with a nice big inhale, which is cool, but when you actually get to a nice long, janky bit of trail, it's really hard to think about anything else other than actually riding. Once we're in that, yeah, for sure yeah starting with that exhale for me has been a bit of a game changer. Just ensuring that, like right, empty my lungs yeah when I'm in that hard bit.
Speaker 2:Now I'm going to be breathing, yeah, and that's kind of set yeah, interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll have to try that. Um Um, yeah, we do as I say with bond training. We do a fair bit of work in the indoor center there and I'll have to have to try that with the clients in there.
Speaker 1:Cause it's always an interesting one for sure, um, and then moving on and talking about what we're talking about there with the triangles, the pyramids, I should say. Moving into the group rides, like I saw, you did a post quite recently and this is like the main reason. I guess I wanted to get you in and on and chatting and things like that. But it was about, like, anxiety in group rides and how to overcome that. And we've had I've had situations in both directions and I feel like it's a conversation I have with a lot of people where I'll get to the bottom of a hill, uh, with with a group and or a slower rider, and they'll be like oh, you go at your own pace and I'll just meet you at the top. I'm like, no, like I invited you to come out on this ride, like I want to ride with you, so I'll ride at your pace. And if that pace means that I'm doing like 10 of what I can ride at or 100 of what I can ride at, then that's the pace that we ride at. And it's sort of one of these conversations that I think so many people build up in their head and, understandably, in group situations it's hard and I think there's like two, two aspects of this, and this is where I wanted to get you and talk to you about this, because I do think there is two aspects, and it's like there's people that are comfortable riding with a faster group, even though they're not as fast.
Speaker 1:And what you were talking about in the video is and if anyone hasn't seen it, I'll put a link in the bio, but also jump onto Jake's Instagram. There is where I saw it and I think what you were talking about is like how to confront those fears a little bit. How to confront those fears a little bit, but almost also for the people that are in the opposite position, where they're easily much stronger than the rest of the group, and how to work that into your ride, so then it doesn't feel like you're lagging behind and hating, and how the rest of the society will see you if you don't achieve your I don't know 30 kilometer an hour goal, when you're riding at 15 kilometers. Now you know like, so like let's, I guess let's break it down a little bit and and things like that and how. I don't even know where to start this conversation, but like what are some of the things you've seen on the trail and and had conversations about with that yeah, it's an interesting one.
Speaker 2:It came up. It came up like in relation to, yeah, a lot of the conversation I'd have with my, with my clients and even with friends, and then just from experiences I've had. Obviously, I get the the pleasure of getting to ride with people from all different walks of life. Uh, on one end of the scale, I'm riding with sometimes complete beginners through my work also getting to ride with people like all the way through their progression up until like my skill level and even sometimes better than me. But then also, with the podcast, I get to ride with some of the best riders in the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I feel like I'm in this unique position where a lot of the times I'm the guy in front, sometimes I'm, you know, being challenged by who I'm riding with, and we do a little bit of both, but then other times I'm getting left behind while I'm trying to make a GoPro video for my podcast. So I definitely feel both sides of that. But a lot of the conversations that I have with clients this year were on our skills and drills rides. That's like a weekly application ride where my clients will come out on a Tuesday night ride with like-minded people, like skilled people, and we'll apply the skills that they've learned in the private lessons with me to a wider variety of trails. So on each one of those rides we'll chat about a theme skill on the way up. Sometimes it's a skill from the physical world, like cornering or breaking up. Sometimes it's a skill from the physical world like cornering or breaking. Other times it's a skill from the, the mental skill set.
Speaker 2:so one that kept getting requested and I ran two or three times this year was like how to manage pressure on group rides yeah and I think a lot, of, a lot of the the problems I guess that come up for people that I've observed is we'll feel, yeah, this sense of like anxiety about either trying to keep up with our buddies that are riding faster than us or trying to keep them off our tail. Either way, it kind of takes our mind off how we're actually riding. Often, as a result, our performance will go down and then that'll lead to all sorts of different behaviors that usually aren't positive. Sometimes it's like beating ourselves up, sometimes it's just stiffening up and not writing as well as we we could. Sometimes it leads to us, like you know, walk in a feature and then walk in the next feature and the next feature.
Speaker 2:Before we know it we've walked down the whole trail while also worrying that we're we're holding our buddies back yeah so yeah, I guess the reason I wanted to make a video on this was to just share some of the strategies or some of the tools that I've come up with along the way to help people better manage situations like this. So yeah, do you want me to keep?
Speaker 1:going. Yeah, yeah for sure. Like it's exactly what I'm thinking, um, and it's something that you just mentioned there and I hadn't even thought of it. But, um, and it's actually something I've been, I've had conversations about is sitting at the top of the trail who drops in first, and it's like everyone will sit around and be like, oh, you jump in first, you jump in first, and it's sort of like no, no, I'm slower, I'm happy to jump at the back. I'm having a chill day, I'm just going to jump at the back, and then they sort of turn around and everyone's like the group's like no, you jump in first, and then the whole way down the trail they're just buzzing your wheel. And I hadn't even thought of that in in my notes here, but it's definitely something that happens.
Speaker 1:That also adds to that anxiety of like I'm not fast enough to be at the front. I'm now leading the group and going from there and, as I say, there's so many different aspects. We can go with this. It's crazy. But so I guess, yeah, break that down a little bit more, in the sense of, once you're at that top of the trail and like some of the anxieties you feel, or even, I guess does it start before that? Like, where, where, where does the preparation start for a group ride for you? Yeah?
Speaker 2:I guess, like it's important to acknowledge that situations like this are going to show up different for everyone. For sure and I do, yeah I like to say at the start of a conversation like this too, like it's, it's what we're feeling is human.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it's good that we're feeling emotions like this. It means that we're human, we're alive. If stuff like this didn't happen, our life would probably be pretty boring.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree or be it.
Speaker 2:Situations like this can be challenging sometimes. So, yeah, for sure, like with that video I made, I wanted to really focus on like the how and give people some tools to take away. Yeah, so I wanted to make sure we really got to like the. The root cause of this pressure we feel which I consider more of like a symptom, like we're feeling a pressure or an anxiety, like why are we feeling that and what I what I kind of boiled it down to is it.
Speaker 2:It seems to be often where we're trying to control things that are outside of our realm of control yeah whether that be someone else and what they're doing, or whether that be like the situation we find ourselves in yeah so, in order to bring some of that control back and hence, like, reduce some of those unknowns and some of that anxiety, yeah, I divided it up into three parts.
Speaker 2:So the first part is, like, before the right thinking about, it's like, okay, we're about to go into a group ride, let's say, with some new people we haven't ridden with before, maybe even some people we haven't met. What can we do before that ride to perhaps try and set ourselves up success or to just try and paint a little bit of a picture in our mind of, like what to expect. So what did I have in the video? I had, like you know, maybe just talking to whoever you're communicating with about, like going on this group ride. Hey, like what's the vibe of this ride? What should I expect? Are we you know we're doing shuttles? Are we pedaling? Are we doing top to bottom laps? Do these people like going fast? Do they like stopping and looking at features?
Speaker 1:yeah, and I think that's such a big thing is like entering the ride, understanding what the goal or the vibe of the ride is.
Speaker 1:Because, exactly as you say, if you go into the ride thinking it's going to be a chill ride, everyone's going to be like going at whatever pace and this isn't a full sidestep, but we can take that in a sec is.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, like, whatever the pace is and understanding where you fit in that group is such a big thing and it's sort of uh, it can be easy for people to say, oh yeah, it's just going to be a party pace or it's just going to be a chill pace, but when it's a chill pace for them, it may be a flat out pace for you.
Speaker 1:And that's where I think understanding that and and breaking that down for a lot of people is also, uh, something to keep in mind is like if you're in a group chat and it's sort of like, oh yeah, we're just going to do some chill a-line laps, like I know people that are like struggling to get down a-line and it's nothing bad against those people or nothing bad, but uh, in general I guess. But it's sort of that understanding where that base level is, I guess and I think that's what you're sort of talking about is like setting yourself up for success in that preparation and having that conversation of like okay, what is the trail or what is the base level of this ride, and where do I fit into that?
Speaker 2:I think Totally yeah, and sometimes it can be hard to know exactly like where within the group you should ride or what order, until you're actually out there riding and you've figured it out. You should ride or what order, until you're actually out there riding and you've figured it out. But I think my goal is always to put myself in a place where I feel comfortable to be able to to figure that out mid-ride as well yeah so yeah, asking some of those questions like what trails are we riding, who are we with?
Speaker 2:what's the vibe? I think that's a question I usually like to ask yeah because we can ride a line and it might be really chill. We might be just like going down to suss out the moon booter and suss out the different jumps, or we might be like in a group of six people yeah really close to each other and they're all throwing whips yeah, it's a really different ride, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, for sure so that kind of gives me a bit of a sense of what to expect. And then from there I like to yeah, like if, especially if I I feel like, okay, this is maybe going to be a bit of a challenging ride for me pay extra attention to make sure I'm prepared before the ride. There's lots of different things we can do. For me, when I'm preparing to go out for a challenging ride or a big ride, I definitely make sure I try and reduce some of the stress that's before the ride. So in the video I talk about things like maybe avoiding excess alcohol, excess caffeine things that I know raise my kind of baseline anxiety threshold Definitely making sure I get a good night's sleep, I eat a nice nutritious meal before I ride.
Speaker 2:And then also for me, I find I've got a couple of different kind of like grounding processes that work really well to help calm me and prepare me for a challenge yeah so I love doing things like having a stretch, doing some yoga the morning before I ride I do my mental skills journal kind of set an intention for how I want to feel on the ride for sure and it's focusing on me because I can control me, right? Yeah, um, from there, doing your due diligence and making sure your bike's set up well I think that's a massive one as well. Yeah, like I sound like a dad saying do a bolt, check and pump up your tires.
Speaker 2:But for me it's, it's only partly about like getting the bike actually in one piece.
Speaker 1:But I find that going through that process just helps check another little box in the back of my mind and just helps, you know, layer another layer of confidence in there for sure that will help me later on, when I may be feeling challenged and and I think that's such a big one, because the amount of times that you'll go out and you'll ride, and if you're, if you're already unsure about the ride and then you get, I know you chain jams or a bolt comes undone and your shocks loose or I don't know, I'm just thinking of like the most random things that can happen on a ride. That would probably never happen on any other ride apart from the ride you're already worried about. If you can avoid that before you get to the ride, like that's already, as you say, like already a win, that's it right or you.
Speaker 2:You rock up and everyone's about to drop in and you realize you've got 10 psi in your rear tire and then you're already holding the group up before you've even started right exactly cause the the brain to start kind of going down rabbit holes you don't want to go down yeah, and I I even believe that in the racing sense as well.
Speaker 1:So like it would be get everything done to minimize what you had to do on race day. So, whether that be that you had to. Obviously you have to enter the race, you have to go through, get your bike set up, you have to make sure you've got all the right gear, the right nutrition, the right whatever it is. So when you get to that race day, there is literally nothing more that for you to do other than ride your bike. And it's like it's quite uh I don't even know what the right word is, but almost funny how many professionals get to race day and they've forgotten something.
Speaker 1:And it's like, if you can sort of streamline that, and even for myself, like I've got a list in my phone, like a checklist. I'm like, yes, I've done that, I've done that, I've done that, I've done that, and it's it just makes life so easy, because I know over all the years I've edited this list until it gets to a point of like just ticking everything down the list. You're like sweet, I'm good to ride, I know I'm gonna turn up, I'm gonna have gloves, I'm gonna have knee pads, I'm gonna have the right tires and tubes and whatever else like yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:I love that you're doing that. I think our mental capacity is finite. Doesn't matter how good we are at riding, how long we've been riding, for it is like a finit resource. So the the more boxes we can have checked before we put ourself into a potentially challenging situation, the better chance we're going to have it actually like meeting that challenge and having fun with it yeah rather than becoming overwhelmed and kind of having that, that mental burnout, I guess it is for sure, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:And then, once you get to the ride and and you, you're in the ride and you're starting to get through the ride and things like that, some of those factors that you feel that you come across. What are some of those?
Speaker 2:yeah, definitely. So yeah, once I get to the ride I'm riding with some new people. I think of that as like a continuation. It's still almost like investigation of like, what am I getting myself into? Am I up for this? Because it's always easier to maybe pull out or change plans before you get halfway down a really steep trail that you can't even walk down For sure. So, yeah, trying to get to know the new riding parts I'm going to be riding with that day.
Speaker 2:So, again, chatting to them, asking them questions, getting a sense of their experience, chatting to them, asking them questions, getting a sense of their experience, what they're looking to to ride that day, what the trails are going to be like, and whether I'm up for that.
Speaker 2:And then from that I'll often, you know, we all have that conversation of like you go first, no, you go first, you go first. And sometimes there comes a point where, like, everyone else wants to go at the back. Yeah, you might not necessarily be feeling like leading that run, but sometimes I find I'll say, you know, look, I'm happy to lead here, but I'm not super confident going down steep trails that I haven't ridden before. So please just leave me an extra little bit of space, for sure, and we talk about, like controlling the controllables, that's taking some of that control back. So we go from like we can't control Buddy's buzzing every attire when we're halfway down the run, but we can control whether or not we ask him politely to to leave us a little extra space first. Yeah, um, so for me, like that's, that's one of them saying you know, not feeling super sandy today, do you mind if I just cruise at the back? Or yeah, yeah, I haven't ridden this trail for a while.
Speaker 1:People respect that and I think that's even myself. Like, if anyone's listened to the earlier podcast, I did one with Andrea, with Dawn Patrol, and I can't remember. I think I might have been in Toronto for the weekend or something. Anyway, I'd been out, got back it's a 6 am ride already, feeling a bit sluggish, get to the top of the hill, drop into the first trail and it's a fairly competent level of riders, usually blacks into some double black type trails and I was just like.
Speaker 1:I just felt like like I was made of Play-Doh or jelly or something I don't know, and I just couldn't control the bike and I was like, all right, I need to cruise at the back until my body wakes up and normally I'm in the top three of the riders entering the trail I wouldn't say skill level, but at least entering the trail I'm normally one of the leader riders and it was quite interesting to see how the dynamic changed and how they accepted it for somebody who would normally drop in at the front to be like, all right, I'm not feeling it today, I'm gonna ride at the back and the people at the back, I'm guessing, probably felt a little bit anxious for me riding at the back there, but I gave them as much room as I could and wasn't buzzing their tires.
Speaker 1:But it was quite interesting how they accepted that and I think that's something that people really need to understand. If they are in that position of like hey, I'm not feeling it, not to just keep that ego going and really, like have to push themselves to that edge of riding at the front when they can drop into the back, like maybe you won't be the directly the last person, but you might be somewhere in a, you put yourself in a position that obviously feels more comfortable to ride at speedwise, I think yeah, definitely, and I find it's interesting sometimes you know voicing how I'm feeling on a ride, or clients will tell me when they said hey, you know, I'm feeling pretty fried today.
Speaker 2:It's been a big week, I'm just going to cruise. Often there's at least someone else on the ride that's like, yeah, me too laying out of the back like oh good, and they're all. It almost like diffuses the whole pressure of the situation and for sure it out a little bit. So yeah, I think definitely important to do like communicate well with your riding buddies.
Speaker 2:no one knows how you're feeling if you don't tell them yeah so often if you say like hey, I just feel like I need a little extra space here, or do you mind stopping at that feature halfway down? I'd love to see someone else right in all of a sudden. You'll find if they're good people they're going to be like yeah sure I'd love to tow you into this like you know, follow me in and all of a sudden it's a more fun ride for everyone yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:And yeah that like I've been in that position in both ends of the scale, where someone's been like hey, I'm not feeling it, like let's just cruise, and I'm like sure I'm, I'm down for that, or like I've been in the position and, as I mentioned just then, is like I needed to be riding at the back versus the front and it's I think it's such a big thing to to be okay with and it's the rest of the group needs to be okay with.
Speaker 1:Accepting that as well.
Speaker 1:And I think that's part of everybody's job is when you are with somebody that doesn't feel comfortable or is riding further at the back, or the other thing to keep in mind is, if you're riding with a group and you feel like somebody is always consistently falling off the back of that group, stay back and ride with them.
Speaker 1:At the end of the day, no one's going to get upset at you for supporting that rider and staying back and helping them.
Speaker 1:If anything, it's going to be nicer for everybody because you're not going to be sitting waiting at the trailhead feeling like an idiot, I guess, like waiting for this person to ride solo up the hill, but, on the flip side, like you're going to be back there, chatting, hanging out hopefully they're one of your buddies anyway that you're riding with and I think that's like such a big thing is like make it inviting for everybody. Like I understand there is definitely times and group rides and if it's stated in the group ride, hey, this may be a drop ride usually you see this more on the road than the mountain bikes but, um sure, that's when you can go all in absolutely tear everyone's legs off. But if it's a social ride, like, I don't see the the point of like riding ahead from the rest of the group, either solo or with a couple of people, and leaving people stranded behind. And I think that's, I guess, the flip side of it is be aware of like if people are falling behind and and be conscious of that as well.
Speaker 2:Definitely. Yeah, Like I wish everyone was as compassionate as you were in regards to like keeping the feelings and the vibe of the rest of the group in mind while you're riding as well. I think it all comes back to like that intention. What's the intention of the ride? Because, for sure. Yeah, some rides are. It's like this is going to be hard and fast, steep and deep. We're going for it today. Yeah, this is going to be hard and fast, deep and deep.
Speaker 2:We're going for it today, yeah, and that's awesome as long as everyone there is happy to do that. Like it's going to be a good time, right For sure. So, like I have lots of different rides, sometimes my intention is, yeah, just to catch up with a buddy and have a chat.
Speaker 1:Maybe we're riding on a complete different level, but it doesn't matter, because we're not there to catch up in the forest yeah, and I and I think that's as I say it's, that's the thing for sure is like and I appreciate that you say it goes back to what is that intention of the ride? And then being conscious of what that intention is and, if you're feeling anxious about it, ask what that intention is.
Speaker 2:If you don't know what it is, you can't complain about it, I guess, at the end of the day, um, as much as you may still feel anxious, yeah I think like a lot of the problems come from like five different people on a ride having five different intentions and then everyone ends up either being like nervous or, uh, anxious about being left behind, or like frustrated that they wait in or out.
Speaker 1:So it could have been really easily solved at the start, just by having a bit of a conversation yeah, yeah, yeah and, as I say, it's, it's something, and like the biggest thing that I wanted to get out there and and from what my conversation with yourself was, was just have that communication. I don't know of any writer out there that's going to be upset with you if you are like, hey, I'm struggling today, I'm not feeling it, I'm not this, I'm not that, and ride off and leave you there and, to be honest, if that's what they do, they probably shouldn't, you probably shouldn't ride with them anyway. Um, but yeah, I think that's like such a big thing for sure.
Speaker 2:Totally. I know, like not to sugarcoat it, it doesn't always end up being like awesome communication and we don't always have the forethought to maybe think about it. Sometimes we just end up on rides halfway down a trail. Holy crap, this is a lot, this whole situation, what I'm riding, who I'm with. So I'll try and give my clients tools as well to refocus and get back to controlling how they're riding so that they can at least get down the trail safe. So some of that comes back to what we were talking about before with the skills we'll teach through the mental skills pyramid. But that mental skills journal where we've come up with a bit of an intention for the ride, and that might be to be active and find my flow on a technical trail. What were the tools I was going to use to focus on today? Okay, was it breathe? It was look ahead and it was pump.
Speaker 2:Midway down the trail I've got Buddy buzzing my back tyre, even though I told him not to.
Speaker 1:I'm starting to sound Canadian here I should say mate, I've got Nate buzzing my back tyre, even though I told him not to.
Speaker 2:I'm starting to sound Canadian here. I should say mate. I've got mate buzzing my back tight, even though I told him not to, so now that's his problem. I've asked him to give me space. He's not giving me space. What can I do?
Speaker 2:I certainly can't do anything about him doing that, because we're halfway down this trail. I can get back to how I'm riding Breathe, look, pump right down the trail Before I know it. I'm kind of pointing myself back towards that intention and eventually I'll get to a bit where I can let him pass and get back to me. Yeah, but I think the point I'm trying to hone home here is we'll always experience interference, no matter what we're riding, no matter who we're riding with. But taking a moment to take a breath and get back to controlling those controllables how am I riding? What can I change to make it better?
Speaker 1:that's our way to reduce some of that pressure for sure, and something that just popped into my mind then and and I feel like I've been on both ends of the stick here but if somebody is buzzing your tire, there's no shame in saying, hey, do you want to like? Literally while you're riding, just yell out. Do you want to like literally while you're writing, just yell out, do you want to come past? And if they say no, then just say literally I've said to people, can you back off? And it can be as blunt as that and they will get the picture pretty quick that you are feeling uncomfortable. And that's something I hadn't thought about until you just mentioned it then. But um, yeah, yeah, there's obviously no shame in letting somebody past. But at the same time, if they are buzzing the tire and to them, they may feel like they're giving you enough space.
Speaker 1:And I think this is what sort of the flip side a little bit is. If they feel like they're giving you enough space but you feel like they're not, don't be scared to ask them, because they're riding at the same speed as you, whether they're one bike length or 10 behind you, it doesn't make any difference there, somewhat doing it on purpose, if you're behind somebody and you're skidding and breaking and making a lot of noise and jumping into turns and just making yourself aware or making them aware that you're there, um, is intimidating, without a doubt. And, as I say, I've done it on both situations, whether like to annoy the person or whether just to play games. And if that person in front of you doesn't want that, please yell out Like, and I've only.
Speaker 1:I should preference that with saying I've only ever done it playing with friends. And if somebody drops in on me on a trail that they shouldn't have dropped in on, that, uh, that they didn't check their shoulder, but, um, but yeah, like if, if you're with your friends and somebody's there, don't be scared to tell them hey, give me more room halfway down the trail. Or or let them pass, like, if they don't want to come past and they say, not this, this pace is great, then just say, hey, give me a couple bike lengths. Pretty, pretty simple, I think, with that, and I, once again, if they get upset with you asking that, then maybe question it a little bit more exactly fair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's an interesting one. I'm certainly on the same page there. Like I've got, uh, made some one where similar speed, similar skill level and we love riding close to each other. It's exhilarating. It's super fun being chased by someone, being pushed just that little bit, and also super fun chasing, trying to keep up with them uh, seeing their lines. That reminded me there when you were saying that of yeah, kind of a process I went through when I moved it. Pretty much everyone I was riding with was faster than me. They knew the trails better.
Speaker 2:I kind of got in this habit of always saying, hey, I'll go at the back, all good, I'll just chill at the back. Until I was always riding at the back right, and that's fine, I was comfortable there. But I wasn't necessarily being challenged and I found that on the odd chance where I did have to go in front, I would feel extra pressure or extra anxious about it. So I actually made a conscious choice to start putting myself in front, not always at the front of the group, but definitely in front of some riders. When I was riding in those groups with friends I felt really comfortable with, for sure. I felt like we're around the same speed. So I wasn't going to be holding them up, but I was certainly going to hear them behind me and that was almost as a way of practicing managing pressure. Pressure on group rides. There's that external influence of like oh, I can hear Jared's tire right behind mine. He's pushing me a little faster through these corners than I usually go, but that's okay, I can get back to me, I'm a good rider.
Speaker 1:I'll keep up and that's it, and exactly that. I think the biggest thing is coming back and focusing on yourself. Um is, I guess, where it all comes back to at the end of the day yeah, totally.
Speaker 2:I guess, like the last part of the, the process I just want to touch on quickly is the post-ride. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Often I find as a as adults, we'll finish a ride, whether it was good or bad.
Speaker 2:We'll high five and we'll we'll go home or we'll go get a beer and talk about something else yeah, but I, but I think there's something to be said for doing a little bit of reflection and then maybe projection into the next ride, whether that be on an internal personal level or even as a group as well. I find it really, really beneficial to reflect on my wins. That helps me build self-belief, which then gives me the ability to try new things and build confidence.
Speaker 1:Quite often I find as adults.
Speaker 2:We will focus on what's not working for us in our writing, yeah, and forget all of the things that went well, even if they're small. So that's a process I go through myself and with all my clients on that personal level, but I started doing it on a bit more of a group level as well. It can be really casual, just like hey, jared, that was a sweet ride today. Do you think next time we go riding we could maybe stop a couple more times down the trail? More of a group level as well. It can be really casual, just like hey, jared, that was a sweet ride today. Do you think next time we go riding we could maybe stop a couple more times down the trail? I felt like I didn't see you after the first corner and felt like I wasn't really riding with you today.
Speaker 1:Yeah and I think that's such a good point is expressing yourself throughout, whether it's throughout the ride or at the end of the ride, and finding obviously the right time to talk about that.
Speaker 1:Is is sometimes hard and I guess a lot of the time awkward to be to say that sort of thing, but it definitely helps with the overall group and the riding and if you say something like that, a lot of the time someone else will jump in and contribute to whether it's like hey, can we stop at this feature next time, or can we do that, or next time can we take it a little bit more chill, or whatever. The reasoning is that you need to reflect on that ride and, as you say, like you can always like preference it with a couple of wins of the ride and how sick the ride was and how you enjoyed a certain feature or whatever. But then obviously, if you're feeling that something wasn't quite right throughout that ride, bring it up like it's not not hard to well, I guess it is hard to say, but at the same time it shouldn't be hard to say yeah, it can be.
Speaker 2:I think it depends on who you're riding with and how comfortable you are with them, for sure. But I think even just like starting with with a question like oh, how's today's ride for you? Yeah and maybe they're feeling a similar way already. So then all of a sudden, the conversation becomes really easy to have. Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 2:Maybe they're on a complete different planet and they're thinking about like, oh, that was the best ride ever and you're like that was horrible. We need to have a bit of a conversation, yeah, but yeah, definitely, just like opening those channels for communication, I think can be a really important way and a really powerful way we can bring some of that power back, control the controllables and set ourselves up for some better group rides in the future, because I guess, like the base of this is, we're trying to have more fun out there more often in more different situations, different groups, different trails, with different people, which will ultimately allow us to get more out of mountain biking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I think that's, at the end of the day, what we're trying to achieve.
Speaker 2:That's right, I think, yeah no matter what our goals are, we're all kind of trying to achieve that's right, I think, yeah, no matter what our our goals are, we're all kind of trying to achieve our own version of high performance, whatever that means for us. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Um, before we finish up, I just wanted to ask you a bit about your new online stuff. Tell me a bit about that. Like I don't even know what you can actually share about this side of things, but I saw you posted about it. So yeah, tell me a little bit about that and how that's going to come about awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for asking. Happy to share. Yeah, um, as much as you'd like on that one, but that's kind of an idea I've had in on the back burner, kind of cooking away, for a while now. When I first started teaching these mental skills specific to mountain biking, it was actually online. That was while I was still working for Endless Biking doing the technical skills coaching with them, and I didn't want to go down the rabbit hole of getting tenure and doing insurance and all of the stuff that's required to actually run your own business and coach on the trails.
Speaker 2:So I thought, hey, why don't I coach this stuff online separate, and it will be its own separate thing? It worked really well. We had some really great success with a couple of clients I worked with there, helped them work through some of the mental barriers they were having in relation to their mountain biking.
Speaker 2:From there I decided, hey, this would be so much more fun for me and so much more effective for my clients if I could blend both the mental skill set and the technical skill set on the trails. So that kind of led us to go down that pathway and start the business in Squamish there.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:The whole time I've been doing that, I've been thinking gee, this would be even more effective if we had an online component as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That way my clients could come into these classes with a baseline level of knowledge and have done some of the the mental skills coaching that can be done really effectively off the trail beforehand.
Speaker 1:We're not having to stand out in the rain in school we should do lots of talking, yeah we're able to get to the writing and apply the concepts in the physical so is it like a zoom call type thing, or is it more video focused, or yeah?
Speaker 2:so just finishing there and getting to like the oh good, I'll answer that in a second get into like the online stuff throughout this whole process.
Speaker 2:Like I personally love doing a bunch of other mountain sports as well I snowboard, do a little bit of skiing, rock climbing, trail running all the fun stuff there in squamish and I've kind of realized that these skills aren't unique to mountain biking.
Speaker 2:They apply across the board and quite often in mountain sports we're facing similar challenges, be it like fear of falling, be it, you know competition, be it pressure from groups. So for a while I've wanted to, I guess, offer these skills or make them more accessible to more people. So the whole idea behind the focus formula online is to do that. So that's there, available for mountain bikers that don't have the means to come here to BC, to Squamish, and work with me in person, but it's also there for other mountain sports athletes that may be facing barriers of their own, enriching their version of high performance. So, yeah, getting back to your question, uh, that all starts with an online portal where there's a whole bunch of videos and worksheets to go through, which is kind of like a foundation level of knowledge stuff they can go through on their own, and then from there we get into a bunch of one-on-one coaching sessions which happen over zoom. So that's where we really get into, like, each person's personal challenge, get into the root cause of that.
Speaker 1:Um, perhaps help them separate from any unhelpful parts of their inner world uh, that might be holding them back and then give them strategies to then yeah, we have that yeah, a clear framework of like where they want to go and how to get there yeah, well, yeah, yeah, as I say, it's like, obviously, the mental aspect of any sort of performance, whether it be academic or physical or whatever you're looking at, I think the mental side is is one of the biggest key components, for sure. So it's it's cool to see and hear how you're breaking down that side of things and you're right, like it doesn't have to happen, trail side, and yeah, I think that's such a cool aspect of what you're achieving to do that.
Speaker 2:Thanks, man. Yeah, it's something I'm super passionate about and I do find it super interesting, because it doesn't really matter who you talk to, whether it's a mountain bike or a snowboard or a rock climber, they'll tell you yeah, the mental part's huge, 100%. But how much time do we actually spend training that side and learning purposeful strategies to increase our performance in that side? Often it's not as much.
Speaker 1:It's almost none for a lot of people, especially for a recreational athlete none for a lot of people, especially for a recreational athlete they generally don't think about that mental breakdown and and how to whether you need to I can't even think about what the right word is but like reflect on what they've gone through, how they've gone through how to process it. There may be weird trauma that you've never thought about in your past. Um, that is giving you those blocks and I think that's that's what you're getting at there a little bit in, in the sense of like finding what these blocks are and then like breaking them down and finding strategies on how to overcome those.
Speaker 2:I think is such a big thing totally, yeah, often we'll we'll notice the symptom which bubbles up on the surface and shows up as the fear or the stress, and we'll try and treat that. But if we don't get to the root cause, we'll never get rid of that For sure. Yeah, it's really all about for me bringing these elements of sports psychology and mental training down to the everyday enthusiast people like you and me, because I know when I got started down on this track was like cool, I'll go get a sports psychologist for mountain biking yeah, there is none where.
Speaker 1:Where are they right?
Speaker 2:so yeah, especially like here in the sea to sky, I didn't feel like that skill set was accessible yeah yeah, I felt like it was something I really needed and my clients really needed. So that's kind of, yeah, my whole mission with the in-person stuff here in squaw mission, now the online stuff. Yeah, it's hopefully, yeah, giving more people the accessibility to the skill set.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I think that's pretty awesome. So, yeah, how do people get in contact with you? What's the best way to get in contact and where should they do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, Super happy to have a chat with anyone that wants to have a chat about anything we've talked about or anything else I do Lots of different ways to get in contact with me. You can email me jakeatthemindmountaincom. That can all be found on the website there. Instagram is another place I'm pretty active as well. You're welcome, just to shoot me a message on there. Other contact methods, like phone number if you're old school is all available online as well okay, awesome, yeah, so, and the website exactly was themindmountaincom.
Speaker 1:Yep, you got it easy. That's pretty, pretty easy to remember. So, yeah, no, well, thank you for coming on and uh and chatting and breaking down all of this and I really hope that it does help people sort of get out there group rides and move up in the world in stepping stones of how to do that. And, exactly as Jake said, like we've both been in these positions and you can talk to anybody that's done any form of sport, I'm sure you've been in the position. So, yeah, don't be scared to reach out to even myself, or or jake, for that matter. So, yeah, cheers for coming on awesome man.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for taking the time to have me here. Really, really appreciate it. And uh, yeah, great questions man. No cheers thank you.
