Has anyone ever gotten into a riding slump where you just feel awkward on the water and you can't seem to land any of your regular tricks? <BR> <BR>The past two weekends I've been riding like crap, and I can't seem to shake it. Maybe I'm just putting too much pressure on myself to do certain tricks, and in turn, I'm psyching myself out or something. All I know is that if things don't return to normal soon, I'm going to have to take a break to let my body heal from the pounding it has been taking the past two weeks. <BR> <BR>If anyone has experienced a similar set back and has found a way back to the point where they're happy with their riding again, I'd appreciate the story. <BR> <BR>Who knows, maybe I just need to relax and forget about doing certain tricks for awhile and simply ride for the love of being behind the boat. <BR> <BR>Whatever the solution might be, I am frustrated and sore right now, and I'm looking for a way to get back to feeling good about my riding again versus being irritated with myself everytime I get back in the boat. <BR> <BR>Maybe I'm just taking this sport too darn seriously!! <BR> <BR>Thanks for listening, I just needed to vent to some people who might understand my frustration.

I've been there before. One way to work through it is to quit doing all your regular tricks for a while and just focus on something you can't do very well, like switch-stance toeside jumps, or getting a big clean method grab. If you focus on nothing but that for a whole day or even a whole week, you can obtain huge improvement in that one little area, and then you can use that to expand your style and versatility, so when you go back to your old standard tricks, they'll seem new and in the long run you'll be better at doing them. <BR>Note, this strategy will be very difficult to pull off if you are a showboat type of rider, because you'll always be tempted to bust out your hollywood tricks when all the girls are looking (after all, nobody cares about a boring old toeside indy, right?, and "they" won't even know that it's switch!). But if a person can leave his ego at home, then he might expand his horizons as a rider. Just a thought that might help you like it has helped me work through frustrating plateaus.

That happened to me, last year after i was at wakebboard skool, i took a really bad crash, and hvnt really cut hard into the wake since, even though i am gettin better, but i dont ride much, so theres not alot of time to get better <BR>

Rob, Try to go out and bring the fun back into it and not pressure yourself to land the tricks your struggling on right now. I've seen you ride back in January and Febuary and you were riding good. <BR> <BR>Doc's advice about riding swith all day is great.

On another note, let's start our mid-week riding schedule at Calero. <BR> <BR>

darin shapiro told some friends and i while we were at ridethespot that if he can't get something in 5 tries he moves on. i've found this to be a good philosophy. if you've tried it 5 times, move on to something else. there are very few people out there that don't have enough different things to work on or even try for the first time. <BR> <BR>if you're having trouble with a trick, move on and come back to it later. i often find that my first few attempts at it are my best and it's downhill from there. so if it isn't clicking, try something else.

Anyone have any good tequnike for a first time rider

Try bringing a sharp pointy stick with you on the boat and when you have a bad run poke Trace with it.

Start listening to 80's music... <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/wink.gif" border=0> <BR> <BR>Or if poking Trace with a pointy stick doesn't help, hit him over the head with it.

Rob, if the 80's music will help, I'll get my speakers fixed. <BR> <BR>...on second thought, we can just have Trace sing the 80's. With his rendition of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" after every crash, you will be sure to get your Mojo back!

I get into funks when I get injured. In July, I injured my ab while trying a new trick, so I had to stay off the board for a few weeks. When I got back on the water, I couldn't do big heelside jumps - my subconscious was afraid I was going to get hurt again. It took a week or two to get back into things. In the meantime, I focused on something else I could try - toeside W2W jumps. For some reason I was afraid to go big heelside, but not toeside. Go figure.

Thanks for everyone's input. <BR> <BR>I have to agree with Mike in regards to poking Trace with a pointy stick. I don't know if would make my riding return to a better level, but it sure would make me feel better. I blame him anyway for my recent decline. He keeps on trying to switch crews on me so I'm constantly busy trying to keep him interested in riding with me as my third versus jumping to another boat. All of this extra drama to think about on the boat can't be healthy for my riding. <BR> <BR>Provided my shoulder feels well enough to ride this weekend, I think I'll take everyone's advice and just work on some new grabs and mixing them together with my 180's. I'll just leave the inverts alone for awhile unless of course I need to pull off a Hollywood move in front of a boat load of girls. <BR> <BR>Rene, <BR> <BR>I definitely would like to set some mid-week riding up at Calero. I've been assigned some new responsibilities at work recently so I'll have to see what my schedule will allow. Give me a call or send me an email and we'll try to set something up. <BR> <BR>Rob <BR>

Hey Rob I've been having the same problem lately so I just quite for a while and started wakeskating more. It's alot more fun when your still just learning to jump wake2wake and I always do something new everytime I go out.