[Durt]

Help motivate me fellas……….I’ve really been struggling lately with the thought of giving up on DJing.

I’m just burned out and when I think about things, I come up with one positive and whole list of negatives and reasons why I should give it up.
The one positive: nothing like the high you get from flowing and hitting the perfect line.

But it seems like all of the negatives outweigh that feeling, that high. Even the last few times I’ve been out, I couldn’t seem to get that high back. I left feeling more frustrated and burned out than ever. The joy, the giddiness of being able to ride is just not there anymore.

The tons of work it takes to maintain the spot. The amount of work it takes to build a new spot closer to home. I can’t ride to our spot, I have to drive. Only a very select few ever do any work leaving it all to the few of us who do. Falling and getting hurt. I’ve got a bruise on my leg that been there for 4 months. Other nagging injuries from falls. Seeing and hearing about other guys falling and getting really jacked up. More and more time constraints, less time to ride. Less riding means being rusty and sketchy when you do get out there. Increasing the chances of injury. Breaking parts and the $$ it takes to replace them. My age. Getting a four hour time slot to go ride and spending 3.5 hours of that doing maintenance. When I finally got on the bike, I was wiped out and could only get in a few runs. Blah.

I took a long break this summer because of these reasons and when I went back to it, it just wasn’t the same. I’m really thinking about just selling my bike and giving it up for an extended period, maybe for good.

How do you guys handle the burn out? How do you stay motivated or find the motivation to keep going?

 

[basikbiker]

i know how ya feel, my trials are soley maintained by me and im the only one who rides em for the most part. i get burnt out on building for a while, till the weather changes, ride somthin else is all i can say, ill switch to my bmx and ride park for a week or so then back to dj on the 26. just gotta vary it up a bit

 

[TortugaTonta]

Honestly it sounds like you are riding with the wrong people.

When I get bummed about all the digging I usually just call a couple friends for a dig-ride-bbq-drink session and it adds fuel to the fire. Riding by yourself or with the wrong people gets old but when You get together with some good friends and you do endless crazy trains down the set you will be stoked to ride all over again.

I think having a solid crew is a big factor to the fun of the dirt jump scene.

 

[gackrider24]

go ride some street or dh then djs feel super smooth when you get back on them

 

[Durt]

That’s the thing….it’s difficult to get peeps together. Especially when you announce that it is a work party. The crew is small and everyone is scattered with their various responsibilities. You never know who, if anyone, will show up. We tried to put together a road trip and planned it for 3 months. 3 guys showed up. 3 months to plan a trip to Austin, a dirt mecca, and you only get 3 guys.

Most people show up, ride, and bail. Many folks have just stopped coming out all together. With the hurricane, our spot is facing tons and tons of work to get back into shape and honestly, I just don’t feel like going out there to do it. It will be as it has always been: 3 or 4 guys that do it all and no one else. We’ve bitched at ‘em, threatened ‘em, everything. They just bail and come back when no one is around.

I’ve been riding my road bike and doing a bunch of skateboarding to mix things up. But when I go back to it, the feeling is just not there.

My rear hub is toasted right now so I can’t ride even if I wanted to. I don’t have the $$ to fix it and won’t for a while. We went out to Austin to escape the hurricane and I took the bike to hit some of the spots out there. Got in a 15 minute ride and blew the hub. I was so deflated and bummed about it. I’m at the point right now where I just want to say F**k it and sell the bike. I’ve also thought about selling the current bike and slowly building one that I really like. Maybe that would re-ignite the passion.

 

[mr.c]

i think the hurricane is probably bummin you our pretty bad too man, and its probably eveything that going on is just coming out when you ride because thats the only time you have to think about it, idk it just sounds like you gotta lot of sh$t to deal with. slowly build your dream jumper, thats all i can think of. i did not ride for 3 or 4 years. i sold my bike and just gave up because no one was riding with me and i needed money and i felt like i wasnt getting any better.im just now getting back to biking , bike with people you like to ride with

 

[Stoked]

seems like everything bad is happening all at once. sounds like you obviously love to ride. i can't see why you'd give it up. probably just all the sh1tluck recently. try and find some up-n-comers in your area. where you from? some younger dudes can certainly get you motivated to shred. they may show you some new spots too. good friends are really where its at. i could ride anything w/ good friends and be stoked.

i understand how discouraging maintenance at trail spots can be. we recently started covering everything w/ tarps at the end of sessions no matter what the weather looked like. that has been helping a lot. takes a few extra minutes after rides to cover but well worth it. you'll spend more time riding than fixing rain damaged lips,landing, berms etc.

remember this stuff is supposed to be fun. if you're not smiling, you may need a break. keep your head up!