Brilliant on Friday, Klutz on Sunday

I was riding really well on Friday evening. Just three of us. In the first half hour I cleaned two sections on which I average well under .500. I was floating over the bike, flowing with the terrain. On the last turny and undulating section I was drifting in the loam and the pine needles like a downhiller: chin and shoulder diving into the turns, head up, knee out, bike leaned way over, unconcerned about the skipping and skidding due to my excessive speed. I just knew that the knobbies would hook up and I would be good. And I was.

This morning, only 36 hours later, I again rode with two (different) friends. What happened to my Friday skills? It was like I hadn’t ridden in a year. Instead of friendly stars flying by excitingly at warp speed, the saplings were scary and hard and out for blood. I had to scrub all kinds of speed to keep them at bay. I went down twice in the first half hour because of stupid errors. The first time I braked hard for a sharp left that I was late for. Once around the turn, a small hole faced me immediately. Routine. But instead of letting go of the levers altogether and pushing the fork down into the hole so it could roll out nicely, I managed to grab some panicky front brake, forcing an instant graceless dismount. A few minutes later I came around a tight uphill corner with several greasy roots underfoot – a corner I’ve ridden a hundred times. I was feeling confident and strong. I leaned in hard – not just the bike but my whole body. Predictable result: The bike skated and I went down fast and hard on my hip.

Why does this happen?