Stop looking down at your front tyre: I don't know about you but I am finding th
By Oliver Bradley · October 13, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Stop looking down at your front tyre:
I don't know about you but I am finding that in a week at work there's too much to process properly.
Things are moving FAST ⏩
Mountain biking is a huge help for me at work. One thing you learn is where to focus, never look right in front of your front tyre.
As you gain experience you learn to look further ahead, look at where you will exit the corner, AND never look at the tree or you'll hit the tree 😂 (done this).
Where you look is where you'll point your bike and where you will end up.
Same at work.
Look further ahead.
Not just tomorrow's or today's to-do list.
Look at the whole week ahead as it gives you time to "see" what's coming and mentally prepare just like on the bike, when you look further down the trail your mind will take care of both what's immediately in front of you AND what's coming but when you only look right in front of you...you miss what's coming next, and you find you're not ready.
The Vision Science why look ahead:
Your eyes work with two systems:
Focal vision, which scans ahead and identifies specific hazards or features, and Ambient vision, which reads the terrain as it arrives beneath you and automatically gets you through that section of trail.
Focal vision is relatively slow to process, so the faster you're moving, the more time you need to give your eyes to spot something, and your brain to react to it.
If you're only looking a few inches in front of your tyre, by the time your brain registers a rock or root, your wheel is already on top of it. Wet roots or rocks can be deadly.
Looking 10m-30 metres ahead (or even further at speed) ahead gives your focal vision a head start, while trusting your ambient vision to handle what's immediately underneath you.
I am learning to "look further ahead" to ride faster on my bike AND do exactly the same at work.
Why??
What It Actually Buys Me...
Earlier reaction time – I can brake, shift my weight, or choose a line before a hazard is right under my wheels rather than reacting at the last second.
We need exactly that to cope with the increased pace of change at work.
How do you prepare yourself in today's frenzy of activity and change to cope?
What's your "look ahead" strategy?