Some riders have never even heard of skills courses or books and are able to progress without much in the way of theory. Others need coaching and theory to improve.

It seems that it is quite rare that people are great bike handlers naturally. And by this I mean railing corners, braking properly, jumping, manualling and riding technical stuff quickly.

I was never much of a rider as a kid, but sheer bravery/stupidity got me to an ok standard as an adult. Then I hurt myself quite a bit and started doing some reading on technique. This has improved my riding massively.

Are you a natural or have you had to work at it? (Not saying naturals don’t have to work at it, but generally progress much quicker)

Have an offroad m/cycle history but I’m naturally crap!

i think i am progressing tremendously well now.
I am even going to try the steel city downhill course tomorrow.

only the ignorant have nothing to learn.

rode a lot of trials as a teenager but a skills course has improved my high speed skills no end.

naturally ****

Work hard, scars to prove it.

Had to work at it. I’ve always rode bikes but never been amazing at it. I’m riding at the best I ever have done right now and haven’t had a proper crash since I did a skills course 🙂 Been progressing loads recently, videos of the latest stuff I’ve done at Woburn are on my youtube!

What I’m not natural at is having style in the air, I’m trying to work on it but it always looks crap.

I just enjoy riding my bike. Not interested in jumping etc having witnessed the aftermath on too many occasions when it has all gone assss over teets ❗
Earlier today my grandson demonstrated the Superman x3 perfectly without inflicting any broken bones 🙄
We did however witness a tree covered in blood. A timely reminder of the consequences when stuff does go wrong.

I wish! Am starting cornering drills tomorrow, need to find more speed on these enduros…

Have had and am having to work at it but I have found that riding more regular and varied trails with riders that are more skillful/daring than me are bringing me on at an alarming rate.

Worked hard at BMX for 12 years, took up MTB 1.5 years ago. Went into MTB under the pretence it was easy. I had/have the attitude that MTB is easy and only horrible gompers did it, that’s just how BMXers view MTB.

I wouldn’t say i’ve had my arse wooped by MTB, but it is certainly more testing than i was expecting. Found it hard to get used to changing surfaces and levels of grip, but everything has been relatively straight forward. It has taken me 1.5 years to get to a level of bottle i thought i’d originally be at right away, i was a big girl for a while, but that’s starting to fade now.

If it was really easy, i would have lost interest right away, just the same as if i found it too hard and stressful. I buzz off of being challenged on a bike, i always have the next gap i want to hit, or that section i’m not allowed to brake on, that flat turn to make at mach 10, it has been ingrained from my years on a BMX, you always ride to progress.

I think it’s theory that ruins things for people a lot of the time, theory isn’t anything without mindset. My years of BMX has taught me anything on a bike is physically very simple, it’s just getting your head in the right place. Some people naturally have the right mindset, others don’t.

I spent years as a teenager with mates learning “tricks” like hoping up curbs, track stands, riding steps, wheelies, etc. We even had little races through parks and woods.

Now out on the trail i’m still learning new stuff all the time. I don’t think anyone can say they have nothing to learn. Thats just silly. Some people just learn faster than others.

I’m always watching videos and reading stuff on here.