And quite right they would be too

I’ve only just noticed the URL of this thread – it appears the OP really was quite upset and the mods presumably stepped in quickly 😆

Did we establish whether the OP also gets upset by lycra winkers who overtake him on the fireroad climbs and bimble the downs? Though having used to be one of those, the most amusing was the grumbling as I overtook a couple of chaps on the climb about 100m after the end of the long singletrack DH – chaps who hadn’t been in sight when I got to the start of the singletrack…

Generally people fitter and better at climbing are also likely to be better downhill too in fairness.

People who use electric motors instead of getting fit put themselves somewhere on the trail their skills can’t cash! (This obviously doesn’t include people who have always ridden and have a medical condition).

Generally people fitter and better at climbing are also likely to be better downhill too in fairness.

Like roadies getting into MTB? Can average 400w going up hill but all fingers and thumbs on a blue descent?
MTB masochists that tolerate the descents to be able to smash the climbs, sort of the opposite of what you do? Takes all sorts eh?

Never come across either on the trail. Somewhere like Cwmcarn’s Twrch climb would sort out the fit but poor technical people in fairness…..

Generally people fitter and better at climbing are also likely to be better downhill too in fairness.

In fairness, that’s utter bobbins. Generally*.

*Not really. It’s just utter bobbins. I’m as much use as a sack of spuds going uphill, while a mate I ride with is a snake hipped mountain goat on the way up. I have to wait for him at the bottom of every descent, though. Climbing ability doesn’t equal descending ability. Sometimes the two overlap, but there’s really no correlation. Totally different skill set and muscle usage.

eBikes will be like those mobility scooters, originally intended as an aid to assist those with mobility problems but ultimately then taken over by the feckless and lazy.

Should of stayed on the sofa with a massive Toblerone gazing at my navel

Ooerrrr!

Captain – I get what you’re saying – but it’s reasonably rare on my rides to come across someone who absolutely annihilates me on a climb without being reasonably competent downhill. I’d also say it’s usually a lot easier to make up more time on someone going up a hill then make up time downhill.

In this case said ebikers weren’t fit enough to fully capitalise on their electric assistance to make up enough time uphill to make up for their incompetence downhill.

Why didn’t you just wait 3-4 mins at the top once they’d set off though ?

It seems to me that YOU made it into a problem at least as much as they did

We waited at one point to give them a head start – set off down a section without catching them – but then they were sat chatting at the bottom so we carried on. Unless you are saying we had to wait for them to finish their chat each time and letting them go first?

They seemed to want to stop and compare helmets or something after every up / down section

so when did they hold you up?

We’ve now reached page three and I feel we need to up the stakes…

After the first time this had happened.

This story encapsulates the problem for me, and why I don’t personally see the need for these kinds of thing in mountain biking.

Maybe for some people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to go riding there’s a need.

But surely, for most people, there are natural trails to be found somewhere local..

Also, I’m guessing a bike approaching 50lbs is a bit of a handful on the way down which I don’t much fancy.

yeah – you’ve not ridden an e-bike have you.

They seemed to want to stop and compare helmets or something after every up / down section

So, they’re on a social ride with mates and fancy a chat. probably having more fun than you were too.

If you’re so concerned with going on a ride and it not being ruined by people on e-bikes, having a chat, having more fun than you, being faster up a hill and going down or whatever, then go and enter an XC race…

then go and enter an XC race…

Yeah, never get held up in XC races!

Generally people fitter and better at climbing are also likely to be better downhill too in fairness.

Not sure about that. I know several people who are somehow less fit than me who can outride me. I guess it depends on how technically interesting the downhill section is.

Generally people fitter and better at climbing are also likely to be better downhill too in fairness

If the said downhill is a fireroad pedal.

Generally people fitter and better at climbing are also likely to be better downhill too in fairness.

I love riding uphill and am pretty quick. I overtake most people on mountain bikes with ease when going uphill.

However, I ride a fixed gear drop bar bike so am probably the slowest person you could meet when going back down a technical downhill.

We’re picking some slightly obscure things here – I can’t say I’ve ever encountered anyone at a trail centre on a fixed gear drop bike (would you enjoy jumps and drop offs etc on that?).

I was having plenty of fun thanks – riding with a mate I don’t see that often and where we were is quite fun for a quick blast around (without being amazing). Would have been better without some fat numpty practically riding over you on the way uphill then slowing you down in the fun downhill bits!

I can’t say I’ve ever encountered anyone at a trail centre on a fixed gear drop bike (would you enjoy jumps and drop offs etc on that?).

I have chasing a friend on his it was a real blast especially when we passed skinny whippets taking up the trail with their FS bikes

Generally people fitter and better at climbing are also likely to be better downhill too in fairness.

To be fair there is probably some truth in this. Most people here would probably thrash me on the downs, whilst I’d (used to have) thrashed them on the uphill. But compared to most people riding bikes, even most people riding bikes at trail centres I’m not that slow – I’ve rarely had somebody catch up with me on singletrack. Sure there are some roadies on mountain bikes, but they’re fairly rare.

Same here – I tend to ride mostly Welsh trail centres and don’t often have any issues catching too many people or holding people up – either up or downhill.

At Cwmcarn I’ll occasionally catch someone or get caught on the way up but that’s it. Think I’ve been overtaken by one ebiker there, but because the uphill is so big I didn’t see them again after that. So not an issue.

 

Generally people fitter and better at climbing are also likely to be better downhill too in fairness.

I once checked some of the quickest trail centre laps on Strava, almost inevitably top 20 laps were top twenty on the downhill segments as well as the ups. You’ll find odd exceptions but that was very much the trend.

yeah – you’ve not ridden an e-bike have you.

And you’re probably not that good at jumping.

They’re shit on descents in the same way that 50lb downhill bikes from 2004 are shit. And they don’t have 200mm of travel generally to make up for it.

To note, had my first run in with an e-biker hooning round a blind bend on a shared use fire road in Wharncliffe. No helmet, tracksuit bottoms, motor audibly going full gas.

They aren’t doing the image of cyclists any favours.

They’re shit on descents in the same way that 50lb downhill bikes from 2004 are shit.

Which ebikes have you ridden then?

Wouldn’t matter if it was an e or any other bike ..” hooning around the corner “
And I’m assuming you didn’t actually stop to discuss wether the motor was de-restricted..so let’s just assume that it wasn’t.
That being the case the fact that the motor stops working at 15.5 mph ..I quite regularly top that speed without the benefit of a motor when the bike is pointing down ..so what point are you trying to make ?
Is it that you took offence at what the rider was wearing ..tracksuit bottoms & no helmet ..oh the shame !

As others have said, why not just have a drink and wait 5 or 10 minutes for them to clear off and enjoy your ride?

Maybe not an e-bike but I am sure all of us have been stuck behind somebody on the ups or downs only to be passed by them later on.

Dont look that slow down hill to me.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/coastal-crew-skeptical-video.html

The guys in Finale last week were flying downhill on the Turbo Levo Kenevo

I think the problem here and with a lot of ebike threads is some kind of perceived superiority by the haters.

Bike riding is not just for the self proclaimed elite, no one has to prove they are x fitness or y mentality.

Bike riding is not just for the self proclaimed elite, no one has to prove they are x fitness or y mentality.

As long as they prove they’ve ‘earned’ their boutique bike, right? 😉

couple of points about what gets ignored in the ebike threads
point 1:
what if an ebike isnt your only bike, and its not the bike you use all the time, but use it for a different and a differently enjoyable experience.
i have a turbo levo, a liteville 301, a mega am and a fat bike.
i ride twice a week with my mates, on the liteville. at weekends i might go on the ebike for a longer and further ride. and on sundays i ride as well.
point 2:
i had a few offs in the last two years, and its nearly always at the end of the day or at the end of a ride, i find i dont feel as knackered or as wasted on the e-bike towards the end of a ride, which is generally a good thing

An ebike and a boutique bike?

You sir, are a menace to trail centre warriors everywhere.

Lester – what if an ebike isnt your only bike

What if it is? Who cares?

my point was that everyone seems to presume that if you are on an ebike its because you have copped out, are lazy and want to “cheat”, or restricted health wise. im just saying that isnt necessarily why someone is on an e bike.

Yeah sorry, I agree with you.

My vague point being it could be taken that you were justifying your credentials because you also had a normal bike as well as an ebike.

It shouldn’t matter if you only have an ebike.

An amendment to ‘operation wind up trail centre warriors’ mentioned above. Would it piss people off more if I rode past them with the motor off?

OP sounds like every XC race I used to do.

everyone seems to presume that if you are on an ebike its because you have copped out, are lazy and want to “cheat”, or restricted health wise. im just saying that isnt necessarily why someone is on an e bike.

I thought the general consensus had come around to it’s because “they’re fun”.