+1 for skills course. +1 for Jedi. I learnt a lot from my session with him (and that after I’d been riding for 15-20 years). He’s definitely not pushy and will have you sussed out on the ride out to start the session. There’s only really 4 things you have to think about, sort that out and you’ll fall off a lot less!

+1 on not GAF either, sounds like you’re overthinking/worrying. Nothing like worrying you’re going to crash to make you crash… You need to relax. I’m definitely shit but I have fun when I’m out on my bike, nothing else is important.

I would suggest a fully rigid bike. It forces you to slow down on technical bits, so you have plenty of time to react to everything; and with no suspension to dive and move your balance around it’s actually very predictable. Also makes steep drops easier because it doesn’t dive.

For the slower rider in the less rocky part of the world, it’s ideal.

I found over the years that two things made me get faster the quickest on tech stuff.

1. Racing DH. I was never any good, never in chance of a podium, but the race environment forced me to push my boundaries way more than I would just out riding. I’d go faster than normal and try and ride stuff I’d be normally off and walking on. And watching and riding with other shows you what is possible.

2. Uplifts. The ability to ride all day long over technical trails without getting knackered by riding or pushing also helped massively. And the fact that uplifts tend to be over more technical trails.

Can I join the sh*t club…?
I was at FOD at the weekend. Did the Verderers trail, which took me 49mins…feeling that that was a fairly decent time, I checked strava to see 29mins!!!!!
I’m officially slow! How the **** do I shave off 20mins!

Stop putting so much pressure on yourself to be Rad^gnar and just enjoy riding your bike. Believe it or not, you don’t actually take up too much room if you’re not living on the edge! **** FB statuses, **** Strava and **** humblebraggers right off.

This more than anything IMO, first and foremost riding should be fun, if some coaching helps you get some of the fun back into your riding then great, but enjoying the riding should come first.

I’ve not been to swinley for years (despite living close by) is the car park still awash with aspirational purchases and sideways glances? That can have an odd effect on your riding psychology, feeling like you’re on show/being judged…

I wore a Swedish footie shirt for my ride yesterday. It probably broke many ethics, rules and unspoken stuff.

Who cares. Riding should be out in nature first, then destressing. Leave doubles and big drops to someone else IMO.

hora Leave doubles and big drops to someone else IMO

But we’re not talking about doubles or big drops, we are talking about getting the basics right!

(how ever, if you’ve got those right, then there is no difference between riding a 2 foot drop and a 20 foot one!!)

(how ever, if you’ve got those right, then there is no difference between riding a 2 foot drop and a 20 foot one!!)

Oh what a simplistic world that is… whilst the technique may strictly be the same, the perception and fear factor is multiplied 10 fold.

Don’t forget, i’ve ridden with you at BPW and you’re what i’d class as ‘good’, whether you believe that or not seems to be open to debate but you’re a very competent rider…

Tell you what, take a novice fresh off the street to red15 and get them to ride it, they’d wet themselves before they got to the rooty section.

But we’re not talking about doubles or big drops, we are talking about getting the basics right!

Which in itself can help make the
(well probably I’m interprating Hora’s meaning)

Riding should be out in nature first,

More enjoyable as you can feel like you are enjoying your time out and being more relaxed about it all as opposed to stressing about the trail.

Red 15’s potentially quite sketchy when pinned, with adequate potential for harmful tree interface. It’s all relative to how fast you are prepared (or forcing yourself) to go.

Hell, I can probably scare myself on the blue family trail at CyB if I hit it fast enough… 😉

I made a small mistake on the gentle rollers at top of Red 25 the other month – and wiped out over the bars with the bike slamming into a tree with enough force to bend the saddle rails and totally buckle the front wheel. Scared the crap out of me, that did.

Since a bad knee injury, five years ago, my mtb riding has got progressively worse – not that it was brilliant in the first place. Every time I come to something, vaguely, sketchy, the anchors get dropped, as I immediately start thinking about damaging my knee again. I’m fine with the road bike so I’ll be sticking with that. Anyone want to buy a large Cannondale 29er?
🙁

I was at FOD at the weekend. Did the Verderers trail, which took me 49mins…feeling that that was a fairly decent time, I checked strava to see 29mins!!!!!

See that’s where you are going wrong. You need to stop judging your ride by how quickly you can get the fun bit over with 🙂 If you had as much fun as the person at the top of the leaderboard and you had that fun for 20 minutes longer, then surely that’s a win.

If you do want to get faster, there are two options. You can either ride more smoothly, with more skill or just take more risks. The people at the top of the leaderboard are probably doing both, but there will be a fair few people ahead of you who are not any more skilled, but just take more risk. Do you really want to “race” those people?

What I found as I got older was the technical stuff got more impassable.

When the front wheel hits an obstacle is the critical point. Once I would simply apply more power, a quick kick, and be on my way, but now that is gone, presumably because of the deterioration of quick twitch fibres in the muscles.

Approaching with more speed works, but if it is a long section I can’t maintain it. I reckon on an eBike I would have no problem because I can see the lines ok.

The best thing I have found is fatbikes. They steamroll over a lot of stoppy stuff that I no longer regard as technical.

I no longer attempt jumps or stuff with consequences. I’m full of bloodthinners and the wrong sort of impact could be nasty.

They steamroll over so much stoppy stuff that I no longer regard it as technical.

What’s the point of that then, just ride on the road or ideally at the velodrome where there are no bumps ? (EDIT: just read your bloodthinners post so I can see why you are cautious). I chose to ride my hardtail in Surrey Hills as I like to make the trails a little trickier, the FS Covert just skips over almost everything. Now I could use the bike for bigger jumps etc but after a few crashes which could have been very nasty I decided that making the medium level trails more entertaining was the way to go.

As for Red19 it’s possible to have a nasty crash on the simplest trail, the fit as a fiddle and experienced military guy died after hitting a tree at Swinley on one of the Reds. I dislocated my finger doing practicing bunny hops on a flat path. You don’t crash just because you are on a hard trail.

We are all in agreement, its a skills course which is required.

As long as you’re having fun who cares

Plus you can crash on anything, more difficult sections increase those chances but even the most mundane of stuff is crashable if something odd happens

I find blaming something else helps. Just blame something else and move on. i.e. when I couldn’t slow down fast enough the other week and ended up over the bars and down a verge it was my xc tyres fault for not having enough grip. Don’t be so hard on yourself.

We are all in agreement, its a skills course which is required.

No, I think he needs a rigid 29er.

jambalaya – Member
‘They steamroll over so much stoppy stuff that I no longer regard it as technical.”
What’s the point of that then, just ride on the road or ideally at the velodrome where there are no bumps ? …

Because I ride a mtb to get into the mountains.

It’s for destinations and scenery and as they are natural trails, sometimes just a deer track through the heather and rocks, the surfaces are very unpredictable (when they aren’t bogs 🙂 )

Anything that reduces risk is good when you’re out in the wilds on your own with no phone coverage. I’m no hero.

Anything that reduces risk is good when you’re out in the wilds on your own with no phone coverage. I’m no hero.

Yes, that pretty much nails it for me too. Plus steamrollering stuff can be fun 🙂

Thanks all.

I’m taking advice from several of you.

The whole “just enjoy riding your bike” thing; sage advice and not something I thought I’d lost sight of. But maybe.

To those who suggest a skills course: a great suggestion and one I’m going to take.

And I’ve fitted a new, short stem, which fits with a couple of your suggestions… 😆

Whatever you’re doing on Monday, sack it off and do this instead OP!!

UkBikeSkills_SingleTrackDay

😆