Just spent the last 5 days riding everyday and looking back I can’t believe how much biking is part of my life.

It started off with me commuting through London years ago and when I moved out of London I got a brand spanking new bike to do a Triathlon on and after chatting to a NZ friend of mine who used to be a Pro DH’er BITD, I thought lets see what these Mountain bikes can do.

I took it up a local hill (Leckhampton), found it damn hard work and had to push it up most of the way. But the ride down was awesome and I was hooked even though it was on a fairly flat smooth descent – but seemed so scary at the time.

Since then I’ve gone through phases, initially just getting fit to make it up my local hill, followed by getting fitter to do more than just getting up my local hill and trying to clear certain climbs or sections which I didn’t have the skills for.

For a few years I spent a lot of time and energy trying to get as fit and as fast as possible but after a year or so I got fit but found it a bit of a dead end. I went from just riding MTB to riding a lot of road on a converted MTB (my original one). However I felt you can only get so fit and maintaining it is hard work requiring a lot of commitment for not an equal gain (in my eyes).

What changed my view was a winter spent with numerous bugs (from overtraining, having kids and also a damp problem in my house) I started to focus on the technical aspects of my riding as I’d not got as fit as I hoped over the winter.

Found I was searching out different things to help improve my skills and trying new stuff to see how it helped. Ended up beefing up my Soul and starting to do more technical runs and trying to push my skills. Even ended up riding BMX – something I never thought I would do or be interested in, but I can’t believe how much I love that side of my riding – just practicing something for hours on end is really satisfying and very addictive.

Now I’m starting to get more into the DH side of things which is quite a challenge but keeps my riding evolving and my interest high. But on the whole doesn’t matter what it is, as long as its got two wheels I’m happy!!

Feel free to share how your riding has changed over the years and why you’ve made those changes, but I had to share as its such nice weather!

Have ridden bikes from an early age, living out in the sticks as i child meant a 2 mile ride to see my mates.

Leaving school and starting college i had to ride the 10 miles to college everyday(with ruck sack of tools, inc spirit level/steel toes capped boots and hard hat.

Continued riding quite alot, i had an old Raleigh racer, reynolds tubing and quite pimp for the time, and most weekends i’d hop on it and just ride all day, in 1993/94 i had a nice tax return, was close to sodding off to OZ for a year, but after 4 hrs in the city trying to get in the Embassy for a visa etc, i gave up, and spent the rest of the day do a mini pub crawl in London, next day went to lbs and bought a C16-r £630.

I put slicks on it and rode it to the beach every weekend, bombed it along the canal and used it to get to my evening entertainment, never took it off road, never realised what it was really designed for…..

Got the x preggars and we needed a home together, so sold the orange to help fund housy shite.

Stopped riding for about 5 years, till after lots of badgering from mates, she agreed to me spending out on a bike to try mountain biking.

The day i had my balls disconnected was the day we picked up my shinny new bike, the bike that would change my life, the year was 2003 it was october and wet, £350 was spent on a claud butler cape wrath, 10 days later my mate found out and he came round to collect me for my first mountain bike experience, Triscombe DH, it was getting dark, the rain was horizontal and we did 2 runs, i was hooked.

Soon after i was wanting disc brakes, then better forks…..then over the years i went from that to a cotic soul, after comments from my new found family… mountain bikers(in the mean time my mates had given up as i was getting scary and the wife became an x) i bought into the full suss hype an got a orange 5, ragged it stoopid for a year or so but hankered after a HT again, i needed to learn to ride as the five was teaching me bad habits, and i wasn’t riding the terrian, i was mashing through it.

So did a deal with a mate and went from the 5 to a SC chameleon, my riding style hadn’t changed much TBH as much as i wanted it to, but then last july something happened, something that would change the way i rode…..

I took off the gears….after a month i visted the peaks and on the first of a 3 day trip, i wrecked my knee again, so the gears went back on for a while.

Now a year on i’m back single speeding and have been for the last 7 months, Now back to a steel hard tail and finding i’m pumping the trails more, and throwing it down a little more gracefully than before.

I’m not sure whether this is how i will always ride, no gears and be dependant on my fitness to keep me doing my thing…

In a couple weeks, i’m helping demo some oranges a blood and a 160, just know i’m going to love playing with bouncy toys again… and one day i will get one again.

The usual growing-up bikes, Raleigh racers etc. for riding to school & around locally all the time (when not falling out of trees).

Went to live in Ambleside early 90’s as a climber mainly. It rains now and again in the Lakes (!) so needed something else for wet days. Got a pearly white Courier and did long solo rides over the fells, High Street & Helvellyn, bendy boots & no helmet, proper old skool.

Had the Courier welded back together a couple times and then upgraded to a grey Ridgeback, ex-hire stock from Biketreks (thanks Andy!) still fully rigid (oh my poor shoulders) and pretty much wore it out completely in about eighteen months.

Moved to Cambridge in 1999, put slicks on for commuting, went to Thetford a few times, but mainly did epic drives north for climbing trips. In winter 2000/2001 had eleven ice-climbing weekends in Scotland between January and April. Similar story the year after. Then got sore knees for a couple of years (duh).

Moved on to the west country and found carefully measured doses of cycling helped sort my knees out. A colleague at work had just started riding around the Mendips & had instituted the Shipham Thursday night group. Yay!

Also, in the intervening time since I was riding in the Lakes, forks & suspension that actually worked had been invented. Double yay!

Also, somewhere along the way I picked up a taste for Ti hardtails. Expensive yay?

Learnt to ride this southern twisty woodsy rooty singletrack stuff, bit different from banging out the miles over rocky fellsides. Got to know and love Ashton Court & Leigh Woods, the Quantocks, North Downs, and these newfangled trailcentre places.

Pushed harder technically, got a Five (wheels off the ground yay!) and discovered how much more it hurts when you fall off going that much faster. Three months off last summer as a result. So this year I’m focussing less on hooliganism and more on fitness (or at least slowing its decline…) Even started thinking about proper road bikes again.

This weekend completes the circle (in a small way) – going up to the Lakes with a bunch of Mendip locals to show ’em some proper mountains – the full length High Street ride, of course. 🙂

I ride a lot further in one go than I used to.

Sharki – I almost got a Cape Wrath – but ended up going with a Spesh Hardrock – it was a tough choice!

I’ve been riding forever, over the last 3 years its stepped up a gear and I’ve been doing a lot more. I’m seeing a lot more of the country since learning to drive 🙂 I used to ride 100% local, now it’s local winter and week nights and lakes, peaks, dales etc during spring, summer and autumn. I’m doing more technical stuff now, due to an almost complete lack of bottle/cajones my skill progression over 20 yrs has been pretty slow but the last 5 it’s accelerated, I’m riding and seeking out stuff now that I wouldn’t have contemplated 5yrs ago and would not have enjoyed only a couple ago. I’ll often take the trickier line rather than the smoothest and will stop and ‘session’ drops and stuff sometimes. Fitness is hit and miss, sometimes I feel like an uberfit riding god sometimes I am humbled by the astounding feats of others whose spd cleats I am not worthy to polish.

I’ve taken up singlespeeding in quite a big way due to all the crap weather we’ve had and I am lucky enough to afford(just)/have room and time/have an understanding enough wife, for a variety of bikes, all of which are brilliant(IMO) and all of which have improved my riding technique and fitness.
And of course this year I started meeting up with fellow random internet bike geeks and riding with them, who knew that being sociable could be so much fun?

I suppose the main differences are:

> Speed; on a rigid bike downhill speeds were limited to what you could see, on a full susser it’s down to that little voice in the back of my head that whispers “hospital food”.

> Distance – oh how we laugh now at what we first considered an ‘epic’ which is now just a warmup.

> Bikes – fully rigid to full suspension; the bikes can handle more so now seek out more gnarly stuff. Although I’m too old to jump and take chicken runs on the local north-shore.

> Accumulation of bikes: summer & winter, commuting, darkside

> Trail knowledge; no need for maps now on the South Downs….

> Riding fitness, especially now after 6 months training for the Etape

After coming back from several ski seasons abroad in 2003, ended up in Dorking with my girlfriend (now wife) so bought a Marin FS. Fell in love with biking and the Surrey Hills twisty singletrack. Moved out to Vancouver for a year in 2006 and lived on The Northshore, this radically changed the way I looked at riding to say the least 8O. I improved so quickly with each ride on the shore and bought myself a DH bike. Spent that summer riding all over BC at bike parks, big mountain epics etc.
Back in Dorking again now for the last few years and really enjoying my riding here but always planning trips away to Verbier, Spain, Lakes etc etc to get my fix of tech stuff!

But there’s nothing like a dusty ride on home trails with good mates followed by cold beer in the Pub Garden 😀

Started out just riding to work (had a brief dabble with the MTB club at uni, but that was in Norwich so it was never going to happen really). Friend took me riding in Ashton Court and I got a decent mountain bike (Merlin malt 2) which was stolen after 2 rides, so then I got a creaky horrible Club Roost full susser and started riding more regularly.

At some point I decided that a 4″ travel bike was the worst of both worlds. Happily this coincided with my frame snapping and I moved to a hardcore hardtail, which was ace. Started riding stuff I had previously walked, jumping off stuff instead of nose-diving down it, riding every night of the week some weeks, heaps of fun.

A couple of years ago my bike collection started mushrooming – first it was a cheapo singlespeed for the winter Bristol mud, then a borrowed road bike. I started riding more DH-ey stuff, did a couple of uplift days and decided I was going to do the Megavalanche, so built up a 7″ travel talent compensator which got me through my first visit to the Alps in (almost) one piece.

At the same time all my friends got CX bikes, I caved in to peer pressure and got one too. Really fast and hurty. Did some CX races over the winter and realised that I’m pretty unfit compared to roadies who ride 50-60 miles every Sunday. 😳

I’ve found that my confidence on techy stuff has sort of plateau-ed over the past couple of years but this year in particular I’ve been riding for a lot longer. I’m not sure I’m any fitter, but I’m not daunted at the thought of riding 50-60 miles off-road, even on a stupid mono-cog bike.

Every year I say I’m going to get better at jumps and other l33t rad skillz, but the people I ride with are quite a sensible bunch on the whole and I don’t push myself as much as I’d like. I’ve also become aware of how same-y a lot of my rides are and want to ride in different places – not necessarily epics on huge mountains, just exploring more local stuff.

my technical abilty is miles better than what it used to be. Used to just aggressively plough through everything and fall off loads but now I can ride much more smoothly and efficiently. Mates used to call me auto-man ’cause my riding was so erratic and would change direction so unexpectedly !

Kev

Skills have gotten better but testes have gotten smaller.

Mine is, I think an interesting tale.

I started young with a Raleigh Grifter in the late 70’s / early 80’s then moved on to a succession of cheap then more expensive road bikes. My first really big bike trip was a few days in exmoor with a mate when I was 16. We drank a lot of cider and stayed in youth hostels. It was great. I continued on the road until I went to Bristol Poly.

My first MTB was an end of season bargain Stumpy Team and my XC riding was pretty poor by todays standards, the bike was a bit of a gate but I did do some racing for Bristol Poly bike club (unsuccessfully, I have a real problem with doing 2nd and 3rd laps), I also rode with BOMBS in Bristol so did Ashton Court, Quantocks, Mendips, Wales etc.

After leaving uni I moved back home and ended up riding the North Downs again, riding with several groups over the last 15 years with my riding evolving to be a little more adventurous, trips away to Scotland, Wales, Moab, Morocco, France etc.

I went through a faze of wanting to be able to jump and stuff but that was never really going to be me.

I experienced a change again last year starting to ride with the tunnel hill trolls and getting increasingly fit I am now a regular and can keep up, even on faster rides.

My bikes have gone from Touring Bikes, Road race bikes to the Stumpjumper Pro, Orange Prestige, Kona Explosif, GT Zaskar, Mount Vision, several Cove stiffee’s, Airborne Lucky strike, Turner 5 Spot (still got that), Yeti ARC, Dialled Bikes Love Hate and a SC Superlight (which I currently love).

Riding have varied in importance in my life and has, until getting married varied between number 1 and number 4 priority. Ladies, Food and Drinking are the other three.

I am really loving my riding at the moment. Getting faster and even entering the odd race.

Well I know I’m an oldie……………..

I started riding a bike when I was 9 (1970) I have always had at least one since then. I started adding bits of offroad into my touring – taking inspiration from my dad who in turn took his inspiration from the RSF. By 13 or so I was going on multiday tours involving a bit of roughstuff as well as the usual jumps in the local woods stuff.

By the late 70s /early 80s I had modified a roadrace bike for roughstuffs. Inverted and cut off drops, cyclocross tubs, wide ratio cassette. A few years later my dad got a genuine MTB ( early giant) for getting to some of the more remote munros. I had a shot on it and was astounded. Really low gears and wide tyres made such a difference. I got one myself not long after – a pink Emelle :-). I had moved to Edinburgh and spent much of the next few years exploring the Pentlands and slowly grinding the Emelle into the ground. I got a Marin second hand off a mate with really early and fairly beggered sus forks – that made life a little easier. I rode that loads as well. Mid 90s I had a holiday in the alps and did some xc uplift stuff.

by 2004 ish I had actually met some other folks who mountainbiked – even going up to Laggan and doing the black ( well most of it) on the old shonky marin.

Years before me and t’missus had seen folk on mtb tandems in the alps and thought that looked fun. We hired ’em a couple of times then splashed out on buying one. I totally revitalised cycling for both of us – we had more or less given up riding together as it was too frustrating to both of us.

A few years ago I bought a secondhand “modern”(ish) hardtail and built it up with secondhand components – again a relevation to have real suspension!

Mountainbiking for me has always been about getting to places more than just the riding – think landrover not lancia stratos! However over the last few years since I met other folk mtbing I have gone to trail centres a few times and learnt to jump – still progressing slowly even at the age of 48 but still biased towards my niche of “ambient jeycore lite” riding. I have even entered a couple of races – Ten under on the tandem where we still hold the record, Sits solo and in a team. I still have the urge to solo strathpuffer

Best trip – a 5 day ride of 160 miles around the highlands – full laden with comfy camping gear on the tandem and almost all offroad but almost all on doubletrack.

Most stoked 😉 – getting air on the tandem, having a decent shot at Laggan Black, going off the black freeride ladder drop.

Tis all good and here’s to another 40 yrs of offroad biking

Started out riding bikes 5 years ago and i’m still doing it,