So, i’ve been steadily improving my MTB skills over the last 3 years. Nothing major, nowhere near “awesome” skills, but recently i’ve kinda felt i am hitting a bit of a plateau and not improving much.

So it got me to wondering, how many hrs a week does one have to actively ride a bike to be classed as “AWESOME” these days? I suspect i’m just not riding enough? 😉

If you know anyone with better skills try riding with them on some new trails. It’s difficult to say how many hours as it depends on you, where you ride, and how you ride.

I was at a Plateau until I did a month in Whistler. Not an option for everyone but riding dawn til dusk on big scary trails will transform you if you’re up for the challenge.

Can’t be bothered to go out on progression sessions where I live as it’s crap. Ride once a month now if I’m lucky.

Read up on “deliberate practice”

It’s not about how much you ride, rather it’s more about how much you push yourself to improve when you do ride.

The old theory of 10 000 hours to become an expert (Ericsson) is old hat.

Simple solution… Find riding buddies who are a lot more awesome than you and try to keep up.

What elements of your riding or specific skills are you trying to improve?

Simple solution… Find riding buddies who are a lot more awesome than you and try to keep up.

Using this method last weekend at LLandega, I went from never really liking to let my wheels leave the ground, to happily doing all the jumps on the B-line at full speed 😀 (thanks Schmiken)

get some quality training.

buy a road bike….made a massive difference to my mtb awesomeness.

buy a road bike

+1

And ride a singlespeed.

It’s not so much what you do, but where you do it.

I spent time many years ago in BC and have to say the friends I had there were riding stuff that I couldn’t even walk along or down. For them, this was the terrain they rode, so their abilities matched their environment.

Do a couple of uplift days, instead of spending 90% of your time riding up hills you’ll spend 90% riding downhill and improving your skills.

Learn how to corner fast and efficiently. Made a massive difference for me. Wish I”d concentrated on this earlier in my MTB journey…

Have you had any coaching?

I thought I didn’t need any more, but went for a day with my Pro Ride Guides a month or two ago because my friend wanted to and it was nearby.

Got a lot more than I expected out of it. Spotted a few bad habits and took away some important stuff to focus on at a more advanced level than previous skills sessions.

Ride with faster fitter awsomer people and hope some rubs off.

Seriously though I used to ride with a guy that had done a lot of DH racing a few years ago.
Following his lines, and watching how smoothly he rides made me try to get a bit more flow rather than just battering through everything.
I have never had a skills lesson but I think that would help too. Its got to help if someone with more skill can point out your weaknesses and help build on them.

The problem is your bike, you are 2.5% less awesome than optimal and totally not enduro.

And you live in the wrong place, you’ll never be awesome living in the flatlands.

I was at a Plateau until I did a month in Whistler. Not an option for everyone but riding dawn til dusk on big scary trails will transform you if you’re up for the challenge.

Can’t be bothered to go out on progression sessions where I live as it’s crap. Ride once a month now if I’m lucky.

haha pretty much exactly the same for me except it was two months! My riding improved so much out there it’s ridiculous. Still been progressing a bit over here but I don’t really ride mtb much other than in the summer (when I can go to Woburn after work), never really seems worth the drive for the trails we have here.

mrhoppy

And you live in the wrong place, you’ll never be awesome living in the flatlands

hmm, i fear you are possibly correct ;-(

Things i want to learn to do this year:

1) Jump properly off difficult jumps (ie those you need to pretty much bunny hop off to get enough altitude to clear them)
2) “forever” manuals (those ones where you uni-cycle along continuously on the back wheel, adjusting balance by lengthening/shortening legs
3) trials style pedal hops on back wheel (for those pesky rocky bits you can’t ride)
4) trails style “thrusting up vertical walls” (ok, starting at maybe 2 feet tall rather than 6!)
5)rolling 180 deg endo turns (can do the stationary version)

It’s not about how much you ride, rather it’s more about how much you push yourself to improve when you do ride.

This.
It’s not as simple as just going out riding if you want to improve anything other than fitness (although it’ll do you no harm). Think about technique and working on weak points, and ride with people who will push you and terrain that gets you out of your comfort zone.

I reckon if you ride 169 hours a week or more you will be officially awesome.

Those are all very specif aims rather than slightly vague ‘get faster at corners’ type stuff, so you should set out to practice those things. Just riding and hoping to master those skills isn’t going to help. Eg, find a trail or feature that requires one of the things on the list and session is for a few hours, watch people who can do what you want to do and learn from them. You definitely can’t put a set number of hours on that.

Just buying new kit in fluro green will instantly make you 16.78% more awesome too.

paul, pop down one sunday dood

So it got me to wondering, how many hrs a week does one have to actively ride a bike to be classed as “AWESOME” these days? I suspect i’m just not riding enough?

Well I do believe the answer to the meaning of life is 42.

Combination of quality and quantity 😐

If you ride 40 hours a week, but simply comfortably twiddle the pedals, in the saddle, comfortable terrain, you’ll get nowhere.

40 hours a week drilling turning through cones outside your house, you’ll get a little bit of somewhere.

Purposefully practising 10 hours a week, mixed in with normal riding, a chance to implement the practise??? Will most probably get you somewhere.

For me to get where i am now, 12+ years of BMX (15-20+ hours a week) and a couple of years MTB. Not sure about “awesome”, but can certainly hold my own against the fast DH boys and usually spots/does different gaps/lines than the obvious.

What i’m really trying to demonstrate with my story is my time on a bike is astronomical, that’s time spent actively attempting to improve technique, not just going out on a ride, i’m only maybe semi-awesome on a good day, maybe ride everyday, 6 hours a day for the next 5 years and you might get somewhere. IE, how long is a piece of string?

Also, what do you mean by awesome? Fast? Smooth? Creative?

PS go somewhere new and jump in at the deep end, do it at least once a month, that should shake things up.

If you ride 40 hours a week, but simply comfortably twiddle the pedals, in the saddle, comfortable terrain, you’ll get nowhere.

I think that even by merely twiddling the pedals for 40 hours you’re get a fair old distance.

What is holding you back? Fitness of technique?

Fitness? Ride on the road as the improvements in fitness will transfer directly.

Technique? Book a couple of lessons

jedi
paul, pop down one sunday dood

yeah, i’ll do that 😉 Need to get some fitness back first though, as work pressures means i’ve just not been riding my bike much recently.

Luckily, i’m (i think) not to bad at the “flowing”, “carrying speed” and “cornering” bits, although i’ve never been able to fully nail those “flick” sharp turns where the pro’s seem to be able to get the bike turned 90deg in it’s own length at about 20mph………

I might try and do a one ride for fitness and one ride for technique plan, where one day i concentrate on smashing along with a high heart rate and exertion, and the next one, do a slower, more technique/tricky terrain ride. Sort of like intervals training (possibly 😉

A lot depends on the riders individual incompetence/uselessness quotient and also their ability to adapt and learn. In the winter, I ride twice a week, so at least 6hrs and in the summer that can be at least 50% more and, to be frank, I’m crap and generally not progressing much.

Where I find fitness and skills progress at all, is (as others say) where I’ve been a bit more in at the deep end. Riding unfamiliar trails and/or riding for slightly longer than normal, especially if it’s an mtb holiday, where you get a few decent days under your belt. I do still think that the ‘right’ coaching can make considerable changes too, although this might no be from a coach, as much as a tour guide or even a mate.

Are the old progression plateau, sometimes accompanied by a but of regression. I’ve come across this a few times in riding, education and other pursuits.

I tend to find as long as you stick with it they are often followed by a sudden surge in progression when many different things all seem to suddenly click at once. Unfortunately this sometimes takes, days/weeks/months to happen.

1) Jump properly off difficult jumps (ie those you need to pretty much bunny hop off to get enough altitude to clear them)
2) “forever” manuals (those ones where you uni-cycle along continuously on the back wheel, adjusting balance by lengthening/shortening legs
3) trials style pedal hops on back wheel (for those pesky rocky bits you can’t ride)
4) trails style “thrusting up vertical walls” (ok, starting at maybe 2 feet tall rather than 6!)
5)rolling 180 deg endo turns (can do the stationary version)

The only one of those I remember practicing were pedal hops. Can’t remember how long they took to learn though. the rest sort of came naturally.

I rode trials/jumps/bmx pretty consistently for 12 years. In terms of skill, I would class myself as “godlike” compared to the average UK MTBer 😉

Compared to the average UK BMX rider, I’d class myself as poor.

Forget going out on bike rides. Get yourself a BMX, or a single speed jump bike, and go and mess about on it round your local town/village. Maybe build a nice jump near your house you can ride aswell. Even one of those rampage ramps propped against a kerb is good enough to learn reasonable technique off.

10,000 hours in total according to Malcolm Gladwell The 10,000 Hour Rule

I think I’ve ridden my MTB twice this year, not done much commuting either (probably one ~25 mile round trip per week). I usually ride a bit more, but at most it would be 3 commutes a week and one MTB ride* every three weeks. I think I’m pretty good, considering. Did the borrowdale bash last week, the only sections I walked were a short 25% stretch of the Honister pass and some of the gnarcore bridleway between Watendlath Tarn and Rosthwaite. If I rode more I’d be quicker, but mostly because of fitness I think.

*I live in the dull, flat, muddy Midlands. A ride means loading the car up and driving for an hour or two each way to get to anything worth riding. There’s no such thng as a ‘morning’ ride or cheeky evening ride via the pub. If I’m riding the MTB then that’s all I’m going to do that day, simply because I need to add about 4 hours to the ride for loading/travelling/unloading.

Practise, practise, practise, ideally with a coach who will give you a nudge in the right direction.

The old theory of 10 000 hours to become an expert (Ericsson) is old hat.

Not that old hat, there is still a lot of truth in it and a lot of people still swear by it.

42

*Edit – beaten to it!

You’re coming at this all wrong…
You can be more awesomer but embracing your mediocrity in 3 easy steps:

1) Buy:

http://market.allhailtheblackmarket.com/market/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=15

2) Affix to bike(s).

3) Ride and smile.

The old theory of 10 000 hours to become an expert (Ericsson) is old hat.

Not that old hat, there is still a lot of truth in it and a lot of people still swear by it.[/quote]
Yes I was going to ask what is this week’s pet theory if Ericsson no longer cuts the mustard?

Everyone saying ride with better riders is WRONG! Ride with them and you’ll feel like you’re crap, but ride with shit riders and you’ll feel like a riding God. Is all about the perspective.

lunge – Member

The old theory of 10 000 hours to become an expert (Ericsson) is old hat.

Not that old hat, there is still a lot of truth in it and a lot of people still swear by it.

Riding 40 hours a week ie as a full time job would take five full years to get to 10,000 hours. Who rides 40 hours a week? The 10,000 hours concept would suggest that you either need to start very early in life, or don’t bother, or if you start training when you are in your mid-teens you won’t be awesome until your mid 20s. Evidence suggests otherwise.

5)rolling 180 deg endo turns (can do the stationary version)
proper name for this is a G turn, and yes, it does look awesome.
Unfortunately I think that once you get a job and or family life then ‘becoming awesome’ is very difficult, there just isn’t enough free time to be able to go out at the drop of a hat and session a ledge or jump or whatever for 3 hours. If you managed to get a good skills base when you were younger then you’re lucky.

I would think it also depends on how quickly you can pick things up. Some people seem to be able to ‘get’ something pretty quickly, and then improve at a rate of knots, others it takes a long time to learn new skills.

The biggest differences I noticed came from having no real fitness to commuting 200km a week for a couple of years, and then more recently, I rode 3-4 times a week offroad on decent trails & tried harder than I would normally, to push me out of my comfort zone.

My race results took a noticeable turn for the better, and stayed that way. I’ve noticed recently they have started dropping off again, and although fitter now than ever before, i’ve not been riding offroad properly as much as I have in the past.

Trouble is, most people I ride with also all race, so everyone is getting fitter & quicker – makes it hard to gauge.

Of course, i’m sure we all have the riding buddy who turns up on his twice a month ride, being the only time he gets out on a bike & smashes everyone up & down the trail too. But they are the exception!