Following on from the

more moeny than skillz

thread below, actually how do i improve my riding and get fitter?
Person
Early 40's rider, 20 years riding (badly).
i would say ancient intermediate…………pretty slow on the downs (confidence lacking due to several old injuries that i do not want to reoccur) and okay on the ups. struggle on tech bits and cannot(will not jump) can trackstand ish, Like natural trails

Done…………..
skills day, excellent value for money.
guiding trips……….some good some bad

Done……….
skillz compensator bikes……..hardtails to relearn the basics man……….MLC bikes……..lightweight bikes (broke several)………….like what i got now a 30lbs 6 inch bike.

Done……….
riding with faster people………they left me on the downs 🙁 and the ups
They did not really help.

Done………….
ride my bike more (liked that!) but not improved dramatically

Done…….
read all the articles in STW and tried to follow the how to pics in MTBR with Doddy

So what is left without the riducle heaped apon those fellows in the other thread?

No really I would like to know how I can improve, take it to the next level, push the boundaries or any other motivational gobbledegook.
So come on folks tell me what is next……………..

Talk to "Alpin"

Get yourself a £10,000 bike 😉

Why do you want to get better though?

LOL…………………besides that what can I do 😕

Bored of doing same old same old, i genuinely want to get better so i can do more things and I supposed challenge myself………….gosh sounds like a really MLC!

Keep riding your bike more, seeing as you liked it, and more skills courses, seeing as they were good value for money?
I bet a little commitment wouldn't go amis though. May I be the first to prescribe a small, measured dose of MTFU?
Mine came in the shape of a new front tyre that gave me the confidence I needed, made it easier to go for it, yours may be a different shape 🙂

dedicated skills coaching. Find someone who can take you through right from basics. It might mean you have to relearn some of your current riding skills, and it takes time (up to 6 months maybe). You need someone who can explain the basics of where you need to be on the bike and what you need to be doing, and someone that can break this down into drills to show you the difference.

A group skills day is all very fine, but I would say that unless you have someone watching you ride, who can then translate that into what you are not doing correctly and what you should be doing instead that a group day might not help as much as some proper 1 on 1 coaching.

Get someone who can teach you the importance of balance, stance, pumping and counter steering.

Something you can do by yourself is find a pump track and learn to pump your bike effectively.

I'm beyond the point of thinking I'm going to get significantly better now. I've tried the group ride thing (liked it but too slow up and down), done a skills day (good fun but didn't really change anything), tried to get fitter (works in patches but as soon as work gets busy the amount of riding I do falls off and my fitness suffers).

I've also tried lots of bike options and that has helped somewhat (my main bike is a lightweight short travel full-suss that's pretty fast on the ups but still reasonably quick descending).

Nowadays I'm happy enough just riding by myself and at my own pace.

Perhaps you've reached your peak?

I can see about the MTFU thing……..I really do not bounce that well anymore…i accept that falling off is part of it and do so….isreally just accepting to MTFU all I need to do?

I can see about the MTFU thing……..I really do not bounce that well anymore…i accept that falling off is part of it and do so….isreally just accepting to MTFU all I need to do?

MTFU is a gamble though – I can't really afford to be off work for any extended period and I also don't bounce that well anymore. I had a relatively minor off (although at a fair pace) last weekend and I'm still suffering from it.

Tree Magnet………please do not retire me yet 😉 I retired from Rugby due to injuries, football the same and running reduced to less miles and once or twice a week jog, so need something to improve at!

.isreally just accepting to MTFU all I need to do?
Entirely up to you, I decided a long time ago that the 'getting better', as in technical skills was going to be just a long progression of crashes as that's kinda the only way to explore you're limits, and after a bit of thought it wasn't the path to me.
That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of challenges and enjoyment in biking though, just less that involve instantaneous gratification. I prefer endurance style things as it plays to my strengths and I like the mental games you play, and just enjoying the countryside. Of course if instant gratification is your thing, then yes you'll have to MTFU and just do it. Whether it will work is a different matter though:)

I like the endurance stuff, slow and steady so how do i get better at that just ridden in the pryenees col de perysoude/port debales/portillion/superbagneres up on the road fitness was one element missing and the down where possible vtt but it lead me to bits where i just cannot ride it………………….. 😳

riding with other people is a good way of improving. Seeing how someone else tackles a bit of trail can help, particulary geting over mental barriers. Plus, when you're following someone (or someones following you) you tend to be less hesitant over tricky bits and just do it.

In a simler situation, go out on a weekly basis but havn,t improved at all. Every week i useually have at least 1 incedent where i go over the top or some thing worse.
Also as a group we go out road riding as well which, is totally the opposite. Going uphill nobody can get near me and i am the oldest person at 55 years old.
I am getting to the stage that i am getting fed up with going out on my mtb as i lack so much confidence.

The main question here is – are you enjoying yourself? If the answer is yes, then just carry on riding.

vondally – Member
Tree Magnet………please do not retire me yet I retired from Rugby due to injuries, football the same and running reduced to less miles and once or twice a week jog, so need something to improve at!

You don't have to quit because you're not as good anymore/can't get better, you know? Just 'cos people say you have to be a better rider, it doesn't mean you have to be…

Turn off your PC,

Go out and ride more,

Take a step back,

Model better riders.

Go on Jedi's skill course (I've only heard great things)

just keep riding your regular routine, and build up speed/skill incrementally. Leave overnight, on/off speed increases (and the associated broken collarbones) to the teen wunderkids you get at minor DH races; just have faith in yourself, and build it up organically over a period of years. Make no massive adjustments; it's an incremental thing. Obviously, ride trails that you know well often, where you feel comfortable trying new techniques.

One suggestion specific to you might be your point about jumping. I hate jumping too! But it's actually a vital skill for fast/smooth riding. Not massive big air jumping, but rather, small jumps, often where your wheels barely leave the ground. Have you heard people refer to "going light" over rocks/roots etc.? That's what I'm talking about. You use the first rock as a ramp, go light over the rocks that follow, and use the last rock (or root) as a downslope. That's the theory. Small jumps can also be important on switchbacks and tight berms aggressively, when you literally jump the bike into the corner, swinging it round, and ramming the rear wheel into the turn. My point is that even if you hate big jumps, it's important to learn to use small jumps effectively (and the risks of doing so are really pretty small).

Do you use SPDs? If not, try that.

Good question am I enjoying my riding…………

no I feel stagnated, underskilled and slow

no just coming back from injury due to poor technique and trying to get fit

yes had a week in france riding 😀

jhw great i will try that re jumping……spds wreck what is left of me knees.

been on one skills day a 1 to 2 so that was tremendous, easy when you are there on some more tech harder when you are by yourself

mojo5pro – Member

riding with other people is a good way of improving. Seeing how someone else tackles a bit of trail can help, particulary geting over mental barriers. Plus, when you're following someone (or someones following you) you tend to be less hesitant over tricky bits and just do it.

Will agree entirely with that, when I first met some of my riding mates I was totally crap and so far behind it wasn't funny, however many years later we are at about the same level and spend tme racing each other down the hills

Every ride contains a mixture of the skills you need so try concentrating on one particular skill each ride. Every time you come to a section that needs that particular skill really concentrate on what you are trying to achieve, ride it, then review it after you have ridden it.

go and see jedi. forget what you know, listen and do as he says. best £70 i spent in biking.

If you normally ride clipped in, have you tried converting and learning to ride flats? That helped my skills a hell of a lot.

The other thing to do is to figure out what it is you actually want to learn, i.e. be able to know what it is that you don't know. That sounds quite obvious but so many times people don't know what it is they want to imrove on and so it gets quite hard to coach them.

– Pumping (already mentioned) is a key skill to learn and will add loads of speed without you having to expend much energy.
– Carrying speed round corners; learning how to enter a corner with more speed than you're used to, trusting the tyres and allowing a little bit of slip
– Weighting and unweighting the bike, i,e, where to put your weight in the cockpit, especially moving it forward; where to unweight the bike over roots.

Don't worry about jumping and dropping; I can't do it to save my life but I've to get left behind on a DH run. You can get pretty good without being good a jumps and drops. You can always have a go at those next.

As for how to acquire these skills, get some one to one tuition and make sure you know what it is you want to learn.

OP – sounds like you lack confidence

I can sympathise – returned to MTBing after a long lay off due to injury and now am 1/2 the rider I was before. Its partly confidence and for me I'm nowhere near as fit as I was before
Intend to work on my fitness, flexibility, core etc, plus riding more and re-learning my skills

but, at the end of the day, get out there and enjoy yourself, which is what I'm just about to do !!

okay had a couple of hours out in the local wood, try the whole pump thing, like it need to work on that…………………what else now?

Speak to Jedi. He is a truly magnificent coach.

Im pretty naff, but things that do help are.

Jumps – these really do help with regular trail riding, learning to have you weight in the best place for this and that etc

Making a conscious effort to look further ahead, the minute I do this I ride faster….. then i forget to keep doing it.

Ride as often as you can.
Ride with a group.If they can do it,you can.
Ride through the winter,adapting to mud,ice,snow,sharpens you up and you're fit for Spring/Summer.
Stay loose on your bike. Easier said than done,but it works.

another idea is to take a little time experimenting with set up, try fatter tyres, wider bars, a little bit here and there may make all the difference to how you feel

stop trying to get better.
just enjoy yourself.

Obvious I know but If I could pick one single thing that affects my riding more than any other it is where I am looking.

If I look way ahead, the slides/ moments often take care of themselves. If I am crashing it is usually because I am looking down.

If I could not spend the fist hour of every ride looking at my front wheel, I am sure I would be better!

try a bit of XC and/or endurance racing/events?

I am getting to the stage that i am getting fed up with going out on my mtb as i lack so much confidence.

I can sympathise with that. Downhills to me were the obstacle that had to be overcome getting to the next climb. I used to get moaned at on the Merida enduros etc for holding people up on the downhills whilst mincing down them. So I've stopped doing enduros.

After going by the recommendations here, I've done 2 sessions with Jedi this year. I can't recommend him highly enough. He's got me riding down stuff 6 months ago i probably would have walked down. I doubt i've ever enjoyed my riding as much as i am now. I'm actually enjoying riding down as well as up. Money very well spent.

You said the skills coaching you had was great and worked. So go back for more. If you've found an instructor who you like, who gets you motivated and who has been able to address not only your technical skills but how to build your confidence and mental control then get back to him or her for more sessions. Most of the folks who come to us for skills training don't just have one day then go off and become the next Steve Peat. They turn their new knowledge and ideas into integral parts of their riding, and when that happens, they pick up the phone and say "ok, got that, what's next…?" It's a lot cheaper than buying stuff for your bike, but you do have to ride a lot afterwards to really put the info you get from your instructor into the front of your brain, making it a natural part of your riding.
Good luck,
Chris@CycleActive

Do people really believe in skill courses? I am wondering how people like barel, peat, akrig, chausson, vouilloz managed to reach the level they use to have without skill courses?

I know a lot of very good riders and I mean really really good (someone able to beat a world champ on one peculiar trail for instance) and they have never been on a skill course. Actually none of us (by us I mean people from the riding group) have and we seems to cope just fine.

SO did a skill course, and it actually was a step backward. Looks to me they are the latest fashion in the bike industry**.

As for the OP, jut ride more and more and more. With people faster than you are.

**I am in no way a good rider lets make this clear. Average eventually even average less seems to be my level judging to where I stand in the group.

thanks for the kind words yet again.
jaun, you think they donthave coaches? its about aspirations 🙂

Don't underestimate the importance of fitness/strength also

I'm sceptical about coaching, although my mind isn't closed on the subject.

I think it's a great service and I'm glad it's available. I've got no doubt that coaching can make slow riders become fast, with less delay/crashes than if they were left to their own devices.

At the same time, it was a formative experience for me to learn to ride on the edge the hard way, and I think it's particularly important in a sport like mountain biking where self-sufficiency and mental toughness is an absolutely key and indispensable part of the sport's ethos, something I'm sure most posters here will agree on – once you lose that self-sufficient edge to the sport, it just becomes another yuppie weekender activity (see skiing). Skills coaching is a corollary of the wider sanitisation of the sport that's taken place since I took it up. It's progress, and broadly a good thing, but I've found that figuring out good technique for myself, solo, has been the single most satisfying part of the sport and has indeed transferred into other parts of my life also.

sorry – that just sounds swanky with a silent s

bite me 😛

ok ok on re-reading fair comment