A mate and I rode at the local DH / Freeride spot (Still Woods for you Bristol types) yesterday and had a great time, did some jumps / drops / mini gaps / steeps etc. A group of about 4 Polish chaps were there, about our age (30s), absolutely hooning it – big jumps, rapid speed etc.

They did have big bikes (speccy demo 7 (?), enduro trail etc) compared to us (Heckler & 130mm forked jump hardtail) but seemed to be just blokes – ie. not pros or teenagers with elastic bones.

So how do you make this progression from decent capable rider (us) to hyper speed pinner (them), is a lot of it in the bike or more in the mind?

We’ve both been riding for ages (me since 1990 him since 2000)

Surgical removal of the brain’s danger sensor? 😉

Ride with them more often.

Faster you go the easier it gets. Or something like that! 🙂

Start from higher up the hill? 🙂

In fairness I think a lot of mountain bikers, myself included, don’t really push themselves. I am particularly bad at going round corners – I can see someone doing, say, a tight berm on a pump track without braking, go for it myself, but just can’t stop myself from dragging the brakes a little bit. I blame my sheltered upbringing and my over-protective parents. 🙁

It’s definitely the danger sensor, how much does surgery cost? 😉

Mr A, have you been to Still recently? It’s bl00dy great at the moment!

No, need to get up there. New lines aplenty, I’m guessing? 🙂

ride more

yup, and lots of good ramps / drops suitably sized for scaredy cats as well ones for big boys.

I’ll have to get over there. Shame it loses the light so quickly in the evenings.

Have you checked out the Plantation recently? Someone’s been busy over there, too!

remove your brakes

ride more

I know, toughy when you’ve got nippers, job etc. Will try to ride offroad more than two times a week. It’s only when I go to a dh spot that I realise how slow I am!

Plantation as in the other side of the road from the golf club?

MTFU

Someone had to say it.

I’ve just spent the weekend riding various places in the country Started it off with half a day at Esher Shore. I rode soooo much better after it but I didn’t specifically ‘work’ on my techniques at Esher Shore.

I suppose it comes down to confidence that your brain with ‘do the right thing’ if you need it too.

Plantation – is that just off Beggar Bsuh lane? Been meaning to have a look for ages but havent managed to do it yet!

If you don’t fall off occasionally then you aren’t riding hard enough

re: the falling off thing

I do fall, mostly in the Winter when it’s slimy tbh, but I suppose my worry is that a fall at the next “level” of speed is going to be loads more serious – i.e. tree at 30mph.
Anyway I’m going to be taking my fullface next time and a big tin o’courage. 😉

Instead of Just Riding actually concentrate on different aspects. Cornering, jumping, good brake control.

Good riding, for the main, doesn’t just happen. Practice makes perfect.

Jim, that’s the one. If you know the trails over there already, one of the most-used lines has had some jumps and stuff built on it. Not sure it’s improved it particularly (hurrumph), but it’s fun for a play.

I think with Still it’s harder to get the hang of the tracks as there are so many possible lines. It’s like one of those Pachinko games, no two runs are the same.

RHS, so through building confidence on aspects – cornering, jumping etc – I will be able to increase speed and do bigger stuff?

I think that is more approachable than the fatalistic “ride harder, fall more” advice 🙂

re: lines at Still. I felt the same until recently – we concentrate on two lines both including the best berms in the middle and session some of the jumps dotted around. There’s a great little gap which is a real confidence booster, makes you feel like a god (until you turn around and see a flying Pole at head height!)

I think it all depends on what you are finding difficult. Are you avoiding the bigger gaps, are you braking all he way down, struggling to get speed out of the corners?

Sometimes forcing yourself to simply ride faster will help (a bit of friendly competition & timing sections can help with this) but if your skills (especially cornering) arent up to it then you need to work on these before adding more speed.

A coaching session could be worthwhile especially if you have limited time to learn though simply mucking about on your bike – I’d highly recommend sorting a session with Rowan Sorrell.

ETA – like RHS said above

Try and shumt more! Odd I know, but i wasn’t really riding poorly yesterday at Swinley, shunted realised that it didn’t really hurt and that was it! rode much better!

Cool! I’m liking the road gap over there and the big ski-jump style booter just before the middle section with the berms. Bits I hate include the jumps at the top (I can’t clear them) and the place where the DH track crosses over the run-up to the dirt jumps… 😐

Coaching would be a good idea, I intended to book something with Nigel Page last year but it never materialised.

what’s a shunt? (small crash?)

This is a tree related incident………… 😳

CwmCarn and a tree

Getting more confidence in the fundamentals of mountain biking = being more relaxed and thus faster.

Speed is a bi-product of good technique.

bristolsurfer, did you do a dirtschool session at Brechfa?

Its just time on your bike, practice practice practice. Its all about small increments – its very hard to go from a 5foot jump to a 20foot gap in one step. Its always best to try new stuff on a day when you have jumped everything you usually do and feel ‘on it’.

A full face helmet and some armour is always a good idea and can give you a bit of extra confidence. I highly recommend wearing a spine protector – i wont ride without one now after nearly breaking my spine in feb (i would have if it wasn’t for the armour).

As for riding downhill tracks try to practice no pedalling / chainless runs – you’ll learn to pump the track more and not be constantly on/off the brakes and pedalling in between. You’ll find that you will pick your lines more and tend to carry more speed.

Like its been said before – if you want to improve your going to have to push yourself and if your pushing yourself past whats your usual comfort zone then the chances of crashing are higher. Unfortunately the only way to improve is to push past what you currently think is your limits of your ability. Crashing unfortunately happens and you’ll learn a lot from it. Especially in berms – if your not crashing / sliding out your not going fast enough – you’ll never know how fast you can rail a berm until you find out what the limit of your ability / tires / berm is.

At the end of the day your not going out racing or to prove anything to anyone other than yourself. Its all about having fun and that sense of achievement of doing something new always inspires me to ride more.

I competed at motocross as a young teenager for a number of years. I was OK too but I was not the best, there where some riders that where just better, naturally faster riders.

However what I would say is train, get a section and do it over and over again. if possible watching each other. Gradually build up speed try, give give your self goals like, pedal flat out for 2 pedals then do not touch the brakes until you have to stop, this is then easy measured, or put down braking markers and each time move them closer to the corner. This is what I am trying to do, as I was a little shocked how crap I am after a bit of a gap from MTB

Spend a bit of time riding with 4x and BMX riders.
Learning to pump properly and ride smoothly teaches you to generate speed out of nowhere.

I disagree with the ride harder… fall more. Confidence is where its at.

Incidentally what is there at this Still Woods Place? Im trying to travel and hit more trails and would like to check it out if there is a DH track and a selection of jumps and drops.

Anyone care to enlighten me on what is about 🙂

hippy, it’s the 5ft to 20ft progression – nail on the head! I don’t mind crashing in a berm – it’s the thought of crashing on landing a big jump that doesn’t appeal.

Still Woods is on the West side of this road, there’s a gate where the cars are parked on the LHS. It’s not a big place but they certainly pack in the stuff – this is one of the most full on bits:
(http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/2668408/)

Some good advice folks thanks, psyched to get back out there, shame I have to work.

Cheers acjim,

Is there a lot there? I.e. is it worth a journey down from say the west midlands?

One of the best ways is to build your self a jump – say a small step down preferably where there isnt a gap/bombhole to clear where you can land to flat if you come up short and have the option of pulling the take off back.That way once your confidant at how it jumps and your clearing it consistently you can bring the take of back in stages until its as big as you want.

It’s always good to be able to think ‘well i can go x many feet out and down on that jump so i should be able to do this one’

The 5ft to 20ft should include the 10ft, 15ft, 18.5ft etc etc.

And it doesn’t just happen. You have to make it happen. A lot of the time your brain is going to tell you NOT to do it. Its reading the NOT as doubt or just fear. Fear is fine but doubt is a sure way of hurting yourself.

bristolsurfer, did you do a dirtschool session at Brechfa?

No I have done a few coaching session with Rowan from before he hooked up with Dirtschool – in fact I am doing another session with him this Thursday. It feels like a bit of an indulgence but its money far better spent than on some tarty new bike bits.

Getting more confidence in the fundamentals of mountain biking = being more relaxed and thus faster.

Exactly right & coaching can help with this especially when you have limited time.

I could spend a day there and not get bored, just don’t expect any long runs – it’s a small hill really! There are some decent videos online.

Good points:
Lots of jumps and drops at different levels right up to scarey stuff
Fun berms
Easy walk up
Nice forest setting
Good people – always friendly types about

Bad points:
Short!
No specific 4X / dual slalom run
Lots of rubbish – darn kids!
Absolute death if it’s been raining for a few days (perfect at the moment)

any good rider will probably have a good base of natural talent and confidence and will have gotten that good by riding with focus and commitment.

simply put – practice makes perfect 😉

oh, someone already said that 😳

bristolsurfer, where is your coaching session and how much?

GW, unfortunately the bike shop is right out of natural talent, they’ve got loads of ATGNI and niche excuses though 😉

swap bikes

ride with a group of roadies for a few months, won’t improve you technicaly, but re-sets your fear switch to that of a 12 year old (i.e. you forget that crashing hurts).

get a BMX, best £250-£300 you’ll spend, nothing teaches pumping like a bmx, 26″ wheels, slack angles and seats are just tallent compensating clown bikes in comparrison. 90% (well lots of) of BMX jumps are designed as step-ups ( i’e’ they look intimidating, but if you come up short your actualy barely moving by the time you hit the landing. Transfering skill to a BMX is a lot harder than going the other way round, so dont be tempted to short cut and try to learn skills on a mtb you realy should be pickign up on the BMX.

3 steps:
1 get rid of the fear
2 start small and build up, just because you cant land a 20ft double doesnt mean learningt he propper technique on a 3ft pump-lump is beyond you.
3, variety (this is where havign lots of different bikes helps), dont get obbsessed with clearing one big gap. Otherwise failiure will demoralise you. Practice cornering, jumps, gaps, climbs, rock gardens, bmx, trails, etc etc etc etc

thisisnotaspoon: What shite!