with a lad from work who just got back from racing at fort william. what could possibly go wrong? he’s 20 years younger than me, and we took another lad who is only 10 years younger than me, and always beats to the top and bottom of any hill.

i was on my trusty heckler and he was on what looks like a motorcross bike minus an engine. long and short of it, i was completely out of my depth but had a go anyway. scary scary drop offs. and sooo steep 🙁 i only used the chicken runs on the really big ones and made myself do the one at the bottom of the black run. and promptly fell off on the berm afterwards.

on the way home i couldn’t decide if i really enjoyed it, or if it was horrendous and i never want to go again. so why am i looking at second hand dh bikes on ebay?

am i having a middle aged crisis and should i just go and get a carbon road bike or something? anyone started riding dh in the more, ahem, mature years and survived?

Did you only do the Black run?….. The others aren’t maybe as severe but have their own qualities.
We use Aston as our warm up for the Alps.

Buy a dh bike, they are like nothing else you’ll have ridden. Even if you only keep it for a year or 2 it will make you a better rider.

While Aston Hill is totally scary when wet, the rest of the time it is perfectly rideable on a short-travel HT – or it least it was upto 3 or so years ago when I last rode there, has something changed?

Where do you normally ride?

Normally ride round the peak or epping. It was raining and the roots were like ice.

Dont get a road bike, thats really giving up on life!
I’ve just bought my 1st dh bike at 44.
Aston is brilliant fun, I’m sure you will go again.

I’m 47 and went there a couple of years ago in the wet, it scared me shitless!

It is quite steep, the black especially. Also some of the drops on S2A are bigger than they might first look I think. I do like it there but I prefer my tracks a bit less steep haha. Plus the push up is horrendous. That said, the one that used to be called DH4 is really fun when you get to know all the little kickers and bumps you can pop off. It’s the one that starts the opposite direction to all the others, what’s it called now?

We did one run in the other direction which was good fun but was also a bit wet and rooty. In the dry it would be great fun. I think I’ll go again, with more pads…

Yep you need a DH bike for Aston Hill:
https://www.rootsandrain.com/photos/523891 😈

anyone started riding dh in the more, ahem, mature years and survived?

Err yeah

Learned a lot (I think) about technique and skills n stuff but ultimately getting older and seeing others getting hurt pretty badly has toned it down.

It’s kind of weird I guess it affects different people at different times but there’s a subtle deterioration in perception and reactions/responses that is measurable when you’re older and put yourself in this situation regularly. Basically just getting old but quite frustrating when one week you can do something and the next week you can’t

The place is lot more slipper even with just a bit of dampness. Try it out again in the dry and it’ll be a bit easier and you should have a bit more fun.

It’s hilariously difficult in the wet.

Go back in the dry and I bet you’ll love it. Still miss the place myself.

on the way home i couldn’t decide if i really enjoyed it, or if it was horrendous and i never want to go again. so why am i looking at second hand dh bikes on ebay?

Haha, thats the beauty of DH, i love that feeling in my stomach on the morning of an uplift or a race day when i’m feeling slightly sick, going to the loo every 5 mins and yet buzzing with excitement.

The first run i’m always tight and the run is crap and i consider slinging the bike in the car and going home….but i go for another run and it starts to come together until in the end theres nothing like it.

I’m 39 next year and over the last couple of years my riding seems to be gravitating more towards the DH side of things…my next bike will also be a full-on DH sled!

it reminds me of when i started motorbike racing back in the early 90s. i would need the loo every 10 minutes and feel sick etc.

maybe i can borrow my mates dh bike to see what its all about

Although you could ride Aston on a short travel HT I’m not sure why you would want to unless that was you only option.

Get a DH bike. Loads of fun, exactly as Deviant describes.

S2A is not as easy as people think. I have had a massive crash there two months ago and I am nowhere near ready for any riding. It is, however, a good place to train, in particular bike control in the damp/wet conditions. The push up is horrendous and really tests your fitness.

The push up was hard work but not too bad really. Apart from the usual falling off bruises what hurt most afterwards was quads, neck and triceps. Not used to standing up for so long. I’m not particularly fit or unfit really. When we go to the peak I’m used to rattling down the beast and waiting at the bottom for the rest of the group. This is a different game altogether. Overwhelmed is how I would describe the first run on s2a. Do you think Jedi can teach proper drop off technique?

Do you think Jedi can teach proper drop off technique?

No doubts. I will need to rebuild my massively dented confidence so a session(s) with Jedi is planned.

In the wet it is just lethal. Really really funny but lethal.
The first few times I rode dh was there in the wet, looking back it makes me wonder why I still keep going.
Go when it is dry and the place is awesome. In the wet you are doing well to get down without coming of the bike on every run (haven’t ridden s2a yet though)

Oh I fell off on the black run about 3 times. Just dumped it on roots and stuff. Bloody slippy. I want to go back when it’s dry. We went on a Tuesday thinking it would be empty and we were right

b r – Member
While Aston Hill is totally scary when wet, the rest of the time it is perfectly rideable on a short-travel HT – or it least it was upto 3 or so years ago when I last rode there, has something changed?

S2A is probably new since then. A bit different in that it’s less about steep and roots (are there any roots?) and more about drops and jumps. Drops are my hang up and been putting off going back to Aston for ages, though mostly down to lack of effort to drop in there. The rest of the runs I could cope with. I’d skip out the drops on the black but could just about get down it (first time I ever did it, steep head angle bike, no skills, came off on every corner and bust up my ribs loads, but a right laugh 😀 ).

And yeah, wet = no. My mistake was looking out the window, seems like a nice dry day and roads aren’t damp, but turned out it had been raining a lot the day before around AH. Lethal! The worst though in the wet is the red.