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Recently grabbed a new hard tail from eBay to give me a change from being a full time Zwifter, part time roadie and for the last few weeks have been back up Cannock Chase.
Last time I rode there regularly was 2014ish and I’d go and knock out a couple of laps of the Dog and Monkey in about 90 minutes a lap.
Now it seems loads of sections have rock garden qualifiers that I can’t clean, and stuff seems to be built with an assumption that you’ve got five inches at either end and an engine.
Amused myself with banging out some laps of the new blue trail which is quite nice but could do with being three times longer.
I guess it’s all just moved on and I haven’t, but it feels a bit crap to not be able to ride a trail I used to, when I haven’t got any less skilled.
Maybe just the lack of time in/on the MTB though? The Zwift and road stuff will be great for fitness, but confidence and skill level may have dropped on the off-road technical stuff as you don't get that on a turbo...maybe just time in MTB saddle and you'll be sorted!
I thought there was just a qualifier on the first red bit of FtD, although I noticed the other day that a line has appeared which avoids it...
I'm not too sure why there is a qualifier there though as I don't remember anything being that tricky on the rest of the route, and certainly nothing which requires a FS... it's not changed that much in the last few years...
Anyway, far more fun to be had away from the main routes... just go explore, although it might be a little muddy in places at the moment...
What are you basing your assertion that you have not got any less skilled?
I can feel crap on a mountain bike for the first hour if I don't ride off road for a month. From your description, you have had a much longer break. That impacts the skills you have available on tap massively. With more riding you will build confidence and it will all come back.
What hardtail did you buy? Trails have not changed dramatically but they have changed - and bikes have changed with them. This also makes a difference.
One of my favourite bits used to be Watch Out Trolls but that’s a total mess. The bit by the road used to be really fast flowing singletrack but is slow, rutted roots now.
Son of Chainslapper is still good fun although I miss the original.
What are you basing your assertion that you have not got any less skilled?
Forty years of experience. Thirty of which have been riding at Cannock.
What hardtail did you buy?
It’s a Boardman MHT8.9. Was virtually unused and a bargain. Fairly standard modern cross country bike really. Previous mtb to it was a 2016 S-Works Epic.
10 years off a mountain bike? Yeah I bet you’ll be rubisher than you used to be.
I’ve had a couple of months where I’ve barely ridden this winter and it’s taken me a few days to get back in to it.
Serves you right for spending 10 years on Zwift, you pervert.
but yeah, you can’t seriously expect to not do something for ten years and not lose anything. I’ve hardly ridden for two and am shite as a result, there’s a massive amount of incremental tactile learning (copyright) and muscle memory in mountain biking
Yeah I concur, you’ll have got into a fixed position on the bike and doing the stuff you used to do (moving about on the bike, riding ‘elbows out” etc) feels exaggerated and alien.
I recently went through the same thing exactly and I’m sorry to say im betting it’s you, not the trails.
It's probably just confidence and timing that's letting you down, they'll come back quick enough if you stick to riding your mtb.
<!--more-->give up now and buy an ebike.
I can feel crap on a mountain bike for the first hour if I don’t ride off road for a month.
I feel crap on the bike for the first few miles if I switch between my (trail) full suss and (trail) hardtail. and that’s riding multiple times a week.
the skills are probably still there, the confidence and possibly muscles maybe not.
trails deteriorate and get tweaked by builders but if Cannock, one of the busiest and most popular trail centres had been revamped to the extent of needing a full suss ebike to get round; I think we would have heard about it
I guess it’s all just moved on and I haven’t, but it feels a bit crap to not be able to ride a trail I used to, when I haven’t got any less skilled.
If you've not ridden MTB for a while, you'll be less skilled than you were when you rode regularly - it's pretty much a given.
I had the same, I was using my old MTB very occasionally (like 4-5 times a year) and when I bought my new MTB, it was like learning to ride all over again, exacerbated by the total change in geometry, gearing etc between the old 26" bike and the new 29".
Yes, and older, don’t forget older.
Have you tried turning it off, then turning it back on again?
Ha I've felt like this after a 10 year hiatus to the dark side. Came back to MTB last year and immediately started injuring myself, quite badly on one occasion. I think it's a combo of being 10 years older, rusty skills and more gnarly local trail builds. I don't struggle on all the natural stuff I used to ride (Yorkshire dales classics for example), but the new skool trails like Golfie whoa, right out of my depth!
Embrace it. I've always been rubbish, but I still enjoy it.
Haha Ben! Cannnock Dog really is rigid bike territory. The Monkey is a little harder, but again, a rigid will get round no problem, I never used to bother with the Monkey much as it seemed a lot of uphill for little benefit, I’d do two or 3 laps of the Dog to keep my fitness up. Actually, I’ve never finished the first rock garden on the Dog, I’ve nearly done it, but one little bit at the end always gets me, but my mate, who is mainly a roadie cleared it easily.
I’ve had a major shock here in Scotland, after being addicted to Cannock, I can see how poor my riding skills are. At Ae and Mabie, the reds are do-able by mere mortals, the off piste stuff is a level (or three) above my riding skills. Think World Cup DH routes. The reds are a step (or more) above the Midlands reds, if the Ae red trails were at Cannock, they’d be Blacks. Add in the amount of steep climbs (your zwift will help there) and its definitely a work out (theres one section, the Omega Man at Ae which is mostly downhill, where I’m shattered at the end, just because of concentration and chucking the bike around, even with little pedalling). Get out more, you’ll realise after a while that Cannock marked trails are really easy, and are as easy as you remember them. If you’re ever up here, I’ll meet you at Ae, and take you round some of the nicer trails that normal people can do without fear of death!
Stop doing anything for 10 years and you’ll be a lot worse when you start again!
For me getting back on a hardtail after a decade on full suspension has shown me what a skill compensator full sus bikes are. Stuff I'd not even think twice about on my Stumpjumper Evo has me squeaky bum grade 2-3 on the hardtail.
I think a lot of the flat rock garden bits at Cannock are quite the physical challenge, rather than a skill challenge. I went the other day for the first time and was disappointed at the amount of close sections on the follow the dog. nearly all the descents on the first half were closed. It does feel like it be a bit neglected, which is a shame as the park prices should mean plenty of funds to help keep it going?
It's a perishable skill. Bit of seat time and you will be right back into it
I rode Cannock the other week for the first time in a long time on my ten+ year old 29er. It still rode well. I was surprised how many alternative lines have formed. Looking at them I assume for powered bikes. I missed my fatty though, I need to get that back up & running.
The terrain I used to race XC on is now deemed GRAVEL .
Probably why I bought a gravel bike
When I started racing XC, it was round the edges of a farmers field…
Get out more
There’s reasons I’m on Zwift. If I could get out more, I would.
Did the Glenlivet green trail with my small kids today - pretty sure it felt like a red run from 15 years ago. I haven't ridden a mountainbike properly since a c.2014, so maybe it's me.
My current mtb is a 2012 full sus 100m travel 26er
When I got it back in the day I thought it was a weapon. Over the years I took it to trail centres and probably the last 5 yrs I’ve stopped going to trail centres pretty much , as each time I thought they were too rocky, and many potential over the bars moments
Last weekend I went to Gisburn on the latest generation of 150/160 travel trail bikes. It was a different world obviously the trails are now built for bikes with this modern geometry, bigger tyres and travel.
Stuff that would have me braking or even taking chicken lines on my own bike I was just blasting through.
I’m not saying your Boardman isn’t any good, just I know think they are designing/ letting trails deteriorate so they suit these longer travel , big tyred full sussers