[Closed] Does anyone still ride 'Old School' XC mountain biking?

Its pretty much all I do.

never done anything else.

I still ride the same trails in the same area I did 25 years ago so yes.

Just did three days straight of 35+ miles a day in the Cairngorms. Fantastic.

Yes I do. Also ride trail centres, downhill and to the shops.

Yes, although I tend to ride the trails more on a cross bike than XC nowadays.

i use the bridleways and cyclepaths across the moors to get to the good bits.

Yep, that's all I do as well.

Yes. Often on an 'old school' geometry 29er too.

Yup, pretty much.

Waves!

Mainly on a "gravel" bike atm but if not, on my old Swift.

I thought we were a dying breed.

Being fairly new to the sport, I'm still finding my legs.

I know a lot of people hate the term "Enduro", but I suppose it serves a purpose to describe a certain type of riding these days.

I do a bit of a mix. I like trail centre blasts, Lakes/Peaks rides and doing some mileage on the Gravel Bike.

However, I really can't stand all the bullshit and nonsense that seems to come with a type of rider that can be described as "Enduro". I can never tell if they are being serious or ironic.

Yeah, so basically, anything on two wheels is interesting to me. I try not to pigeonhole myself.

ton - Member

never done anything else.

It's pretty much all I do. I maybe visit a trail centre a couple of times a year, but otherwise its out in the countryside stuff with a few bits that people have 'built' on the route.

On the internet, though, it's all shredtastic downhill with tyres barely staying on the rim around every corner.........

I use the bridleways, footpaths and cyclepaths across the valleys to get to the good bits.

It is the only way for me, just ridding trails an looking at the views. Seen it come and go, how long before we have "what happened to enduro events" a couple of years maybe?

it's all shredtastic downhill with tyres barely staying on the rim around every corner.........

I mean, I enjoy a nice view or just being out in the fresh air, but going downhill/fast [i]is[/i] more fun. Isn't it!?

Yes, I'm fortunate to live somewhere I can ride into the hills from my doorstep and have the eastern Cairngorm a half hour drive away. Last night I rode Glen Lee for the first time which was absolutely stunning with the waterfalls and purple heather.

I even ride an old school bike a 1998 Marin East Peak FRS with a 100mm stem.

Most of my riding is a mix of road/ trail/ singletrack/ bridleway/ farm track - usually about 60-80 miles on a Sunday out and about in the Surrey Hills. Walk the bits you don't like, ride the bits you do. Not much faffing. Cake and a coffee always, maybe an ice cream.
Bikes vary - 650b gravel bike, 29er drop bar, 26" hardtail or fullsus, or a 700c CX bike.

slowjo - Member

Mainly on a "gravel" bike atm but if not, on my old Swift

I probably should be in a gravel bike for 90% of what I do these days. Thing is, if I'm not on the old school 29er then I'm likely on the fat bike!

Highly inappropriate but good fun.

If you choose the right bike for the conditions everything is enjoyable.

Not sure buying these big travel bikes is that sensible as it flattens out all the normal/natural/local stuff and means finding stuff that is exhilerating to ride is less likely.

Just gone from my 120/105mm 26er turner flux to a 130/120mm 650b flux and things have suddenly become easier. And when my 140/120 650b+ sultan is ready things will be even easier.

Pretty much all I do: Dales, Lakes, Scotland, occasionally the Peak. Rarely (as in less than once a year on average) go to trail centres, genuinely trying to remember the last time I went to one.

As for not seeing anyone out on the trails: you could be following (or being followed by) someone five/ten minutes ahead and never see them. I'll meet the occasional small group out in the south Dales but it's rarely more than two or three at a time - the Kettlewell Killer loop seems popular for some reason despite it doing some trails the wrong way round.

I like a bit of everything MTB wise, pootle up the river (often with a pint or 2 half way), uplift days, exploring to find new stuff, enduros, manky nightrides alone or with mates, big days hike a bike, trail building too. In fact, A days building is often as enjoyable as a days riding, certainly rewarding, and means I'm desperate to get back out and ride the new track.

TurnerGuy - Member

If you choose the right bike for the conditions everything is enjoyable.

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type 2 fun?

Can't remember the last time I rode a UK trail centre. Some are ace (CyB, Stanes lot etc), but much prefer the natural stuff, & love it when the trails are quiet. Can't beat an epic on the moors in the rain.
Was being teased the other week as I was the only one to turn up on a 26er with a front mech & 'skinny' 2.3 tyres. WTF?? Glad I left the spandex at home for that one

It's part of the mix.

Don't profess to be a good technical rider so do lots of local miles using roads, bridleways, paths and tracks. 95% plus of my rides are from home, between 20 and 40 plus miles. Once out of town it is surprising how few people you see even on a Sunday. I ride a few trail centres a year on a weekend away but generally begrudge driving for an hour or more to ride when I can go from home.

This weekends ride consisted of canal towpath ( Colne Valley, West Yorkshire ) out then over the Pennines ( bits of Pennine Way ) back into the Calder Valley to get home.

Yep, s'all I do (off-road). Trail centres, enduro and all that guff can get in the sea as far as I'm concerned.

Often on an 'old school' geometry 29er

There's no such thing as old school 29er 😉

I was the only one to turn up on a 26er with a front mech & 'skinny' 2.3 tyres.

26", 3*9, 2.3 tyred hardtail here too. It's the future 🙂

So, what were you doing forty years ago when Elvis died?

been doing a lot of hiking* recently in the areas that i used to cycle all the time and the lack of people on bikes is very noticeable. In something like 25 weekend walks in prime Chilterns cycling areas I've probably seen less than a dozen mountain bikers. A few years back we'd often see more than that in a single day.

'skinny' 2.3 tyres.

* The hiking has temporarily taken over from the cycling because a mate wants to walk the coast to coast next year and I'm trying to prepare for it a bit and make it enjoyable rather than a lesson in punishment and humiliation.

I'm too old and slow to do anything else.

Not often, maybe 3-4 rides a year on bridleways (lakes/moors/dales).
Once a year I might try and see how fast I can do a loop of Dalby red non stop.
Most riding now is usually messing about in local(ish) woods, pootle up, chat, and go for it on the downs.

I spend most of my time doing that, I only visit trail centres when I'm in the area.

Last weekend we rode form my mates house to Macc forest, up & over Charity Lane, down Derbyshire bridge way to Buxton, over the old road, back up the Cat & Fiddle, down into the Goyt Valley, over Macc Forest again and back to his, 102km all in............. proper riding innit.

Most of my local riding is along brideways, re-purposed railway lines, natural single track in woods and along forest roads.

I just class it as "trail riding" which covers pretty much everything from old hill roads to forestry singletrack and everything in between. I do like following sheep tracks to see if they can form part of a decent route and I also like steep rocky descents. We don't have much of those here though, so I have to get my fix of those when I'm in Greece.

Give me a nice rocky gully and and some trees and I can spend a whole afternoon picking different ways through and trying to ride them clean. Not many people that I know seem to "get" this though, so I'm usually out alone...

I also like trail building/clearing, because I always like to find new, hidden ways to get to familiar places. So I probably ride where I was riding twenty five years ago but now have far more capable bikes to do it on, which means I look for more difficult details in the terrain.

I just wish I lived somewhere with big mountains that were more accessible than most are in Greece.

IHN - Member
There's no such thing as old school 29er

Fair play. Steep HA then. As in it starts with a 7 😯

Yup, but then also head to 'degla for a regular mid week ride.
Oh and bike pack.
But yeah, mainly long old hike a bike type fun.

Yep it's all I do, well 95% off time, it's a shame so few mtb'er ride natural tracks, even on strava on a busy day max you.ll see is 6 or 7 riders and it's the same names, very few youngster (under 35) around my way everyone seems to be 40-55, do the kids just do trail centres..

You mean normal riding? Meaning anything off-road? For me that defines 'mountain biking' generally. No need for sub-categories, no need for a particular 'weapon'. Ride anything on the one bike, any trail, anywhere. Moors, field edges, trail centres, woods, mountains. Uphill or down, fast or bimbling. Any combination of that in one ride. It is possible to ride on the flat quickly and smash decents, without calling it En-XC-duro, or caring what it's called.

None of it needs categorising based on perceived speed, trail difficulty, bike type, geology, clothing, whatever. Thinking too much about all this stuff is pretty joyless, and a sign of spending too long thinking about it indoors and caring what the internet says.

OK, rant over 🙂

Yep, sometimes. But in all honestly not really through choice, it's just what's local to me.

I built myself a nice XC bike thinking it'd encourage me to do more of that sort of riding but I never ride it. Actually the fatbike's made me enjoy that sort of thing more but I used to do xc blasts mostly for fitness, now I bimble.

Interesting the Strava bit - look on the heat map and places like Gisburn glare out yet a few Km away and the bridleways hardly have any usage - you have to zoom right in to see a trace. A quick check of some segments shows around 35K recorded rides on the Gisburn red and 500 or so on some of the Dales descents.

I'm aware that not everyone uses Strava but with a large user base the percentages of overall riders are likely to be similar, in fact I'd have thought that those out on the BWs would be more likely to use it.

Only if there is something worth riding to at the end...
If I want to ride at a pace and cover ground then I'll get the road bike out. After that I'm not a fan of being on the MTB when there is a chance of falling asleep due to boredom.
My memories of being out on the old HT in the 00's was at the end of some rides wondering what the point was except for covering distance, the interesting bits never arrived and then 4hrs later you were back at the start wet/muddy/knackered.

We had a [s]ride[/s] bimble up to Whitburn for something for our tea yesterday (tuna steaks, as it turns out) via NCN1 and the sea front, I was on my BFe and OH was on his Meta 4X. Neither are 'XC' bikes but we bimbled out via a bit of XC, some road and I think there was some gravel on bits of the route as well- should we start [i]another[/i] niche or can we just ride our bikes?

When I finally have the cash together to afford a new bike (something marathon XC based) its what I'll be doing, especially as I'm very much a wheels on the ground type of rider.

I live on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors and recently acquired a guidebook to go with my OS Map so have been plotting a lot of rides/adventures around the area.

Yeah..I ride everything I do..
-XC loops (recently have been really enjoying just riding 20-30 miles around the South Downs in the balmy summer evenings!)
-DH/Enduro 'trails' - as in..jsut riding several technical sections down the side of some local hills
-CX - a bit like the XC loops, but backwards (chuckle...nah, gravel bike routes round here are plenty)
-and...a bit of road..

'sjust bikes innit..

DrP

I need to stop coming on here, and reading bike media in general.

Most of my riding is general 'mountain biking' - bit of road, some bridleways, some wood singletrack, some fire road, some green lanes, some hils/moorland.

I also go to trail centres occasionally (FoD, CyB, NyA), but mostly ride in Bringewood, Mortimer, Hopton, Black Mountains, Long Mynd or similar if I'm putting the bike in the car.

I nearly always feel like I ought to be on another bike, or a better bike, or I need a new bike, it's ridiculous.

'Best' bike for what I do would be a shortish travel, carbon, full sus with two sets of wheels. What I have is a Soul, a Zesty, and far too much thinking time.