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Just noticed a pic from 10 roughly years back and was from BPW, i was on a Commencal Meta AM130 which was considered a fairly burly bike back there. But my riding hasn't actually changed much at all in the last 10 years, it's still pedal bikes, trail center reds and local stuff. I've tried the bigger bouncer thing with say the RM Slayer and done the days in Belgium and Andalucia etc but generally it's same old stuff.
I'd like to think i'm quicker on certain things than i used to be, but i'm heavier and slower than 10 year ago me on fast XC stuff i'd bet.
I rarely ride mountain bikes at all now, I keep thinking about replacing my 13 year old On One Scandal hardtail but then I realise that I wouldn't ride it any more often than the current 2-3 outings a year that I currently do so don't bother, these days I much prefer taking the gravel bike out and just bimbling through the country side taking in the views and stopping for a pint or two along the way.
I went from xc, to trail to spending loads of time at a bikepark, to enduro trails, to lots of injury and not riding at all. Riding again now, but not much. Less fit, heavier, weaker etc.
I've gone from riding a Ti Inbred to playing Crown Green Bowls!! 🤣
I moved from Lincolnshire to the Tweed Valley in 2015.
That lead to quite a big change...
10 years ago I was doing 80m rebreather dives in the Adriatic and riding my Spesh Camber Comp when the weather prevented diving. Then a series of unfortunate events led to me selling my deathbox and buying my first eBike. I went from doing a couple of hundred miles a year to a couple of thousand and not being knackered at the top of the hills meant I was enjoying the descents even more. I've only ever ridden for the descents and the eBikes mean I get so many more in before I become a danger to myself.
I do miss the diving though... 😥
10 years ago? I think I was mixing crossfit with triathlon, so mainly on the road bike, but taking the Stumpy out onto the trails when I had the chance (like the Jennride!).
Then I moved to Sweden and the riding went to mainly commuting and road bike for the fitness. The Stumpy had a long spell in pieces on the workstand as I rebuilt the rear when and it is only now I am getting back into it. Still doing a lot more road cycling though.
10 years ago I was riding a jones Spaceframe and various other bits of custom niche titanium singlespeedy stuff.
Funnily enough I'm still riding the jones and various other its of niche titanium singlespeedy stuff with ever larger wheels up to monster wagon wheel 36 goodness ( I have added POLE evolink in a couple of years ago for big lumpy jumpy days out) but other than that I'll keep being happily under biked and under geared until my old knees explode and my hands finally turn into little gristly lumps.
it is interesting to see how we have developed over the years. I have had many bikes, from short travel trail, to enduro, to DH and XC. My current bike, a Raaw Madonna is by far my favourite.
I would currently say I am riding far more gnarly things, at a higher pace than i ever have before. Which at 44 years of age surprised me a bit. I am sure partly down to how capable bikes are these days, plus just natural progression. And having taking part in a few events, such as Ard Rock, Ard Moors, Megavalanche and been to places on my bike like Madeira, Italy, France etc, its been a fantastic journey.
Once my broken leg is healed, i will be back on the bike, enjoying many more adventures (Enduro2 in August!)
I rarely ride mountain bikes at all now, I keep thinking about replacing my 13 year old On One Scandal hardtail
Likewise, I haven't ridden MTB in over 2 years and so have just sold my ScandAl Mk2. I kept my Whyte 129 as I decided it would be more fun if I were ever to ride MTB again (and since the wind bears rumours of a pootle, that's reason enough!).
I mostly ride road tandem (with a fair amount of towpaths and occasional light gravel), or commute to work on my Planet X CX bike. I haven't even ridden my "road" bike since early 2024 when Mrs NBT's injury prevented her riding, and even then the last few "road" rides were the first few cycle commutes to our new office that I did on my road bike, before I sorted the cx.
Interesting thread, as with some others, I now only ride road and gravel, infact I sold my last MTB earlier in the year.
10 years ago I had I think an Anthem FS and a Bird Zero HT, plus cx and road bikes. Through a few health issues, some crashes, getting older and losing the desire for gnar, I have now fully transitioned.
It’s now all about getting outside in nice scenery, adventures and fitness. I have 2 nice gravel bikes, one at the MTB end with suspension fork and a dropper (Giant Revolt X) and one more fast trails and bikepacking/touring (Spesh Diverge) and a lovely road bike.
all still bikes though !
10 years ago I was far more of a trail rider chasing times against various other locals and also doing more alps stuff. Then it all dropped off a bit during the covid years but then i bought a 100mm FS bike (Rapide FS)...i love it, wished I'd bought it years early or similar; it became all about the long xc rides, followed by going down the Keep Smiling rabbit hole so the focus is the big rides like KAW, NDW, Cambrian, Eryri, Kernow etc Thats going to keep me busy for a few years and I'm very happy about that 😀
10 years ago I had mates and used to get out regularly.
Slower, breathless, more risk averse, but, still loving the feeling of freedom that I get from riding my ATB ‘s in the British countryside!
10 years ago I had mates and used to get out regularly
Ha yeah, same here. Riding huge, all day XC loops with a bunch of other riders.
Then, in that 10 year period, started taking my son out riding and he got better and fitter as the years went on, culminating in me taking him to the DH Bike Parks (way out of my comfort zone, having started as a 90s XC mincer!), my riding improved greatly as a result. Then some BPW trips with him, such a fabulous time.
Also within that 10 year period, my heart ****ed up and went into AF and the long XC rides were no longer fun... until within the last 3-4 years, bit the E-Bike bullet. Can now have fun on those big loops again. Son is grown and we ride together sometimes, but he's too good for me now 🙂
Most riding is on the Ebikes with my partner, she got one about a year ago, so it's pretty much back to what I used to do in the 90s when I first started!
Most of my riding is still big days out in the hills as I still enjoy the challenge and the ability to clear the mind for a few hours. Two things have had a big effect for me. One is the Covid pandemic, which facilitated spending more time on the bike - the 5 years since have been my best in terms of time and distance. The other is kids, especially my eldest, who is a keen rider. In the last couple of years, mostly because of his influence, I’ve entered my first ever races and also been to Descend for the first time. I’m fitter now than when I was 40.
Hardly any MTB, occasional gravel, mostly commute which is divided between a 20+yr old inbred and new folding e bike.
I need to address the issue of less MTB and return it to something more representative of 10yrs ago.
I've not got fat but I am considerably weaker, arm strength being most noticeable.
Ive gone from an improving middleaged rider to a slower pensioner. Pretty much touring on and off road and gravel only now. Its a fair while since I did any "real" mountainbiking
Still riding round the woods on my 2006 kona... Or the 1997 one if I feel like it. otehr than getting slower/fatter/unfitter not much has changed!
I did go 1x on the drivetrain last time I needed a chain and cassette, but its still 9 speed....
God I must be the bike industries nightmare customer!
10 years ago I'd made the jump to 29" and had a 140mm travel all rounder. Was mainly riding trail centres and local favourites but wasn't getting out as much as I wanted, partly because it was always a drive to anything decent.
My riding changed in Covid when a pal got a gravel bike and started riding loads more than before so I joined in. Moved on from my gravel bikes to XC MTB now but set up very XC so riding from home is fun. TBH I'm probably riding more now than ever and planning on some longer rides over the summer. Still have a bigger bike and have been tempted to swap it for a new one but just don't use it enough to justify the cost. The one I have is modern enough and good enough to cope with the annual visit to BPW and the infrequent trail centre trips. I have a 150mm 650b HT too but really don't use that anywhere near enough atm.
I suppose my riding did swing more to the road/light offroad direction for a while but I'm back doing what I've always done, just more often and with a bit less gnaar week to week?
Thinking about it, I was still riding my retro stuff a bit 10 years ago but since bars go so much wider and geometry so much slacker they have become wall hangers these days.
Following the trend, I ride a lot more gravel and road than 10 years ago but as my mileage has increased I'm probably fitter. I do miss MTB and as I was pushing my Diverge beyond its limits too often I got an Epic Evo two years ago that I love and can cover much greater distances than on my Orange 5, a great rowdy gravel bike 🙂
10 years ago I was riding a Cotic Soul and a Santa Cruz Trc. I was also living in Leicestershire, but managed to get to Cannock to ride the main trails or the Peak District to ride the bridleways most weekends.
Now riding Cotic SolarisMAX and a Deviate HL2, both of which are have bigger wheels, considerably longer reach, slacker etc. We also moved to just south of Sheffield on the edge of the Peak District.
Which in contrast to most means I ride mountain bikes more than ever and I generally ride the steeper off-piste type stuff these days.
I genuinely don't think my riding has changed at all. I was on a Airdrop edit, now a Spesh Enduro, I ride the same trails at pretty much the same skill level. My 'from the door' riding is more mellow, so there's a hardtail for that, but otherwise, nothing's changed.
10 years ago most of my riding was short legs of a mixed mode commute on a brompton, occassional MTB, but got burnt off by my eldest doing the SDW on a "novel" 29" MTB. My Epic was 10 years old and already outpaced by standards.
Now I have graduated to 29" EPicEvo bought in lockdown (the very last bike in the shop). Lockdown allowed me to start riding much more, youngest son older so not so dependent. Started riding my old road bike, which got written off when some tw*t in a mini hit me so I built my first bike as a replacement. Managed to do some alpine climbs a year later. Still have some Ventoux related bucket list entries to tick off.
at 60 I am fitter than i was 10 years ago due to spending more time on the bike, and thinking about fitness and technique a lot more. I suspect the EpicEvo is also responsible for some of the descending PBs as well
10 years ago I was still( amateur) racing all year round (XC,CX RR,TT).
That's now been replaced by big distance rides ,road and off-road.
I still like a bit of speed, but I am even more 'wheels on the ground' these days as injuries take longer to go away.
Interesting when out riding with the younger crew, I still have the eye for a good line,so can ( just about)keep up. 😉 🙂
I rarely ride mountain bikes at all now, I keep thinking about replacing my 13 year old On One Scandal hardtail but then I realise that I wouldn't ride it any more often than the current 2-3 outings a year that I currently do so don't bother, these days I much prefer taking the gravel bike out and just bimbling through the country side taking in the views and stopping for a pint or two along the way.
Are we twins?
Yep, the Soul rarely gets out now, 95% of what I used to "mountain bike" is now gravel bikeable. I look at sexy new MTBs but can't see me having the opportunity to make use of one.
Do a lot more road biking, usually with a club, often leading or sweeping slower shorter rides. I'm slower, heavier and less fit than I was 10 years ago. I want to change that. My time on this planet is ticking away and I'd like to make the best of however long I have left.
My riding hasn't really changed. It's always been local stuff along with Stainburn, Warny/greno, peak, lakes, trail centres. The odd trip to some mountains every now and then. Its pretty on and off though with the big stuff.
In terms of MTB's in 2015 I had a Ragley Blue Pig, then got a Commencal Meta AM, Cotic Solaris, Nukeproof Reactor, now have a Cotic Rocket Max, which has been ridden all of about 3 times since I bough it in Feb! This year has been a bit strange for us and riding has been pushed to the side a bit. Not sure I'm going to get much in the rest of this summer either. Should have saved some money...
My lad isn't as interested at the moment either, as he has loads of other college stuff going on and girls... In feb I also bought him a Transition Sentinal and he's only ridden that a couple of times....we'd been riding loads before then, even got Dyfi and Samoens in last summer. But now its dropped down the pecking order. 😞 College has to come first though.
Similar riding and slightly different bikes for me*.
Riding: still the same 'local' MTB trails, there's more purpose-built steeper/twistier stuff but fundamentally the same riding areas. Less trips to official (7stanes) trail centres but more trips to the likes of Golfie/Dunkeld/etc.
Bikes: 10 years ago I was already on 29ers, but the current take on geometry's been brilliant for my height/preference - I've never had bikes that fit me as well as now. Addition of a dropbar gravel/MTB has been brilliant for riding from my front door. Biggest change probably the addition of an ebike but that's a relatively new thing and still a fringe addition to my riding rather than a dominating factor.
* Biggest impact on changes in my riding happened just over 10 years ago (arrival of mini a11ys) - my comparisons would be quite different had it been to 15 rather than 10 years ago.
I pretty much stopped riding MTB for a few years when my kids were younger, did a bit of road and the odd MTB ride but my skills and fitness all but disappeared. What and where I ride now hasn't really changed too much, it's still mostly "big BMX" DH/park trails at places like Woburn and Chicksands and a couple of local parks that have opened up. I do occasionally ride xc and trail centre stuff which then reminds me I hate doing pedally rides on a MTB, I'd rather be on a road or gravel bike for most of that. MTB is still all about the fun/gravity side of things still for me.
This year especially I've been getting back into riding more regularly and I'm slowly progressing back to where I was on jumps. Back on the singlespeed road bike quite regularly which is massively helping with both fitness and mental health. Singlespeed was intentional to force myself to push harder and not rely on gears and it's working. This is helping the MTB too and riding back up to the top of the trails doesn't kill me now.
Bike wise I'm still on a mid travel & spec "hardcore hardtail" if those are still a thing, only this time it's 29" instead of 26". Still kinda wishing I'd gone 27.5 instead and toying with the idea of building up a Banshee Enigma as a "jib" type of bike. No dropper/gears, more like a bigger slacker jump bike.
10 years ago I was having shoulder surgery after a big stack at BPW the previous year, and being told I may never be able to ride a 'normal bike'again.
9 years ago I rode the Transpennine Trail over 4 days on a Cotic BFe, just to prove them wrong.
Now most of my riding is to and from work and I've not actually done any off-road riding in 2 years. That is about to change in August though, hopefully
I ride a lot more on the road.
I still enjoy MTBing, and still think of road riding as a means to get fitter for it, but ultimately it's all riding a bike in the countryside, whether that's a 300km road epic or an MTB ride in the hills.
I got a bit disillusioned with the direction mainstream MTBing seemed to be going with shorter and shorter rides at destination trail centers (official, unofficial or just general areas) rather than just enjoying going out and riding all day. I'd rather a 4 hour road ride in the Chilterns than an hour in the car each way to Holmbury and 2 hours riding. I enjoy that, and appreciate that I'm fitter than I was so enjoy it more, but it's a nicer special occasion than it was doing it every weekend.
On the negative side, work has changed location by a few miles which somehow has made gravel riding from the door just awkward enough that it just doesn't happen anymore. We used to go out twice a week all year and could probably have picked from five different routes with little overlap and almost infinite variations, now because routes are effectively reduced to a couple of variations as there's a necessary 6-8 miles on the road we just don't seem to bother.
10 years ago I would regularly disappear for the weekend, sleep in my car or camp and do multiple big days in the hills or at trail centres.
Now I mostly just ride in the Deeside area of Aberdeenshire. The riding is really good and the weather is often the best in Scotland. Also, I really can't be arsed sleeping in my car/camping anymore and at 53 I find multiple big days much harder.
Riding wise I think that I am probably better. I feel much more controlled and confident.
10 years ago I had a fat bike, it was my only bike, my riding was mainly local bridalways and trails.
Now I have a (far more expensive) fat bike and a 150mm travel ebike. The fat bike only gets used when riding solo, generally in wetter months. The ebike gets used 10x more on local trails/bike parks and trail centres. All my mates have an ebike as a main bike, most have a regular bike as a secondary. When riding in a group it's very, very rare that we use the regular bikes as you can do so much more in a day with an ebike.
10years ago I would have been shocked, but not surprised at how/when and what I ride now.
Tyre logos are now run at 90 degrees to the rim logo, ride more often, bit more travel front and rear, bigger wheels, travelling further, other than that. Not much.
10 years ago I was riding a Specialized Langster Pro fixed gear on road and gravel. A few bikes/frames etc,. in between but I am now riding another Specialized Langster Pro fixed gear on road and gravel. Langster Pro is my favourite track frame as much lighter than 99% of them meaning my bike is close to 6KG at a low cost.
I have ridden fixed for 25 years and just prefer it and always go back to it.
Good question.
Much less of a change than in the 10 years before that.
In 2015 I was an occasional mid-pack amateur enduroist - but realised I wasn't really enjoying racing and sacked that off in about 2016.
Was just getting onto bikes with modern geometry and have improved my confidence and technical riding as a result of it being much harder to go OTB now.
But I've also started to move back to more XC riding sometimes, following a diversion into gravel. A good way for me to resist the lure of the eeb as well.
I had a long period of almost zero MTBing, instead doing mostly road and gravel. My old Cove got 2-3 outings a year if it was either bone dry or very snowy! That in itself was a product of years of racing, coming home from a weekend at an NPS and having to hose off a ton of mud, wash all the kit, strip half the drivetrain. Got bored of that and refused to ride in the mud and rain. Or indeed if it might be muddy or looked like it might rain! 😉
Eventually, after occasional thoughts of "I could convert it to a 1x..." etc, I eventually sold it on ebay; it actually went to a really sound guy who was well into retro bike tinkering, conversions, parts swapping, buying/selling and so on so I hope he had fun with it!
I do now have a modern MTB, just an entry level thing but it's really fun to ride. I'm quite glad I stopped with all the racing and the continued spiral of upgrades. Now it's mostly just a day at a trail centre or some short local evening blasts.
Riding, not changed, still map based mainly xc, some quiet roads explorer.
bikes, changed, from a 2006 orange 5 that I owned from new to a variety of e-bikes since 2018.
10 years ago this week we picked up the van so as to be able to make Abigales race weekends more enjoyable and hopefully more affordable 🤔
I was riding a 650b Enduro and trying to ride it like I stole it 🤪
Today riding a mixture of 29er or mullet.
In the ten years I've ridden in places that I would never have imagined then and ridden trails i never thought i would have been good enough to get down
My girls have grown up but still keen to ride
Retired early this year due to Kevin's injury so spending even more time in the mountains and hills.
I would like to think im a better rider now than then.
Still can't get enough of it. Still trying to ride it like I stole it.
Type of riding not changed too much - xc on a short travel fs still my fav in the UK. Don't do as many away days to ride more descent-focussed stuff, but I'm still miles better on that because the bikes are so much better. This actually does create a virtuous circle of skill reinforcement and improvement, ime - being under-biked on stuff you find hard is a big obstacle to improvement.
Rode with my kids a lot for MTBing in recent years, which I guess is the big change of focus.
It hasn't changed much in style in 30 years to be honest, the amazing thing is as soon as the ride starts - it still feels just like it did as a teenager. In reality I ride less far, do less dodgy things, and now climb at 200W not 300W- even though without the metrics I'd never know or care... in that way, bikes are like time machines in a good sense, you could package them like an anti ageing cream.
10 years ago I was riding/racing a 650b Giant Reign & using my 50km round commute for training.
Big group of local riding mates, we rode most weekends together & a whole load of racing over the UK and other places. Time moved on & everyone now has families, but we still get together a few times a year to ride.
I race a whole lot less now than then, but seem to do better (R&R tells me of the last 10 or so races I’ve done, I’ve won 3 of them, podiumed a few more) - which is basically all the racing I have done post Covid, where it was 10 or so races a year back then.
Bikes wise, well I never ride road now, and my Epic8 has better geometry than my old Reign, otherwise I’m on a ebike. Still have a mid travel bike but that doesn’t really seem to get used any more.
I would say due to the nature of MTB the riding has progressed to riding harder stuff, way more consistently, but I bet I’m a few kilos heavier & a bit unfitter than I was 10 years ago now.
Pics are a good idea 🙂
2015 me, on my first FS 29er:
2025 me, riding a mullet FS down Beinn Ghlas:
