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10 years ago I think i got to Woburn ever week for a quick blast. I think I must have done short rides on the road too.
I now mainly ride from the house which has far more options than one might expect in Bedfordshire. But i raerly ride the MTB trails at Woburn. I mosty ride a drop bar bike with biggish tyres. Is it gravel or old school XC? No idea and it doesn't matter.
I have also got into doing a bit of bike packing and longer events. I'm not fit, as in race fit, or big mountain day fit. But I'm fitter than i was 10 years ago. A few times a year I get to to places with my MTB
10 years ago I was on the steel HT Sanderson, and much riding was with kids. This one is now in NZ riding bikes and boards, so he's moved on...
Big change for me is replacing a hybrid for commuting with a 'do it all' tourer and actively enjoying some road rides, touring and gravel type riding, not just MTB.
I still MtB, I am not as fit, but I'm still quick enough particularly downhill....
I had just spent 6 months with my first cx bike (still going) this was to compliment the Cannodale HT and Spesh Camber FSR in the garage. It was much more suitable for the riding I was doing round my local area, I ended up only taking the Camber with me on holidays or when travelling in Scotland with work.
The MTB's both got stolen (my second lot to be nicked) and I've never replaced them. Bought a nice road bike for my 50th with the insurance money.
I still read the mag, still browse the shops, still read reviews online but cant find the space in the garage for a 29 inch bike the size of a motorbike. Maybe one day.
Conversely my mate who only started riding 15 years ago is now on to his 7th bike and 2nd emtb. hes 67 next year and is getting more in love everyday, not long returned from a week up in Scotland riding Skye and islands.
Much the same as 10 years ago - and, indeed, 35 years ago. Only differences are that a) my bike now is, in real terms, the cheapest I've ever owned and also the best and b) I'm fitter in my late 50s than I was in my early 20s, precisely because I ride bikes without a motor doing the heavy lifting for me. Good ride out the front door today for a productive June (860km, 12452m climbed, all avoiding roadie slogging - best thing I ever did was getting rid of the road bike and the limitations it imposed on me).
Yikes, my two comparable bikes 10 years apart are quite a comparison...
- Travel F/R: 160/155 vs 170/162
- HA: 67.5 vs 62.0
- STA: 75.0 vs 78.8
- ETT: 617 v 660
- Reach: 445 vs 535
- Stack: 631 vs 634
- CS: 430 vs 453
- WB: 1183 vs 1351
- Weight: 15.1kg vs 17.3kg
- Dropper: 125mm vs 200mm (soon to be 240mm)
My MTBing hasn't changed much but the MTB world around me has. I/we still ride with a club most weekends but over half are now E-bikes which means Madame is off the back and pedalling hard rather than comfortably in the middle of the pack, we persist. There's no general motivation for long club weekends in Ainsa/Basque Country/Med... . It's all from the club hut. My last race was in 2015 but we still do organised "randos". The MTB tandem was sold before I crashed it - I was finding it harder to hang onto and didn't want to hurt Madame - zero crashes on the tandem in twenty years was a record I didn't want to end badly. Bikes - no change since 2016 - carbon 27.5 Zestys.
Covid in March 2000 did me no good at all, susequent infections hampering the slow recovery since. 5 years on I've rejoined a roadie club and I'm holding my own.
Cycle touring: long weekends happen but fewer long tours. We're happier walking long distance than riding these days. We've got some ideas though. 🙂
My riding has changed quite a bit. I have been back on road bikes since covid mostly for my very short commute but for fun too. E bikes have made a difference, so that although I now live near a trail centre I don't ride there very much. I aways preferred more remote and natural riding anyway and with the e bike the longer distances have become possible again despite being past 60 now.
Still riding the same stuff I rode 10 years ago, local woods, trail centres and bike parks, still have and ride one of the bikes (well, frame) I had 10 yrs ago, but have other, more nicherer bikes as well now.
plus I commute by bike a lot more now. On a gravel bike.
10 years ago my riding was with my kids. Now they’ve got cars so I ride alone. 🙁
I’m surprised how much I’ve taken to longer, slacker bikes - was much more lighterweight, XC focussed ten years ago.
I've gone from riding a Ti Inbred to playing Crown Green Bowls!! 🤣
Time for whisky & a service revolver?
10 years ago i was mainly riding road as I had been volunteered to do Ride London. Most riding had tailed off in the 5-10 years before that then did the same post Ride London. Have started to ride more after volunteering at a disability riding group and going back to more xc orientated riding at the moment.
10 years ago I was riding a 26er Orange Five and a 29er Trek Cobia hardtail. Now its a Privateer 141 and a Ragley Bigwig. Mostly rode XC with the odd trail centre visit BITD. TBH my ridings not changed dramatically, but evolved. Don't ride so much XC now as living in the Calder valley lots of it is enduro-esque 'winch and plummet' (hate that term 😆 ) In the various woods we've got. I'm definitely a better rider than I was but the bikes are much more capable to be fair!
10 years ago I was bagging KOMs, now I'm making mountains out of molehills.
I cannot believe how slow I am - not that I ever had a fast top speed but I'd keep up a decent pace over distance. It seemed to happen so suddenly as well, I can almost imagine a day when I went 'no need to keep pushing'.
I do more road - or sort of off-roadish - than ATB these days, and my 'mountain bike' is a rigid Whippet, kind of like the first MTBs I rode.
My only complaint is that I now live somewhere with great off-road stuff nearby, and I don't have the energy to do it. When I had the energy I lived in Milton Keynes! Oh well.
10 years ago I was only riding a road bike (and only 1k km at that) as my Canyon mtb was knackered. Even that basically stopped until I built up an old Giant ht at the start of Covid from spares. That got me enjoying riding again so I bought a Bird Aether 9 which has been great. I'm back up to about 5k km a year on road and mtb, and am riding technically as hard as I ever have.
Good thread.
I don't think my riding style has changed much over the past 10 years, still probably ride at about the same level of skill and shy away at similar levels of gnarliness. I mostly do mountain bike rides from my doorstep now, part of it is moved to a better location for it, part of it is a bit less time/energy to flump all over the country to different places each weekend. Mostly ride on my own now too. Bike-wise, still have the bikes from that era, but also a 29er - didn't really find it to make much difference.
Outside of mountain biking, I've picked up doing a lot more long distance stuff now. Longest audax I'd done up until 2015 was a 200k, and since then I've done two PBPs, an LEL, and a few ultras.
A fairly recent revelation is folding bikes. I used to commute every day (~35 miles round trip), and so having a fairly fast and efficient bike was a priority. I still want to use bikes as transport, but I'm a little less concerned with going as fast as possible. Folding bikes are awesome tools for the job.
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Nearly forgot gravel riding! Gravel bike probably gets taken out more than any other bike.
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Also forgot indoor training. Smart trainers and Zwift have definitely made getting through winter much more pleasant.
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I think I'd just retired or was about to retire my knackered old Cotic Hemlock, which I had built up as beastly as it could be with coil lyrik dhs, an angleset, all that good stuff but was still feeling its agee. And then either on a BMC Trailfox, super capable ahead-of-its-time enduro 29er that I did not like at all and which I was delighted to have stolen, or a Trek Remedy 29 which was absolutely awesome and which I only replaced 2 years ago.
I think by 2014/15 it was a case of "the future is here, just unevenly distributed", long low and slack and sorted 29ers were out there but a lot of bikes still weren't close, I was pretty lucky I guess and just happened to try some of the right bikes at the right time. Honestly I could have ridden that Trek til the end of time, it was an erratic jumper because of the funky shock but everything else was ace, my current Bird is barely any better at anything except for that.
Riding, only real difference is I just cannot be arsed to push up any more. I went full #enduro in about 2010 (again pure luck, got on the innerleithen mtb racing enduro train at almost the first stop) and never really looked back. The bikes have got a bit better but that just means I shit my pants a little bit less often. Still can't jump.
10 years ago I was cycle commuting on a hardtail, with a short minimum commute distance but regularly extended that with varied routes that I'd race around as fast as possible, with a couple of slow days. It formed my not-serious training for a handful of cross country races, getting mid pack results in races raging from an hour long to four hours and occasional six hours.
Now I ride a rigid hybrid on a longer commute but rarely extend it at all. I don't often race around on it, other than short sharp bursts. I rarely vary the route. I still ride off-road on my commutes (daily this time of year) and still have fun doing so - rutted farm tracks have seen quite a lot of erosion this year, making them a bit more interesting.
I ride a trials bike (pedal powered) at weekends in my back garden and that's much more likely to happen than going out on the MTB. It's just massively more convenient (need to drive for decent mountain biking), far les time consuming, intense (mostly slow speed) technical riding compacted into a short space of time. Views aren't much, but I'm enjoying the process, despite how difficult it is and how slow I feel I progress. More importantly the skills transfer to MTB so when I do go riding MTB (for instance in Spain earlier this year - a rare trip abroad) it doesn't take too much to get back into it.
One thing that hasn't changed - I'm still commuting on a 26" wheeled bike.
Ten years ago I had a 14 month old, a 26er single pivot and a strong sense of self preservation.
Now I'm a middle aged dad of 2 and I ride my 29er Enduro barge like I've had a lobotomy.
Expecting I'll wreck myself soon enough.
Oh, another thing thats changed is now I rarely carry a bag on a mountain bike. Switched to a hip pack a few years back, and now I'm mostly completely bag-less. One of my main reasons for buying the 29er was in-frame storage.
10 years ago I was in my 2nd year of racing enduros in Scotland. It felt like there was a real buzz about it . I was always rubbish at it but it definitely helped improve my riding to some extent and it encouraged me to work on my fitness in order to manage 2 days of riding. One of the things I loved about it at the time was it felt a great way of finding out about off piste type trails in a new area , Strava was around but I don't think trailforks was so finding the good stuff was maybe a bit harder , now with trailforks and YouTube etc etc I think it's probably easier to find those kind of trails without the need for events to showcase them .
As for now , well we moved to the North Island of New Zealand 2 years ago and I suppose my riding is still kind of enduro style although last year was the first year I didn't race any in a long time but that was more to do with the format of the local series , that will change this year as the old organisers are back and I preferred they're way . The main difference is now I'm not necessarily interested in riding harder stuff anymore, I have a much more enjoyable time riding slightly easier stuff a bit better than making hard work of a harder trail if that makes sense .
The best change is that my eldest is 12 now and enjoys riding enough that we can have a good day out together, as long as we use the shuttles for the climbs 😁
I've been mountain biking for 30 odd years now and whilst I've got a gravel bike which I use fairly regularly on the road it's still riding mountain bikes on singletrack and that feeling of being in the great outdoors that gives me that hit that means I don't think I'll ever stop , I hope not anyway.
Ten years ago I was bombing around the flatlands of Lincolnshire on my 26" BFe.
Now I'm bombing around the coastal mountains of British Columbia on my RocketMAX
For a while in the middle, around covid, I did a lot of road biking.
It was all great fun.
I was still riding 10 years ago before my awkward injury induced break. Still riding the same old 26" wheel bike that I'm still riding now. But then it didn't seem like such an old bike. It seems ancient now.
Have tried a bunch of 29" and mullet bikes now and I'm definitely getting a new bike or two. Currently veering towards a 'proper' enduro bike, short travel XC bike and a gravel bike.
Planning on doing some big rides next year, with the aim of building up to something like Badlands in a few years time.
10 years ago, I was on my '09 Orange 5, which came in right before widespread 1.5" headsets and the gradual death of 26", 3x10 drivetrains, etc. I wasn't riding much at the time, young children imposing a lot of time constraints. Experienced a lot of FOMO, given that this coincided with the rise of enduro and an accompanying explosion of trail building.
Thankfully, kids get older. In 2019 I managed to get a hold of a new bike and set about rejoining the party. Today, I mostly ride enduro-style stuff (Aberfoyle, Dunkeld, Tweed Valley, etc.), with the odd uplift day, or big day in the mountains (Highlands or The Lakes). I occasionally spend some time trying to get less-shit at jumping. Currently riding a Stumpy Evo, which seems a pretty good compromise for all of the above.
Finally had the time and resources to book a dedicated riding holiday abroad this year, and it's been a good motivator to get out as much as possible. Feels good to be getting better at something in my mid-40s. I'll never be FAST-fast, but I still love it. Will keep it up until my body tells me otherwise.
Another, less-welcome difference is the fact that I now ride alone, pretty much exclusively. Riding mates have largely aged out of the game, got into other riding disciplines, or just don't have time between work and family pressures.
10 years ago it was mainly trail centres and a DH bike in the Alps for holidays. Now it's an Enduro bike in Spain for holidays and rarely visit trail centres mostly natural stuff. I ride harder stuff but that may be due to bikes being much better. Lot more gravel bike rides, bought an eBike this year for big mountain days, self uplift, bikepacking trips in UK every year, credit card tour in India later in the year. Gave up ice climbing and trad as my elbows are pretty shagged, I miss climbing but bikings all good.
Bigger Jumps with no fear
10 years ago was around the time of my first Bike Park Wales trip shortly followed by my first capable trail bike. Prior to that it was mainly riding a cheap hardtail far harder than it was designed to and constantly breaking them.
2016 was my first time dabbling in enduro. Since then I've done a fair few enduros but drifted away as events got stale and venues disappeared.
Uplift days became more frequent and I bought a downhill bike off the back of amazing Morzine trips in '18 and '19. Since Revs closed I got out of the habit of uplift days and I've not made the time since it reopened. Dyfi never quite filled that void and Dirt Farm is just that bit too much of a drive. It's been over a year since the DH bike left the garage.
Who knows what's next? I'm riding less than ever and don't think I'll bother racing again, but hoping that passion and motivation that I've had in the past re-emerges.
10 years ago this week I was sat at work following a mate do his first megavalanche... I was riding a 140/140 Nicolai Helius AC, that then got bumped to a 150/160 arrangement with a bigger fork upfront when I did my first mega in 2016.
I was commuting to work again, very similar to now on my (t)rusty specialized langster, and had also started racing BMX the year before. I was crap at BMX so after a few crashes gave up pretty quickly to watch my son ride at a much higher level than me!
Back then I was mainly a trial centre rider with some days in the peaks. Now I ride less trial centres, but do the odd uplift day and I'm now sat at my desk following a mate who is in the Alp d'Huez again this week. We're all going back next year (well that's the current plan) for my 6th go at it and my 50th birthday.
Now riding a Geometron G1 and I'm setting faster times up hill than when I was 39 on a heavier bike. A few descent times have fallen as well, but I wonder if I'm slowing down in terms of reaction times etc.. Feel far more confident, I'm sure I'm a better rider, and it still feels quick, but aging is possibly catching me.
Not riding enough at the moment due to life events, but I am planning on squeezing time on the big bike back to a more favourable level over the course of the next 12months...
Won't be returning to 20inch bikes any time soon!
I've gone from: XC MTBing> purely road riding> Triathlon
(bring it on)
Up until this year I would have said that I’m riding the same stuff but much much less often. The only regular riding in last few years has been dadcountry. But this year has been 3-4 times a week doing what I did before but with an ebike
10 years ago, I'd already sold my Stumpjumper HT Expert a few years prior. A 26" 11.5 kg (ish) bike with 90mm of travel.
All I remember is it being great at climbing... not so great at technical stuff (due to lack of grip, skill and huevos). So it was used for fast and light duty, covering distance without exploring anything that might spit me off the bike.
After going down the Chimney (Quantocks) backwards - I thought I'd better not push it. How I ended up backwards, I'm not sure. 😂
My alter ego back then:
Today - I have a FS bike with 29" wheels, gripper tyres, 110/120mm travel. It weighs at bit more at 12.7kg, but heck it's a lot better at doing the stuff I was too scared to do all of those years ago. And yes, I can go down the Chimney without somehow doing a 180 on the way down... I guess I can't complain.
My alter ego now:
I guess some things never change. 😂
In 2015 I vaguely knew of Strava, but didn't think I had a device to record on (except I did, my Nexus 7 2013 tablet), plus I was rarely cyle commuting after my Xmas '13 RTA (where I turned my teeth/jaw into a jigsaw and fractured two metacarpals, piling into the back of a stationary rubbish collection lorry on a storm warning day just three days after turning 40, ended up in the Wessex Rehab Unit at Odstock Rd Hospital Salisbury Mon-Fri for five weeks). RTA bike (Specialized Tricross Singlecross) hadn't been ridden since RTA (sold to TimP on here eventually), my Alfine hybrid (Saracen Pylon8) had developed a crack around most of the seat tube junction with top tube, was using better half's Saracen Zena 2 hardtail until it was nicked within 2mins of starting a shop in Sainburys. Was terrified on my Felt F5C road bike after RTA, barely used.
2016 I got the Voodoo Wazoo, those huge tyres and hydraulic brakes gave me so much confidence back. Got a set of FatNotFat 29er wheels for them, plus a load of other bargain upgrades, made it a fraction over 10Kg!
2017 got my first hydraulic brake road bike and discovered the South Downs hills were less than 60mins ride away after being in Southampton ~25 years. Replaced Nexus 7 2013 with Sony Smar****ch 3 to record rides on, but not great, bought a Lezyne Enhanced Super GPS. Dropped to ~73Kg from being ~95Kg the previous summer, havig started "fitness cycling" in earnest in Jan '17. Turbo trainer (Elite Direto) and Zwift just before Xmas '17. Did a crazy ~75 mile loop from Warminster station to Mendip hills on 29ered fatbike on first day of Center Parcs hol November, got lost due to poor mobile connection, but reached villa just as going dark and very tired.
2018 Did my one and only 100-miler, climbing most popular categorized climbs on western side of South Downs (9000 feet), while carrying a ridiculously heavy rucksack of bits including an extra 2l of water!
2019 Got my first pair of 3-bolt shoes/pedals and then promptly wrecked my knee for at least a month by not setting them up very well for my bow legs.
2020 Got myself back down to ~76Kg around late Jan, having been ~80Kg since spring '18. Felt like a machine on the bike. Then covid hit household week before lockdown. Fine during, but cronic fatigue for weeks afterwards. Took a while to regain lost fitness, but managed ~300W up long Cheddar Gorge segment and Burrington Combe in Sept '20 hol. Did my first cat 2 climb, 6.9 miles Road To Hell from Denbigh to Llyn Brenig.
2121 Was a health rollercoaster, each of three covid vaccine jabs hit my for six for at least a fortnight, started wondering if it was worth trying to get fitness back everytime I lost so much in weeks after each jab. Then got proper flu Nov for a month and I've lost everything fitness wise, ~100W was a struggle for an hour, took until end of year to think maybe I could ride South Downs hills again the following year.
2022 Started gradually including increasing amounts, sometimes back to back, of super short Zwift races. Started to feel a bit like early '20 and for a change I didn't get my usual March lurgy that would knock winter gains back a bit. I was back challenging my segment times from '17 and '18 despite being 83-80Kg. Brief lurgy just after the insane heatwave hot me a bit. My last segment challenge with power data was on Queen Liz's funeral. Then got covid in last week of September that tested positive for ~3 weeks and left me a mess, with long covid that still plagues me to this day. Misplaced Lezyne Mega XL on train minutes before getting off at Warminster.
2023 Limited to ~30min very gentle rides, often on turbo. Increased duration towards end of year. Piling on weight. Lezyne Super Pro bought in CRC fire sale for £26!
2024 Tried to do more, mostly on the turbo, odd longer ride outdoors that left me with PEM. Hired ebike at Center Parcs than enabled me to do a ~3 hour ride without PEM. More weight gain.
2025 Another ebike hire at Center Parcs, bought my GT eGrade Bolt not long after, caught respiratory infection day it arrived for two weeks and then a 2.5+ week infetion a few weeks after recovery from first one! Now done more 20+ mile rides and visited the western South Down hills more on the Bolt than rest of time since September '22 put together. All time high of 98Kg in early Jan, now struggling to get under 95Kg, increased ebike riding without an infection should help hopefully.
I was managing one or two away trips a year and the odd race back then, but with two more children and work being busier and also making music again I don’t really have the opportunities much.
I’m doing some more XC rides and less night riding because my regular riding window has moved. Still happiest smashing singletrack!
I was riding a geared full-sus and geared hardtail. I now ride an ebike and a singlespeed hardtail.
I don’t think I’m any slower up or downhill and I think my mediocre drop/jump skills are no worse (riding the same stuff, crashing less, still setting the odd PR).
Would be nice to get to ride more though! Am hopeful that my new commute will get some more riding and tech/jump progress in…
Started riding again properly in 2014 a couple of cheap hardtails (Cube LTD ) then an Orange 5 . Lesters old 2013 Orange 26 inch one ..awesome bike .
Up until 2021 I really didnt seem to give two monkies if I fell or came a cropper but a right bad day with a couple of big tumbles changed that a little . I still like a good mountain hike a bike and a few road miles but no longer interested in chasing KOMs . Im much happier spending a quick hour for miles or an all day epic involving peaks and slower sketchy descents ticking mountains off .
Same doorstep riding in and around the Stroud valleys, gone from a short travel 27.5HT & CX & commuter to a short travel 29 FS & 20" folder. The last few years I've reduced my distance and ascent. 1hr - 3hrs (max) is all I'm doing currently.
10 years ago I was riding a fuel x8 round local trails and trail centres. I was also riding the odd sportif (the Fred, Etap de Dales etc) and riding the cross bike to be able to race the 3 peaks. And surfing a lot. These days I pretty much only mountain bike (Occam); local trails, moors lakes and dales. Alps again end of the week. Still surfing, started climbing again, a bit. Age is not making any of it easier. I'll road bike again when I get even older and stop enjoying the above. I'm sixty ****ing two and wondering how it happened
10 years ago I was riding a 26" Superlight and a 27.5 Bronson, regular Peaks rides and occasional weekends away with mates. I was also dabbling in road and gravel riding to keep fitness ticking over in between mtbing. These days I have sacked off the road and gravel and don't worry about fitness and pushing my limits any more but my motivation to ride and the kind of mtbing hasn't changed, I still love woodland singletrack and riding techy rocky stuff. For me a huge difference is how capable modern bikes are, making me much more comfortable and capable with the tech. Still riding, still loving it, I find I'm doing less of the peripheral stuff (road, gravel, riding data, fitness etc) and condensing riding down to the core where my motivation is
I made the "mistake" of buying a cheap Ragley Marley frame in the CRC closing down sale.
Since then I've hardly ridden my Stumjumper Evo. I realised that it's sat in my garage for 11 months after coming back from the Alps last year, and going to Dyvi next month.
It's made me think seriously about buying an ebike.
10 years ago it was all weekend warrior trips to the Peak or Lakes on a Yeti 575. Joined an MTB club a few years ago. Now doing a few rides a week and riding much steeper and scary stuff. Lots of uplift days. Bigger jumps and drops than ever. An Emtb has made big days of Peak riding way more fun.
Been riding for 30yrs and now at 54 im doing more than ever.
I'm even considering a DH bike.