[Closed] I'm no riding god...but

some people lack confidence and are over-biked imo

Dont know about those people but for me it's a fear of bending a wheel rather than myself.

i'm with Mackem on this, but swap the wheel for a frame... 8)

I ride around stuff like that particularly if I'd bottled it twice as you had.
I ride to keep fit and get out in the countryside not take unnecessary risks.
I've got nothing to prove and can't afford another injury.

For me, and lots of other grown ups with responsibilities to family and colleagues, there is too much risk to others and too little care for the opinions of people I don't know.

Oh and I'm a big girl's blouse too.

Is this going to be one of those things where anyone less good than you is a coward/incompetent and anyone better than you is a nutter?

That's a reassuringly familiar STW post to read after spending ages away from the forum.

At my age, it takes a long time to heal. Good enough reason not to act like a teenager 🙂

Maybe they had ridden there all winter when anything wood and smooth was deadly silppy and where put off by that?

Hey lads,

I'm a family man, big responsibilities etc. I did bottle it 2 times remember! That said, it won't defeat me. I'm not looking down on anyone, honest. I just wondered why these people weren't hitting it if I was. I'm not great so knew it was easy once I did it.

Does a lot of sessioning go on in trail centres? I've no idea. Maybe that's why???

PeaslakeDave - Member
some people lack confidence and are over-biked imo

Maybe they wouldn't have even got to that point in the trail without those bikes. I'm sure if you let them know they're over biked they'll sell them and buy a rigid 29er niche-chariot though.

Who cares what strangers do and don't ride. He may have just recovered from an injury. His wife might be at home with a new-born and he doesn't want to spanner himself in. He might not be "feeling" it that day and decide to ride round something he doesn't normally think twice about. He might be a novice on a borrowed bike. He might have just bought the bike, and be taking it easy with his new pride and joy. He might be at the end of a 40 mile slog and be a bit wasted. He might not have the skill to ride it, but just enjoy having a nice bike.

At the end of the day, it's bugger all to do with you. 😀

Unless he's your mate, then rip the piss mercilessly!!

it won't defeat me

...act like a teenager

Did they stop and bottle it twice too? Or just ride on by...

Unless he's your mate, then rip the piss mercilessly!!

Or not tell him it's there so he hits it blind...

Last time I was there I didn't do that bit due to a massive hangover. Had to stop the van on the way home to spew up kind of hangover.

That'll be this one then:

[url= http://www.moredirt.co.uk/trail_photo.php?id=1705 ]hamsterley drop off[/url]

Suppose it could be slightly intimidating if you're not used to drop-offs. I consider them a basic element of mountain biking so I've practiced them loads - this one's as easy as dropping off a kerb once you've lost the fear. (picture isn't me by the way)

lol.

good job OP

I wouldn't go off that in a million years

I wouldn't go off that in a million years

Really??

Hmm, I fell off in a car park dislocating my finger which wouldn't reseat and needed surgery meaning I couldn't drive for 6 weeks. Fortunately I could work around that.

Plus I usually ride alone and sometimes in places posibly nobody will be through for a while.

I'm with druidh on this one. Oh and like bol, I'm a blouser too 😳

Really??

Yup

Quite a lot of testosterone on this page.

I'm at the wrong age (42) to start faffing about learning/trying to do large jumps. Anything over 12-18" I'll just chicken run. I don't bounce well anymore, plus I'm self employed.

I don't ever look at anyone's bike. I just look at their faces to see how much fun they are having 😀

I'm a XC/AGGRESSIVE/MARATHON rider myself so I wouldn't do it

I'm a XC/AGGRESSIVE/MARATHON rider myself so I wouldn't do it

...dam 🙄

I don't ever look at anyone's bike. I just look at their faces to see how much fun they are having

That's about as plausible as looking a lass with big tits square in the eye.

I don't ever look at anyone's bum. I just look at their faces to see how much fun they are having

this is what I read!

I don't think anyone's getting too "testosteroney" over this. Robsoctane seems to be suggesting it's psychology rather than skill I think, and I agree - I've only ever done drops like that when I didn't know they were there.

It takes no real talent, unless you're doing it really slow, so I don't see why anyone should be proud or ashamed about riding it or not.

Here's some mates of mine riding off that a few weeks ago... I was taking the photos, so (ahem) didn't get the chance to hit it myself. I do get annoyed at myself for not doing stuff like this - I used to do far bigger drops than this not all that long ago.

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

Jumping without a helmet?? Really??

Oh, and here's another of a mate losing it a bit at the big jump shortly before that!

[IMG] [/IMG]

@widge34 - he can do what he wants - he's a big boy.

EDIT; I even do it myself sometimes - what of it?

[IMG] [/IMG]

I don't think anyone's getting too "testosteroney" over this. Robsoctane seems to be suggesting it's psychology rather than skill I think, and I agree - I've only ever done drops like that when I didn't know they were there.

It takes no real talent, unless you're doing it really slow, so I don't see why anyone should be proud or ashamed about riding it or not.

Spot on. If you can ride off a kerb and land both wheels together then you have the correct technique and enough talent. Just hit it fast enough and carry the front wheel. There's more chance of hurting yourself hitting a root or rock at the wrong angle and washing out at speed but because your wheels are on the ground you feel safer.

@widge34 - he can do what he wants - he's a big boy.

EDIT; I even do it myself sometimes - what of it?

So you are happy to protect your elbows but not your head. Does that really make any sense?

i came off this a few weeks ago when i was there and i mean came off literaly. it was wet and as i hit the boards i slipped then corrected but it was to late i was into the tree on the left when i landed, Result = broken wrist, dislocated shoulder and stiches in my arm from lots of gravel rash it hurt realy bad. great photo by the way

From the comments on that pic!

I reckon I'd do it, don't like drops much bigger than that though.

widge34 - Member

Jumping without a helmet?? Really??

A huge number of BMXer have no problem with stuff much bigger than that without the need for helmets.

some people like walking in the park on a sunny afternoon..

and some people like walking though the Antarctic.. and then there are all the walks between the two extremes..

widge34 - Member

So you are happy to protect your elbows but not your head. Does that really make any sense?

POSTED 2 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

It was hot. I tend to land sprawled out face first in the dirt if I do lose it, so my elbows / knees and sometimes chin take the brunt of it. Sorry if that offends the helmet police 😀

Jumping without a helmet?? Really??

And yet he didn't die. Weird.

grum - Member
Jumping without a helmet?? Really??
And yet he didn't die. Weird.

More chance of it though.

Yunki.
Stop all that sensible shite will you.

Do you not know how it works round here. 🙂

More chance of it though.

Who has more chance of dying: someone who wears no helmet but nails the jump perfectly, or someone who wears a helmet but stuffs it up really badly? 😉

*COUGH* rotational injuries *SPLUTTER*

Stop all that sensible shite will you.

sorry.. I'm a bit overtired.. it's making me act weird.. 😕

Or someone that doesn't wear a helmet and doesn't nail the jump. Regardless of how good you are there is always a first time and could be the last, just for the sake of covering your bonce.

Where the hell is TJ anyway?

Channeling his great spirit, who's more likely to hurt themselves; someone who believes an inch of polystyrene shaped into a magic hat will protect them, or someone who knows he has no protection and rides accordingly?

widge34 - Member

Or someone that doesn't wear a helmet and doesn't nail the jump

Sorry all i can see in those pictures is a small flop off the end of the patio decking.
They'd be taking more of a risk walking into my local with the wrong accent. Wearing a helmet there wouldn't help them either.

Whatever!!

mdavids - Member
I don't think anyone's getting too "testosteroney" over this. Robsoctane seems to be suggesting it's psychology rather than skill I think, and I agree - I've only ever done drops like that when I didn't know they were there.
It takes no real talent, unless you're doing it really slow, so I don't see why anyone should be proud or ashamed about riding it or not.

Spot on. If you can ride off a kerb and land both wheels together then you have the correct technique and enough talent. Just hit it fast enough and carry the front wheel. There's more chance of hurting yourself hitting a root or rock at the wrong angle and washing out at speed but because your wheels are on the ground you feel safer.

Bingo - and thank you.

I'm not taking the Michael out of anyone. I'm just wondering why they didn't/couldn't do it and I did. That's because I KNOW I'm not great, I'm merely average. If I plucked up the courage then anyone can do it within reason, or so I thought...

It is all in the mind - WAS like jumping off a kerb. I will now be hunting bigger stuff and maybe bottling that the first 2 times BUT again - it will not defeat me.

I guess I was just surprised at dudes on Yeti's etc that were built for this type of riding not doing it. Made me wonder.

Ignoring all the waffle here I totally understand the OP. It's not about how big your balls are, it's about pushing yourself in whatever way you choose to have a bit more fun when riding. It might be climbing hard, or dropping off stuff, or whipping through wooded singletrack on the edges of control.

At 42 I don't bounce or bend any more but the big kid in my head still keeps telling me to try stuff that scares me. Might be things that other riders would laugh at me for being worried by but that's not the point.

Case in point is Howes Run pit at Thetford - nice relatively tame little bowl to play in near the top of The Beast but there's one line in that I've never tried/always bottled because it has a steeper (near vertical) entry and a little drop off a third of the way down. Spent a good five mincy minutes at the top of it a couple of weeks ago umming and arring before finally growing a pair and riding it. Like I said, small beans to lots of riders but it has made a big difference to me confidence-wise in all my riding since.

[img] [/img]

slainte 😳 rob

Lol cracking skill level troll thread this.

Fwiw i wouldn't even contemplate that drop-yep I'm shite I admit it...

Loving the picture of the guy jumping with elbow pads but no helmet-is that called thinking outside the box?

I think the more appropriate question you should be asking is why you went for it a 3rd time after crashing twice, especially given you're a family man with dependants and an important career with responsibilities.

slainte rob

Please explain - I see this all the time in lots of threads but have no idea what it means, would love to be in on it if I'm worth it?

hugor - Member
I think the more appropriate question you should be asking is why you went for it a 3rd time after crashing twice, especially given you're a family man with dependants and an important career with responsibilities.

Is that aimed at me? Sorry if it's not. if it was, I didn't crash at all, just bottled it twice. 🙄

robsoctane - Member
slainte rob
Please explain - I see this all the time in lots of threads but have no idea what it means, would love to be in on it if I'm worth it?

(Scots) Gaelic for "cheers" or "good health". IIRC the Scots pronunciation is 'slarn-cher' or similar.

cheers 😀 rob

Slainte is short-hand for "Slainte Mhah". That's "good health" in Scots Gaelic and it typically said with a glass of decent whisky in one hand. (slanje va)

The poster "colournoise" likes to add it to the end of each of his posts. I assume he is having some sort of withdrawal symptoms from forum signatures.

Not quite as annoying as that dick-head from teh States who has to add his photo to the top of every post....

didn't he invent mountain biking though?

That looks similar to Cadden Bank?

Easy to laugh at folk who are worse than you on a better bike, in fact it's a duty 😛

For a lot of people, bikes are like fast cars. You don't need to drive them particularly well, as long as they make all the right sounds, and make you smile.

For others a bike is a tool, for getting to the bottom in the fastest possible time. Or the top. Or just forgetting about times and life in general...

Lots of reasons for riding bikes for doing jumps, and not doing jumps. As long as everyone is doing their own thing, it's all good.

brakes - Member
didn't he invent mountain biking though?

That would be Cadd[b]o[/b]n Bank Al.

The Cadden bank looks more like this one

[img] [/img]

druidh - Member
The poster "colournoise" likes to add it to the end of each of his posts. I assume he is having some sort of withdrawal symptoms from forum signatures.

It's more just a lingering habit from the dark days of t'interweb before forum signatures was even thought of.

salud 😀 rob

That looks similar to Cadden Bank?

If you mean the three drops at the start of the run then I'd say its not quite as big as the 3rd. However you have to brake as soon as you land in order to make it round the berm.

The poster "colournoise" likes to add it to the end of each of his posts. I assume he is having some sort of withdrawal symptoms from forum signatures.
Not quite as annoying as that dick-head from teh States who has to add his photo to the top of every post....

Ooh get her!

I just put it down to mental walls built up over the years.

There is every reason to be scared when you first start riding, however you have a choice of two paths, either make sure to WORK on your skills in a safe environment, then make sure you push yourself a little bit all the time, eventually, with perseverance, you will "get awesome" in time. The other path is a bad one, no interest in learning basic skills, i mean [i]how much use are bunny hops out the the trail[/i] 🙄 , never attempting anything outside your comfort zone, saving it for another day reinforces bad mental practise and builds up those walls bigger and stronger to a point where they're never going to budge.

No matter how hard people claim they're not interested in leaving the ground or doing something a bit braver, they're just trying to get out of pushing their selves, they are itching to "get awesome".

Bikes isn't treated as a un-serious games enough, too much "i must be sensible" or "that's for kids" or thinking car park time is a "waste".

The OP is on a good path, keep it up.

never attempting anything outside your comfort zone, saving it for another day reinforces bad mental practise and builds up those walls bigger and stronger to a point where they're never going to budge.

No matter how hard people claim they're not interested in leaving the ground or doing something a bit braver, they're just trying to get out of pushing their selves, they are itching to "get awesome".

Bikes isn't treated as a un-serious games enough, too much "i must be sensible" or "that's for kids" or thinking car park time is a "waste".

The OP is on a good path, keep it up.

Thanks for your understanding mate. I'm not stupid on my bike but I do like to push and wont get defeated. If I bottle/crash I just do it again and again until it clicks. It's the only way for me to get better. Surely that's the whole point in riding off road?

Hang on, either that drop's a piece of piss and anyone not riding it is crap, or it's dangerous and you must wear a helmet? Can we make up our minds, please?

I've ridden that trail lots of times and haven't once even considered riding the drop. I don't think I've ever ridden a drop much bigger than 18", though I'd happily do that on a rigid fixie. Still, takes all sorts, eh?

For the drop at Hamsterley, the landing's quite iffy; not a big space before a sharp left-hander. So, chapeau for riding it on your first visit/third attempt.

I like robsoctane's attitude.

Sometimes I find that a smallish/easier obstacle is a bigger mental barrier than something larger. I bottled a 2 foot step down onto a gentle straight downslope in the woods the other day then went and deliberately picked a line to launch off a similar height 'kicker' into an uneven landing and small berm 30 seconds later, which was a bit wierd.

Similarly there's a 3foot ish drop to flat off the river wall near where I live that I'll take at speed on my xc hardtail but there are smaller steps on Whites Level that I mince over. I know I can ride them but just a little moment of tension or "that might hurt" and the brakes come on and I roll it (feeling like a total t1t).

If anyone knows why I do this (and more importantly how to cure it) then please tell me!

Hang on, either that drop's a piece of piss and anyone not riding it is crap, or it's dangerous and you must wear a helmet? Can we make up our minds, please?

Cant it be both? Technique-wise, drop-offs are a piece of piss and if you can ride an 18 inch one then you can ride this one - the only difference is confidence. Of course if you bottle it half way through, go off too slow and dont carry the front end you'll go over the bars and probably hurt yourself. Confidence and commitment - the bloke without the helmet has it, making that obstacle no more dangerous than dropping off a kerb

I forgot to drop my saddle today when and almost got catapulted into the dirt a few times with small levitation moments.They were like last second decisions (brake? what? someone might be watching!) I ended up trying to avoid the launches finally and instead drifting my new build round corners at high speed playing with the breakaway points, which ended up being rather fun. Just as I went to drop my saddle and go break something I got a phone call and had to go home 🙁

mdavids - Member

Cant it be both? Technique-wise, drop-offs are a piece of piss and if you can ride an 18 inch one then you can ride this one - the only difference is confidence

Mmm. The bigger the drop, the longer any mistakes you make have to take effect...

Maybe the "over biked" mob didn't ride it because the OP was stood in their way "deliberating" (yes that's a euphanism)

Mmm. The bigger the drop, the longer [b]you have to right [/b]any mistakes you [b]may have made on leaving the lip [/b][s] make have to take effect[/s]...

True enough. But then most people seem to do all the work on the takeoff and just hope they land right side up

Nah mate, I was at the side of the trail by then just stood wondering!

I still am to a certain extent. Why oh why buy a 4k super gnar bike and not drop 3 foot on it? Was about 30k's worth that didn't try/bother...

It's a bit like breaking the speed limit and driving like a prat.. all without a roll cage installed! Such a dangerous thing to do.
So so dangerous..