Little biking achievements that make you smile :) – Page 2 – Bike Forum

philconsequence · 2010-11-04T10:24:00Z

A personal story or riding joy: Well still being a relative "n00b" to "all terrain riding" (see what I did there? No issues with you hairy, beer swilling northerner's telling me there's no mountains near Swinley!) I'm still at the stage where I've got a lot of mental riding barriers to overcome. To give a bit more background: I rode a bike as a kid but only ever up and down the road, no racing, no technical stuff, no wheelies etc... the most I could do was ride no-handed and even that wasn't for any decent length of time. Then at the age of 11 I was knocked off my bike riding through town; never rode again. 15 years later I bought a bike and quickly discovered although "it's like riding a bike, you never forget" is true, my comfort level on the bike was that of a 4 year old learning for the first time (and my fitness level not far off!). I'm lucky enough to live within riding distance of Swinley and quickly started to explore, but stuck to fire roads and found myself having to stop at the top of each hill to breath and drown my burning lungs with energy drink. 5 weeks later I was feeling a little healthier and joined up with the chaps from the MTB Britain forum for a Saturday morning ride. At this point this was the longest ride I had done (in my life probably) and my first exposure to singletrack... 13 miles of it (but thankfully lots of stops to chat and repair innertubes etc). I was very pleased with my progress, having not ridden for 15 years I had just rode for 13 miles and done it on terrain I never thought I could handle! :D Cut to 2 or 3 months later, a few falls/injuries and quite a few rides with friends who are much more confident on bikes whipping around over whatever the singletrack throws at them; I had dug myself into a mental hole... slowing before anything tricky, walking drops that I could've rolled over if I hadn't had stopped before the edge and bottling certain tracks that I've falled on. I told a friend that my only goal for riding would be: riding whats in front of me without bottling stuff and being able to ride for longer without stopping. I'm not fussed about tricks, big air or riding a 4grand beast to its ability... just having fun in the woods with my friends without stopping and without the kind of silly small mental blocks that I'd tell the patients I look after to snap out! Last night I realised something... I'm getting there! :D Now I'm not kidding myself that I'm a good rider yet, I can't manual, I can't wheelie and I still have nerves riding stuff that picks up too much speed or shakes me about too much. But I'm riding for longer without stopping :D and there's a 2 1/2ft drop that I've always avoided... that last night I rolled over in a smooth controlled manner for the second time. :D I'm finding I'm taking the singletrack I've ridden before at a nicer smoother pace, and when riding with newer riders I'm really noticing how my biking fitness has increased. It's a fantastic feeling and one I hope that you guys and gals reading this will recognise! I know most of you STW gods are probably reading this thinking "Pfft, what a soft idiot, can't even heli-drop into a croc-infested-river and wheelie out of it into the record books!" but the little sense of achievement I'm getting on most rides is fantastic and I couldnt be happier :D To those out there who are as new or newer to riding than me, keep going... it gets better, easier and a hell of a lot more fun. To those out there who get frustrated at the idiot on a carrera holding you up on the singletrack dragging their brakes: give us a chance and a "well done for clearing that mate"perhaps... that little bit of encouragement might just be enough to give them the confidence to not get in your way next time. Muchos biking love to all :mrgreen:

U31

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I strongly advise you to get on the course, Philconsequence - Nothing beats having the guys who run the skills days to look at how you ride and advise you on the bad habits you never knew you'd picked up over the years, and then give you gold by advising and then showing you how to correct these problems..

Posted : 07/11/2010 3:47 pm

jedi

Posts: 10249

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I'm looking forward to february phil. 🙂

Posted : 07/11/2010 7:53 pm

andy7t2

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out doing the monkey trail today and grinning ear to ear after three of us riding on our limits down one of the last sections trying to keep up with each other, love it when me and my mates are all on form on the same day

Posted : 07/11/2010 8:11 pm

philconsequence

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Topic starter

looking forward to feb too 😀

found a new bit in swinley yesterday that we all loved, felt fantastic!

Posted : 07/11/2010 8:50 pm

jedi

Posts: 10249

Full Member

i just got back from riding at herts, beers round the fire and curry 🙂
looking forward to working with another rider tomorrow.
sunday is a religious day of riding 🙂

Posted : 07/11/2010 10:38 pm

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