I think your first mistake is riding a road bike. I’ve nothing against those that do but it all seems to revolve around average speeds, ratios too big to pedal (presume this is a road pro fan thing) and having the lightest/latest kit.
Nah... All bikes are fun, just different kinds of fun. Groups of blokes can kill the fun of any kind of riding by getting all competitive and/or data about it but you don't have to ride with them do you.
My most fun road bike is old, steel and Italian and like any good road bike it's just a pleasure, a real flying sensation to ride. Corners at speed make me laugh sometimes. 'kin love it.
Totally with you on gravel bikes and being off-road but riding one kind of bike or terrain for me would be like listening to only one kind of music.
Very recently I’ve been riding great new trails in a mediocre steady fashion. It truly rocks. Go ride somewhere new, or more interesting, and forget about the speed completely. Completely.
+1. It took a winter doing Zone 2 training for me to realise that pootling on the road was really enjoyable.
..and to learn why previously I was passing so many roadies at that time of year, when road riding was mainly a winter MTB alternative thing for me. It wasn't that I was actually fast, they were just doing base miles.
I struggle on the road bike, even when I was riding pretty regularly I never got my average speed above about 15-16mph even on pretty flat and easy East Midlands terrain. Still enjoyed riding by myself though but felt shit when I went out with my mate who could easily average 20mph and was always waiting for me.
Also currently struggling a bit now I'm getting back into MTB as my riding isn't anywhere near the level I used to be. It's slowly coming back though and I'm feeling more confident over jumps again. I did have a couple of rides that made me wonder if I even liked riding MTB any more, but realised it was just that type of riding (anything pedally/techy/uphill basically!) I don't enjoy. So the key for me was just realising the bits I enjoy (ie DH/bikepark style riding) and cutting out the bits that I don't. To put it simply in my mind MTB = the fun bits and road/gravel = putting the miles in!
I decided a while back it just doesn't matter being shit. Yes, I have a bike that's far more capable than I am (in fact, several such bikes, for various reasons). When I had a worse bike, I was even more shit. I can afford it and I'm having fun, I'm not in it to win anything, so why should I be bothered by this state of affairs?
I'm old enough that significant injuries will take a long time to heal, so not really interested in pushing my limits on faster/jumpier sections. I'm happy to move aside when faster riders come through, and admire their skill and power. I can work as hard as I like up hill though.
I've lost 3 stone since Feb using Noom and now My fitness Pal, it makes one hell of a difference
Yesterday I rode at the Golfie with a mate who doesn't MTB much these days. He was slower than he used to be and I'm a much more capable rider than when we used to ride together regularly. We had a great day, he enjoyed pushing himself even though he had to walk one or two bits and I was happy riding a bit slower and just enjoying the Autumnal sun and warmth. We had a good chat about life and death but joked about how although it was good to chat we were there to ride bikes. A month or two ago I rode some fairly straightforward trails on a nice summers evening, I was all over the place but the next week riding much harder stuff I had a great ride. Sometimes shit happens but that doesn't make you a shit rider.
