So this thought sprung on me after the thread about riding with partners and diffent skill levels/bikes.
What one MTB skill do you think you need to improve on? Or would love to be really good at?
To be honest having been riding for 15 years technically I'm quite good and I can downhill super quick (especially for a chick I must say! Bloke at Afan last week couldn't catch me and at the bottom he said to be "blimey you don't hang around" made me smile when I realised he was on a full susser and I was on my hard tail) anyway back to the point ... for me it would solely be my fitness to allow me to go uphill quicker. I have never been good at riding uphill fast even when I was super fit. I just have a habit of plodding along slowly and getting there .. but never being able to get up any quicker!!
how about you?
dunno
Get rid of 'The Fear' i get occasionally and i'm all good 
I'd like to jump better (cleaner, smoother etc). That's my main goal for this year anyway.
-j
Oh I have just thought of another one .. I would like the confidence to start trying jumps. I can jump off small things on a DH like roots, but would like to try bigger more drops (that are not rideable if it went wrong!). Tried once in Morzine about 2 years ago and landed front wheel first. .. held the landing .. but oh it made me feel so sick and nervous I've not tried again since!! I just think chicks can't jump (unless started young .. before everyone shouts at me!!).
Munqe-chick:
I just think chicks can't jump (unless started young .. before everyone shouts at me!!).
Rubbish. I can jump worse than any chick!
Jumping here.
OP - getting fitter is easier than improving any skill IMO. NO excuse!
Riding very technical bits clipped in - despite using spds for about 15 years, I still have some things I won't ride clipped in... Mostly big "one off" moves like 5' plus drops, narrow paths next to big drops or big step ups
Personally, I wouldn't class "fitness" as a skill. Maybe you could say climbing technique, but fitness is a state of body rather than a skill.
So fitness aside, for me it would be the fear of getting the bike in the air. I've got pretty good bike handling skills, am quicker than most downhill, am reasonably fit and quick up the hills at the moment (well as quick as I've ever been at least, which is still slower than a lot of people granted), but I get the FEAR big time when my wheels are more than the tiniest bit off the ground!
I don't know why this is either. I'll do a 3 foot dropoff, but anything bigger and it scares the hell out of me, even on my long travel full sus bike. And when it comes to doubles, or any other sort of jumps come to that, there's no chance unless they're absolutely tiny. The stupid thing is I'll see people who I know I can easily beat down a hill cos of my technique sessioning a dropoff, and it really annoys me cos I can't/won't do it! And my mates find it bloody amusing cos they know that I'm a reasonably quick rider, but they don't half take the piss cos I hate getting my wheels off the ground despite having a long travel full sus bike too! 😕
bunny hops & jumps. I can just about do both but should be able to do them miles better than I can. Never seem to get any better though !
To be able to manual which would then enable me to bunny hop onto/over stuff better (not just lifting both wheels at the same time but first wheel then back wheel)
I really want to learn to wheelie - as in proper chav style ride the whole length of the street on my back wheel. I'm practicing about two nights a week for about half an hour each but I just don't seem to "get" it...
I like to have the skill to stop being a passenger.
Edd you need to grab the local chav to show you some skills? Or maybe you aren't wearing the right gear ... a hoodie and some trackkie b's 😯
okay so I see what you mean about fitness ..... guessing it's just jumping them but have completely lost the bottle.
It's weird how you sometimes bottle things. I have ridden off the back of pointes du soleil in France and down the DH there twice, however last years it scared the bejeepers out of me! maybe the goal should be to ride it this year on Portes du soleil .. surely once you've tackled it once without any problems you should be okay? Oh the mind does some funny things!
chvck..... bunny hoppping front wheel first as you describe is easy. pull up on the front and once in the air pull up on the pedals. easier if not riding spd's.
i'd say a good wheelie. i can manage 10ft or so but not always cleanly. with the DB alpine i can almost manage to manual properly, which is good enough for most stuff on the trail but looks shit in town. i'd like to be able to cover the whole of the town square in one go.
overall fitness is my biggest problem.
gap jumps i'm not so keen on once they get over 4ft gap. most drops i can manage but if it's a case of 4ft out by 4ft down i'll leave it to the others.
I'm another one who would like some confidence in the air. I used to have loads as a kid but on returning to biking after 14 years off, I don't seem to have the skills anymore.
fitness/climbing
Invisibility, or x-ray vision.
Like most, I think jumping/controlling in the air would be the thing I'd like to work on. Anyone run a jump school for trail riders?
I don't jump or do anything steep because I'm scared of flying over the handlebars... I wish I could grow some balls (not literally, that would be eeew, gross) and just man-up!
Balance!
Actually, it's overcoming The Fear, like some others here, having the confidence to really be able to attack steep drop-offs
and rocky downhills fast. I guess it's just because I know if I stack hard I'm going to be inheriting a world of hurt for ages afterwards. A heavy stack coming off the Ridgeway onto my left elbow and shoulder took ten months for the pain to go, with the loss of confidence that comes with it. The older you get...
wheelie / manual. I WILL learn it before I stop riding bikes.
er... bit more balls going downhill, and the 'technical' stuff, like manuals and suchlike. It's actually harder going downhill with the brakes on, but I can't seem to MTFU and just go with it. Maybe I need to smoke a fat one before heading out... 🙂
manual... seconded or thirded
I can manual over stuff along the trail but haven't mastered how to hold it. Oh and I'd like to stop falling off but I guess thats all part of pushing my skills to the limit.
I don't do jumps. I am not really planning on learning to do table tops and the like, but I'd like to do step jumps when descending, instead of having to stop a descent and walk down a step.
Still not too sure how much time I will have free this June, but if I do, I will have time to spend at one or more of the Seven Stanes skill centre bits, so I can simply try and try again till I get it.
Manuals fourthed. Lord knows i have practiced (and practiced) but i just can't do more than about two parking spaces length.
I'm half way through learning:
manuals, wheel comes up, but not very stable once its up there yet
wheelie, cant keep the hardtail up, full sussers seem easier as the seat angle gets ridiculously slack once the fronts in the air.
bunnyhop, its a timing thing, i cant quite get the back up at just the right time so the fronts usualy crashing into the ground before i have chance to think about it.
sidehops, hopefully getting the bunnyhop sorted will make them a bit smoother, can currently hop the front wheel up a 6" kerb then get the back up but its 2 movements rather than one fluid one at the moment.
Things to learn;
hopping on the back wheel, i dont care how useless it is, but have an image in my head of me hopping over a stile in front of a group of read socks 🙂
Jumping doubles, show me a tabletop and i'll sail over it, show me a step up and i'll charge straight at it. But show me anything where theres a potential for injury when coming up short and i panic. I can ride drop offs for the ame reason, but show me a step down where the landing an takeoff arent connected and i'll freeze.
wish that my cornering was a good left as it is right. I know most people have a preference, but mine seems really marked. going left i can get right down, drift switchbacks etc etc, but going left i feels so awkward and wooden.
hoping on your back wheel is great for hoping ditches on xc trails.
loads of bmx skills i want to learn. have now learned 540 tyre taps 🙂
Fitness, but thats not really a skill, thats just perseverance. Skillwise it'd be jumping for me, I can deal with natural trails no problem but the big man-made stuff gives me the willies.
Muddy downhills. I was a riding goddess last week on the twisty downhill tracks in my local woods (yeah right!) 😉 - same trails this week have me reaching for the anchors and ending up on the floor 😳
Sorry folks - what is a manual?
It's a freewheeling without wheelieing.
I think it's a man thing wanting to learn to manual!!!
Mr MC says he'd like to learn to manual properly .. however jumping for him is no problem. He has done (and does regularly when we go there) a 20ft jump but can' manual ... boys 😆
"It's a freewheeling without wheelieing."
Really sorry, but this isn't making things any clearer.
a wheelie without pedaling
Ah got you. Cheers Jedi. Not entirely too sure if that is the opposite of what Munqe-chick said but hey ho.
its not a man thing.
i still havent bothered to learn them.
i can manaul doubles but never on the flat.
Another vote for wheelies and manuals.
Would also like to be able to descend very, tight and steep singletrack more confidently.
Also track standing - though getting much better.
For me it's probably switchbacks - I've just about got the downhill ones dialled, but the pedally ones a bit sketchy. I get around the majority of the time, but it's not pretty...
That really is just the one top of the list though, I've got a lot of improve on, but hey, I've got time! And I take comfort in the fact that, like MC, I'm pretty damn fast downhill - for a 'chick' that is! 😉
a reeeally long manual. I can wheelie fine, but can't do more than about 6ft of a true manual.
oh and an x-up. I half way and every thing seems to go to sh*t. I'm sure the latter is a 'mind' thing.
My main thing that needs development is cornering. I'm just not good enough at them compared to other skills. I'm getting there but there is still a lot further to go. I could also do with ridding myself of my tendancy to not even try things that I fear I won't be great at. Like a fear of failing or only being ok. A rather self destructive quality in many parts of my life.
I could also do with losing another couple of stone and getting fitter but I'm working on that
I like to be corner really quickly all the time, whatever the terrain, and never find myself hitting the brakes half way round.
Cornering for me too
wish that my cornering was a good left as it is right. I know most people have a preference, but mine seems really marked. going left i can get right down, drift switchbacks etc etc, but going left i feels so awkward and wooden
I have the same when skiing. Carving to the left is a doddle and feels totally natural, whereas rightwards feels more of a conscious effort
erm, to do bunny jumps properly ! (my son makes it look all too easy.
At the risk of sounding big headed, I'm happy with my skill level at the moment. I spent last summer doing a season in the alps working on my skills full time! My aims for this year are to improve fitness and learn how to ride SPDs well.
Track stands I keep thinking I have it cracked and then when I try it out on the trail I end up lying on my back wearing the bike.
riding backwards on the fixed wheel.
can track stand fine and can manage one pedal stroke back and forth , but fall to one side if i don't start going forwards again. think that makes sense.
fakies take ages to get then they just click (riding backwards)
The fear of jumps, always look for small air when descending really fast but manmade jumps mess me up. I went to cwm carn last week and pulled my chest muscles plopping off the smallest jump in the freeride area, I felt a right tw*t watching my mate jumping off the biggest ramp while I nursed my chest muscles.
I've just finished building up my trials bike so I can finally get back to annoying the security guards in town and nail those pedal kicks and riding over picknic tables end-on again 🙂 I love trials but my current lack of fitness and strength really doesnt help. I had a hop about out back before and I've pulled a few muscles 😀
I'd like to improve the 'getting the **** out of my way' if you are a slower than me skill improved in everyone else on the tracks and trails. 😉
Airing out of a quarter! and manuals!
Oops - question was what MTB Skill not bike skill..
MTB would be downhill steep turns and corners and floating over rock gardens.
Posting witty posts on the internet, i'd like to get better at that. and i would like to learn how to take pix of my bike in interesting places to show people where i've been.
[i]What one MTB skill would you like to improve?[/i]
Riding!
If I have to list them.. Endurance (maybe not a skill)/Jumping/wheeling/manuals - basically everything everyone has listed above.
Blagging. 😀
Not having my mind get in the way so much when I'm riding. Damn mental blocks...
Not getting snake bites 🙁
Id like to improve everything..
My aims for this year though, are to get better at jumping big doubles, and ride up jacobs ladder ( maybe not so acheivable...)
All of them.
I can ride proper good in a straight line and uphill, but I can't pull any tricks like a roadie (which I was for decades) who just rides on some muddy stuff.
I supose the most usefull one would be the ability to hop over fallen trees like my mates.
I would just like to clarify why I said "freewheeling without pedalling" when talking about manualing .. I must've been drunk as isn't that just coasting/cruising along!!
sorry if I confused you! plum .. walks away with head held down
I wanna wheelie like a chav!
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I really do 🙁