Lapsed, oh the shame
Wannabe XC whippet.
Love riding, racing & training.
My job is p/t & financially rewarding but unchallenging on the whole.
I race & ride bikes to scratch the itch my job doesn't.
I love bikes.
The only regret I have is not getting into it when I was younger. Maybe it would have helped me not be 22+ stone at 21 years old!
After reading all the replies, I keep going into the other room just to look at my Hightower. Can't wait for a lakes ride on Saturday 🙂
I'm a middle aged trail hacker.
Decent speed and power for thrutch moves and 2-3 minute bursts, but a bit heavy and unfit to sustain anything significant.
I'm a solid but not spectacular rider, tech is fun, xc is necessary to get to the interesting bits, drops up to 4/5ft are ok. Anything bigger, or with a kicker scares me. I like roots and rocks and big bikes in narrow Singletrack and finding flow, not being given it.
Getting back into more serious riding after 20yrs of health probs/rehab
I used to ride bikes everywhere and for everything (road and MTB) in lieu of owning a car (by choice)
Ideally a long distance bike-packer, all-day gravel-touring punctuated by short XC blasts. Never ridden competitively except with self or companion/s. But I will beat that hill. And the next.
Of late the only semi-functional MTB I have available is a (£30!) 26er Dawes Edge singlespeed with a knackered drivetrain and V-pads worn to the nubs. It works as long as my headphones drown out the chain-pops, bangs, whirrs and clangs. Only two rides in, started this week, but already riding it like the 50yr-old version of 11 year-old me when I got my first bike (Raleigh Tomahawk). Could be the beginning of a lengthy single speed affair. Whaaaat?
Also use a 3-speed Dutch cargo bike for leisurely errands, local visits, pubs and shopping runs. Most of all I just like being outdoors and exploring by bike, taking on whatever.
Have owned upwards of 40 bikes over the years. Favourite ride so far was probably one of the more modest of the bunch, a Cannondale F-something with Mary bars and big slicks. A no-nonsense mango-yellow do-it-all beastie. Sadly gone. Currently breaking in a Genesis Vagabond but still thinking I should have maybe gone with a Longitude. We'll see.
I'm an habitual rider, every day these days of semi retirement, prior to that at least twice a week, prior to that rode to school since I was six on a variety of bikes and some with engines, I love them, couldn't imagine life without two wheels. I still ride 26 don't see the point of 27.5 for the sort of crap I ride, all hills, mostly up and it has suspension good enough for the occasional foray to the Alps.
Am not a bad rider, better since I went on one of those Jedi courses, they are worth the time, I ride mostly accompanied by dogs, but this Friday is annual birthday bike ride where a bunch of mates and I will ride to a pub like we used to more regularly than now, get slaughtered and try and ride back in the dark.
“I’m a middle aged trail hacker.
Decent speed and power for thrutch moves and 2-3 minute bursts, but a bit heavy and unfit to sustain anything significant.
I’m a solid but not spectacular rider, tech is fun, xc is necessary to get to the interesting bits, drops up to 4/5ft are ok. Anything bigger, or with a kicker scares me. I like roots and rocks and big bikes in narrow Singletrack and finding flow, not being given it.”
I’m pretty much the same but some years younger!
