[Closed] Your riding

I can look at a tiny drop/ jump and after weeks have a go at it.

If I see a near identical feature in another location, I absolutely wont ride it without lots more pontification.

I ran strava off road for the first time last friday. I was 84th out of 84 on one segment. You can't argue with data...

I'm alright. Don't crash that often, fairly smooth, probably very boring and overcautious in a lot of cases, but not bad. Typical former XC Jeyboy, really. Now spend lots of time mincing and reading maps under the guises of Trailquests and Bikepacking 🙂

I know my weaknesses more than I know my strengths. Very slow on wet roots. Can't rail tight berms properly, and massively less fit than I think I am.
Did better than expected at the STWeekender, but worse than expected at the Ft Bill Enduro, so swings and roundabouts really.

I'm rubbish, horribly unfit and fat, but still faster than my mates downhill, which is all that matters! 😀

Going uphill.. struggling, swearing, sweating and eating haribo.
Going downhill.. smiling, swearing, less sweating and eating haribo.

Technically i'm fairly decent, as i've been riding with some nutters for the last 2 or 3 years and mainly riding DH type stuff, totally unfit though after having 2 kids and not riding long distance that much. Getting easier though as kids are getting older. Just waiting for summer now!!!

Like to get some air but not really a fan off big jumps and drops, gap jumps are my worst nightmare!! Fast flowy single track is what I dream of.

Not as good now as I once believed I might have been - growing up and realisation of my own mortality has taken it's toll.

Happy to ride at my speed all day over most terrain, do struggle with geardy wierdies as they go fast and go slow and trying to match them knackers me completely.

So I ride solo most of the time which is really therapeutic.

Y' know, OK.

Not too bad on twisty single track (recent coaching session has improved my skills) pretty poor at everything else, can't jump more than 6" off the ground and would struggle to bunnyhop over a drinking straw.
Fitness has been steadily improving since I started riding 2 years ago - still too fat, but it is slowly getting turneed into muscle!

cynic-al - Member

How do you rate yourself riding off road? (DH style riding excepted).

Hi Al, not to stir sh*t but why DH excepted?

Anyway, as I said I don't want to divert the discussion too much. Personally I've spent years trying to improve my riding. For me, that is mountainbiking - progressing. The trail you ride slow and easy, can be hard when done fast. I love that.

In a break with tradition I'd say I am pretty good. better than most, by some margin but still a massive/unlimited amount to learn. The guys I ride with have some serious results across all mtb disciplines and I am pretty happy judging my progress against them. I'm no racer though, don't have the head for it.

My weakness is definitely judging entry speeds for jumps, air time in general though.

First to the top, last to the bottom (though I hardly ever ride with other folk).
Fitness and stubborn determination gets me up climbs but I'm very cautious on descending, particularly so after a broken collar bone and subesequent lay off last year. But I can occasionally get myself out of over-cautious thinking and feel a bit more flow. Sometimes the trail inspires the ride. That's certainly what I found in Torridon (and elsewhere) last month. It also helped on one of the days up there to follow better riders down, (even if they had 'twenty years of bad habits').
It seems to me there's a blurry area between surprising yourself with what you can actually do and what you were lucky to get away with.

Like to go as quick as I can which should be faster after seeing Jedi on Monday, he discovered my shock and forks were rebounding to fast among various other aspects of my riding.

My riding - never consider the consequences of "what if", totally rubbish at racing (who cares!),have an inordinate belief that 2.5 supertacky maxxis minions will ALWAYS get me to the bottom regardless and frankly don't really care if my riding is crap or brilliant - some days its both at the same time. I have delusions of grandeur anyway, don't we all!!!

Pretty shit skills really and amongst the slowest in most groups i ride with, but I have a good time.
I'm getting worse as I get older too. I blame injuries, loss of confidence and greater financial responsibilities.

Interesting thread, I've copied about 4 posts to quote while I read it!

Not a fan of anything really steep, have a tendency to just give up before I crash, then get annoyed at myself. Pretty quick on flowing stuff, anything where fitness is handy. Above average climber. Won quite a few XC/endurance races over the years.

Hard to say relatively as generally a lone rider, but technically at best very poor to rubbish especially downwards - particularly terrified of drops. I like climbing though and I suspect that I may be reasonably strong for an old bloke; can merrily climb away for hours.

I tend to avoid technical rides for the above reasons and prefer long A to B rides in the saddle all day (apart from when there's any of those terrifying steps greater than 1" high of course).

Oh yes - I do seem to have found a strange ability recently to "stand" the bike in one place for ages downhill while I pontificate on the best route over the next couple of yards. didn't know I did it until someone pointed it out.

World's worst at slow trialsy-type stuff. I can't do walking pace riding I just topple over. Rubbish at narrow tree gaps as well.

Am not too shabby on fast flowy pedally stuff and I don't mind drops & little jumps. Also good at dieseling - riding all day at aerobic pace without stopping.

I would say moderately nervous, and I HATE fast descents, especially if they're short. I would say that, even in an unfit state, I'm fairly good at climbs - both technical and straightforward - and have quite a bit of natural power in my legs.

Me: mostly competent, good at slow techy rocky downhills, crap in the air and scared at speed.

could do better

really need to book a skills course but not sure if ed/jedi/whoever can rid me of these ingrained habits.

Rocketman - I like that word, "dieseling". Yes that's what it is - I love it.

The art of riding round at low rpm all day 🙂

I see the consequences of failure too often or I sh!t it at the wrong time. I do have some big off's so I do try.

I'm a bit of a wuss really. In a group (and on Strava) I'm usually one of the quicker ones on the ups & in the bottom half on the downs. I lack self belief and have a vivid imagination combined with a strong self protection urge (partly resulting from still not having a properly working right hand after crashing at Xmas). So even though I know I have the skills to let the bike run at things I don't let myself try, I always brake too much and know I could've taken obstacles faster/better, my jumping/dropping is better than it was (thanks Tony) but I still hold back from what I know I could do/attempt. Steep stuff bothers me more than it should, and as for steep and loose...

And best of all Mrs P has none of these issues so disappears on anything downhill - just glad she's not got the legs to do the same on the climbs.

Not as quick as I was 15 years ago 😥

Njee -50% (esp. the race bit, but got gold standard in last one!). We should look out for each other mincing at the top of a big local drop off!!

Above average: hurting myself, cutting elbows (inside, outside) and knees, breaking bits of bikes that I don't understand, getting into situations beyond my current level of ability

Average: most of the rest, but not a bad climber

Below average: spending money on myself. Hence old but reliable kit. Nothing flash, cheapest bike among friends, kit borrowed from other sports etc. None of the gear, no idea!

Got basically competent when I was younger and have managed to maintain things at that level over the years. Have not progressed much, but not regressed, either [in the context of the sport itself changing].

I'm very plodding, don't really go fast at all, up or down. I 'negotiate' difficult sections, rather than race through them. Flip side of this is that I very rarely crash.
I do like a technical climb. I can usually put in a good show of clearing it (slowly) as long as it's not too long.

Good at technical climbs, and general fitness pretty good.
A crash and a fractured elbow last summer has effected by confidence on steep and uber-tech stuff, but gradually getting my mojo back.

Need to improve my tight switchback technique on climbs and descents.
Good at putting together routes and navigating in the mountains etc (coming from a hillwalking/mountaineering background).

Try and ride something new everytime I go out - even its just a short section of trail I've never ridden before. Can't stand riding the same trails again and again... Always planning epic multi-day routes, but never quite get round to doing them.

"Big fish, little pond" i'd say. Get me in a group of average mtbers, im generally the "best" (fastest and interpreting the terrain in more unique ways), get me with really good people, the sorts who place well at national level, it becomes apparent im really far off of fast pace. Only been MTBing for 1.5 years though, so doing ok.

On a strava rating, im generally atleast top 10%ish on the downs, middle ground on the ups.

BMXer for 12+ years, jumping, gaps, making the bike do exactly what i want it to and safety reaction riding is really natural to me.

Less scared hit a 20ft+ long gap jump than ride sheep tracks on the side of a steep hill.

Im rubbish at dealing with pressure, do a bit of racing, people i annihilate when casually riding all of a sudden beat me by massive margins. If im stressed, i get slow and fall for no reason.

My regular spot is Cannock and neither the dreaded braking bumps nor the infamous werewolf [s]drop[/s] roll hold any fear for me, thus cementing my gnaaar credentials. Don't for one minute think I'm all about the freeride tech-fest...I can complete a lap of the Donkey in sub 1:40, so I'm a bit of a racing snake too.

Happy with how it is, and the rate it's progressing....

Still got the balls to go gnaaaaar when required 😉

(Although 90% of my riding recently has been on the road bike...)

Inconsistent would be my description of myself.

If I can stay on the bike, I could be dangerous. On those occasions I can, i've won & been on the podium a few times on smaller regional DH races. On the bigger regionals, i'm usually hovering in the top 10, nationals are a horror story due to crashing most times. In the races I have managed to stay on the bike i've been top third.

Moving more into the enduro side of things, so working on one of my biggest weaknesses, which is fitness. Finding it tough, as a lot of people have been riding a lot more XC than me for years so they have a strong base fitness. I'll keep plugging away & hopefully things will improve over time.

Think I may even give XC racing a try, just to ram home just how unfit I am in reality 🙁

Riding falls down on bigger drops & gaps, which is more of a mental issue for me.

some interesting answers but I just spotted njee wrote "Above average climber." now this is the thing, what standard are we all comparing ourselves to? I'm tempted to say I'm an above average climber but by his racing credentials I'm sure njee (and most other racers) would wipe the floor with me.
(Was it you who were 10th in line from an olympic ride or something?)

I'm comparing myself to friends and other forum dwellers I've ridden with, I'm guessing anyone who races is making a comparison with their peers, you know proper fast/skilled people. Completely different scales.

seavers - Member
Imagine if you will a potato with cocktail sticks for legs trying to ride a bike. I'm almost that good.

Thanks, I did imagine and it made me chuckle. 🙂

EDIT - No offence like.

I'm tempted to say I'm an above average climber but by his racing credentials I'm sure njee (and most other racers) would wipe the floor with me.
(Was it you who were 10th in line from an olympic ride or something?)

I'm not 10th in line sadly, there are folk on here who would be within that though!

I guess it's false modesty then (without now appearing big-headed), but within my group of riding friends I tend to be the one hanging on the coat tails. That said... I can do a 40 mile ride in the Surrey Hills without leaving the big ring, I was Strava KOM for Winterfold, Leith and Holmbury off-road climbs (have lost Holmbury, and I think Leith, now!), and tend to be in the top 5 for any climbs that I regularly do. That... and I do really enjoy riding up hill, in a masochistic way!

Pretty decent at most things. 15th overall at the weekender having ended up with a 4min penalty on the trials which really annoyed me as I should have breezed that.

I do a fair variety or riding - fair bit of road and a range of offroad, mostly biased to the technical gravity side, but with a desire to get back to the top quickly so I can get more runs in. Mix up hardtails and full sus, flats and spuds all the time. Very little (except proper DJ stuff) I can't have a good attempt at riding, but I'm out of practice at big jumps at the mo.

Weaknesses? Ride on my own too much, so never get properly pushed to my limits. Tend to take a slow trialsy approach to technical stuff, when I probably should just hit the section flat out and pinball through.

Hand on heart, considerably above average...
At imagining the horrific injuries that will befall me when I hit a hidden stump going too fast on a descent.
Quite good at other things - stalling on tech-y uphills etc - but the above is my most notable ability.

Far far better climber than I'd like to acknowledge, always up the top before any of my mates, bit like a goat, technical or smooth. Super fast XC JayBoi on flowing singletrack and fit as..Can leave my mates all except two (who are fitter than I am..)
Can't decend for toffee unless it's slow tight technical stuff.

Would hold up 8/10 plaquard... here it is waving at you.

Fine in roots and mud, crap myself on anything rocky, luckily it's all trees mud and roots around here, no where near as fit as i want to be yet

I thought i was above average till i read this

but I'll add "a right mincer in the wet" and acknowledge the fact that I've got some pretty awful technique, drag the brakes too much, don't commit enough in corners and steep switchbacks (speed is your friend, off the brakes, etc) I enter too slowly, brake all the way round but normally manage to thrutch my way round somehow.
could do better

As I ride with him and he is better than me up and down [ I am better at switchbacks though - what a win]I would have to say worse than i thought 😥

When I compare it to STW rides I have been on top 30% ish up and down. Some of those above me were absolutely miles better than me though. DONK would be top 3 up and down despite what he says and he has the socks to prove it 😉

DONK would be top 3 up and down despite what he says and he has the socks to prove it

Now that depends who turns up shirley?

If Blazin_Saddles, Gee and MTBMatt were around he'd be in for a surprise. Unless he really is quick 😉

Now that depends who turns up shirley?

Unless he really is quick

I'm a confidence rider: if I'm feeling confident, I can ride pretty much anything. If I'm feeling rubbish, I'll firmly retreat to my comfort zone.

Otherwise, bizzarely fearless at speed, rubbish at steep super tech, hopeless at jumps and drops.

Everything scares me and is a struggle. Which is the attraction.

Very steady long distance plodder (will get through pretty much any ride with a smile and a grimace, I've gone 12, 24 and 36 hours even, suspect I could go to 48!). Have placed top 10 at an endurance race, usually more top likely to be a comfortable top 20, poss top 15 finisher though.

But also seem to be a pretty competent descender and singletrack rider when there's still a degree of pedalling still involved. Have a few trail centre descent and local top 10s on *cough* Strava. Not quite so good when it gets a bit looser and more balls out.

Bit average and somewhat timid on steeper, tech. Fine if it's dry but as soon as you throw mud and roots into the equation I start to bottle. Northern steps riding scares the bejesus out of me but probably more from a lack of doing it.

Seem to have fairly good power on the flat and lesser climbs, quite a weak climber as it ramps up. Quite competent on technical climbs though.

Fitness on the day seems to be really inconsistent too which is frustrating.