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How Expert Are You?...
 

How Expert Are You? Take our MTB skills and experience survey.

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[#12908798]

We're not going to skew your answers, because, science... so let's jump straight into the questions. There aren't any repeats, but there are some simi ...

By stwhannah

Get the full story here:

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/how-expert-are-you-take-our-mtb-skills-and-experience-survey/


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 8:00 am
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Question is, what are STW going to do with the survey answers? It’d be interesting to see the spread.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 9:43 am
tall_martin and jacobff reacted
 Yak
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Done.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 10:05 am
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Your network connection was lost 😞


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 10:13 am
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Done, but the which bikes do you ride every week has no option for none.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 10:17 am
hightensionline, stumpyjon, rfreeman and 1 people reacted
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Done.

Needs commuting bike as an option and BMX as type of racing done.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 10:25 am
acidchunks, twistedpencil, sirromj and 1 people reacted
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What constitutes "doing a wheelie"? I can get the front wheel up and keep it there for a few pedal strokes (maybe 10 on a good day) but that's about it.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 10:38 am
davidd reacted
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Emphasis on other bike for me - fatbike, (suppose no sus, is still hardtail) and of course the tourer.  Along with the navigation we need tide table interpretation too down here in Sandyland


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 10:47 am
swavis and rfreeman reacted
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What constitutes “doing a wheelie”? I can get the front wheel up and keep it there for a few pedal strokes (maybe 10 on a good day) but that’s about it.

🤷🏻‍♂️ I’d say a wheelie is getting it up and having control over when you put it down.

A few pedal strokes is a ‘dad wheelie’ and doesn’t count. 😔


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 11:07 am
joebristol, hardtailonly, d42dom and 3 people reacted
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Does the form just reset when submitted?

I was expecting a ‘thanks, results later’ message.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 11:10 am
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I was expecting a ‘thanks, results later’ message.

Mine said

Thank you for answering, we'll be doing an analysis of results soon.

It was at the top of the page though, which wasn't where I would have expected it.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 11:16 am
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Good questions. Enjoyed thinking about the answers.

Where are the results?


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 11:51 am
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Needs commuting bike as an option and BMX as type of racing done.

I just went with the town bike option. And you've got Other for types of racing, which in my case also covers Cyclocross.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 11:52 am
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Done. No idea what that colour grading corresponds to so I put red on the basis that Ainsa blacks sometimes have me walking down sections. A bit embarassing answering "no" to a wheelie but my idea of a wheelie is what the local Uber Eats guys can do.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 12:03 pm
leffeboy reacted
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A few pedal strokes is a ‘dad wheelie’ and doesn’t count. 😔

Oiiiii! I resemble that comment!


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 12:09 pm
joebristol, goby, fatbikeandcoffee and 6 people reacted
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I got to Q4 and didn't know which to select. Shouldn't the results of the survey provide the answer to that question?


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 12:11 pm
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Was amused by Nepal in the list of countries - that's a bit specific 🙂

No tandem on the list of bikes, could upset a few here


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 12:15 pm
tjagain reacted
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No tandem on the list of bikes, could upset a few here

only a couple at a time


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 1:03 pm
hardtailonly, droplinked, chrisdavids and 9 people reacted
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Was amused by Nepal in the list of countries – that’s a bit specific 🙂

I actually got to tick that one! Went trekking for a few weeks the summer I left university, (very early version of student loan paid for it 👍) and managed to get a guided day ride from Kathmandu. The bikes were really nice Raleigh ones the bonded carbon tubes, which dates this story somewhat. I manged to OTB into a drainage ditch that was thankfully just full of weed growth and not water. A group of local ladies thought this was absolutely bloody hilarious.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 1:09 pm
leffeboy reacted
 Yak
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🤷🏻‍♂️ I’d say a wheelie is getting it up and having control over when you put it down.

A few pedal strokes is a ‘dad wheelie’ and doesn’t count.

Yeah this. No dad wheelies allowed I reckon.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 1:12 pm
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You need an option for none on which bike do you ride more than once a week.  It is STW after all...


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 2:28 pm
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Do lapsed MTB, coaching and cyctech quallies count? 😉


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 2:32 pm
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Decided not to answer any. I didn't want to get an OH GOD, THAT'S PATHETIC ! result.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 2:38 pm
lucasshmucas reacted
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Can't wheelie, never have been able to. Never likely to learn. One of those things I can't see a use for on an actual ride so no compulsion to practise it.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 2:41 pm
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Decided not to answer any. I didn’t want to get an OH GOD, THAT’S PATHETIC ! result.

Fear not, there is no result, it's a data gathering exercise.

 


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 2:55 pm
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There were no explicit mentions of dad wheelies not counting so mine counted 😁 and you made that rule up. Or stole it from your teenage children. Dad wheelies obviously count they have the word wheelie in them. They count right they do.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 3:21 pm
jacobff, J-R and thepurist reacted
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A dad Wheelie is a misnomer, as it's a pedal assisted front wheel lift.

For it to be a true wheelie, you have to get to, and remain at the balance point.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 3:24 pm
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Didn't see any mention of the word true. So there.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 3:34 pm
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There's not a wheelie option of 'my bike is too long, low and slack to ever be able to wheelie'


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 3:38 pm
geeh, jacobff and tall_martin reacted
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There’s not a wheelie option of ‘my bike is too long, low and slack to ever be able to wheelie’

That's not a thing! There was a bloke wheelieing a platform cargo bike on Danny MacAskill's do a wheelie film.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 4:10 pm
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The older I get, the better I was.

Does that count as Expert?!


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 4:16 pm
wimpsworth, mrchrist, dyna-ti and 4 people reacted
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Done.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 4:20 pm
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No option for rigid MTB?


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 5:23 pm
sirromj, bax_burner, matt_outandabout and 4 people reacted
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No option for rigid MTB?

Ooh, get you and your fancy modern MTB! Bet it had gears and everything! 😉

It's funny really - I got into MTB in the early/mid 90's, raced XC and enduro (back when enduro meant "a really long XC race", not what it means now!), did some 24hr races etc. Did quite well, I was sort of mid-pack in Expert XC for a while and did loads of MTBing in Peak & Lake District plus MTB holidays in the Alps etc.

But that was all way back when - I rarely do MTB any more, I only have the one bike now - a very old Cove hardtail - and I've only ridden modern geometry MTBs a couple of times, both hire bikes. Honestly, if I was to go MTBing now, I would not be "expert" in any way, I'd be a complete newbie trying to get to grips with riding something with (to me) brand new geometry. I'm a very experienced MTBer - from back in the day. Honestly if you put me on a MTB now, I'd be shit! Embarrassingly so. Also, I'd be wondering why the stem was so short and WHY IS MY SEAT MOVING UP AND DOWN?!

SO if STW could pop that in as an answer to the questions, it'd pigeonhole me nicely! 😉


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 6:10 pm
hardtailonly and Riksbar reacted
 P20
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Ah, trying to decide how good a rider you are. Tricky, especially if you’re not a confident person. Turns out I’m in the dad wheelie club too 😂


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 6:31 pm
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"Dad Wheelie Club" - expect to see  this on a tshirt soon.

 


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 9:39 pm
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Thought I was okay. Then tried Ard rock on Sunday. Now I know I am sh1t.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 9:49 pm
hardtailonly and weeksy reacted
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Ah, trying to decide how good a rider you are. Tricky, especially if you’re not a confident person.

I’ll calibrate it for you - I put intermediate, so you are definitely above that!!


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 10:10 pm
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My take away from answering those questions is I'm a better mechanic than I am a rider.


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 11:02 pm
andy4d, Ambrose, hardtailonly and 8 people reacted
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Everyone ticked Hardline right?


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 11:13 pm
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Not sure the difference between single, double, triple diamond. Done plent of black trails but also plenty I have said no to!


 
Posted : 30/07/2023 11:23 pm
Bruce reacted
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^ agreed, I have no idea of what trail grades mean these days. Trail centres have blue/red/black but I suspect black at BPW would be more jumpy than I've been into for a long time.

If MTB is about skills over gap jumps and graded trails I'm a newb compared to where things are in Enduro racing etc. If MTB is about naturally technical trails where all-day reliability, on-sight riding ability and not spannering yourself somewhere remote is a skill, I do ok (happy to have ticked the Nepal box). Call me an old-school XC rider, I'm ok with that.


 
Posted : 31/07/2023 8:53 am
Simon, ads678 and leffeboy reacted
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Not done, i don't ride more than once a week.


 
Posted : 31/07/2023 9:11 am
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Not done, i don’t ride more than once a week.

Same here, completed th survey but it wouldn't let me submit. There mus be several people that only ride once a week or less?


 
Posted : 31/07/2023 9:22 am
 Yak
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I just ticked single black as I assume double diamonds upwards are serious stuff and not for old punters like me. I do know the lozenge system though, so black 3 lozenge has way more unavoidable features/ mandatory big air than black 1 lozenge which might be drops and easy gaps. But both are just black as black is the tech grade for most of it when you are not hitting features...I think.


 
Posted : 31/07/2023 9:58 am
weeksy reacted
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