Where are all these people with their perfectly suited and perfectly set up bikes and why do so many of them ride slower than me ?

You only finish halfway up the field? I imagine all the good bikes are finishing ahead of you and the Asda specials behind.

Personally I have a carbon race machine, my body is a temple I am a finely tuned, finely honed racing machine and I'll kick your a55 on whatever bike you choose 29er, 69er, 26er, RM250. Bring it on old timer… 😉

The question remains, why are so many riders who are convinced that having the shock preload precisely set and running exactly the right tyre pressures even slower than me.

KINGTUT – Member

They are not as fit, obviously.

Yup

Or maybe don't feel the need to prove a point.

Either way, it's not exactly rocket science. In fact, it's not even science at all. Your observations would have much more relevance (other than qualitative assessment) if either

a) all the other riders in the races were milandstrailquestgrahams and riding different bikes

or

b) you took all the riders and put them on identical bikes to yours.

I guess you could, of course, always start riding a light carbon framed XC race machine, with finely tuned suspension, and see where you end up in the race stakes. 😉

I'd say stop fixating on comparing yourself to others and have a good hard look at yourself:-

Fatties vs thinnies & oldies vs youngsters – How would YOUR times change if YOU lost weight? As an ex roadie with a bit of pedigree I can say that my performance is significantly lessened (and riding enjoyment decreased) by the extra "comfort" I'm currently carrying. Age has also blunted me. I can't do anything about time sadly but I can sort out the extra baggage – not to get back into elite contention but I know I'll enjoy myself more.

Skillz – Would YOU be faster or enjoy the trail de jour more if YOUR skills were honed? My off road skills are not great but I'm always trying to improve them. I came to mtb with practically no off road sense and was still a lot faster than most because of a big engine from the road – making big gains on the forest tracks & easy stuff and then having the world queuing up behind me on the techy stuff. If the course was mostly easy (a la trailquest style riding) I'd do well, and increasingly poorly as the technical content rose. You might be happy where you are technically and that's cool but improving in that department will improve your adaptability and ultimately your ability to enjoy and wider variety of riding.

Kit – Would YOUR riding improve if YOUR kit was better honed? All kit and setups have an ideal window of usefulness. A Rohloffed 29er with bar ends & thin tyres blown up to buggery would absolutely be the ideal bike on some tracks – I can imagine it being the perfect weapon of choice on a muddy trailquest. But is there a chance that you might be faster on certain locals if elements of that changed. It might be that your current skills and riding location preferences dictate that this might not be the case, but don't besmirch those that venture further afield and feel the need for example to use wider tyres at lower pressure to stay fast and in control. It might be that until you are in their shoes, you will never understand.

And finally, the kicker – you ain't all that! Sorry fella but you do have a little room for improvement in the performance department if that is important to you and maybe shedding a little weight & adding a few skills (I wonder if "must be able to bunnyhop" should be read a little less literally and thought of as a benchmark of "comfort and at oneness with ones bike"?) might do that. I checked your set2rise lap times & whilst this is clearly an apples and pears comparison my mate's wife was on average 8mins a lap faster than you. Now admittedly she was part of a team and only did the 4 so it's a harsh comparison with you soloing but……she is not the quickest on the flat tracks and had to get off and walk at least half a dozen of the techy bits on the lap as she bricks herself with anything pointing downhill (she has only be riding for a year). She was also feeling terrible and throwing up all night – turns out she was pregnant.

If I was you I would be reviewing your current racing performance, thanking whatever/whomever you believe in for an inherently good engine, and instead of wondering why those that obsess with the technical minutia are not as good as you think they should be, think positively about what you can learn from them.

CBA reading all but the or has made some points and missed a few. her not actually that fast and huge amounts of tripe are spoken on here.

…so how come I,

It's because all your initial assumptions are wrong…….nothing to be big headed about getting them so wrong.

Best missing the point completely so far post…

"Sorry fella but you do have a little room for improvement in the performance department…"

Thanks for trying to be tactful and not hurt my feelings while pointing out that I am slow, after I have mentioned several times how slow I am.

Best thought provoking post so far…

"a) all the other riders in the races were milandstrailquestgrahams and riding different bikes"

Wow, can you imagine that ? A whole race full of MidlandTrailquestsGrahams. That really would be awesome.*

As I said, I used myself as an example because I'm slow.
I used racing as an example because it offers an opportunity to compare one bike and rider with another. Maybe I should have said that riding a bike that doesn't match the majority view on STW forum of how a bike should be set up doesn't prevent me from enjoying the scenery as much as other people.

* Before we get in to even more misunderstandings and accusations, this was satire. Or possibly self parody, I'm not sure. My language skills are at about the same level as my mountain biking skills, although my spelling and grammar are better than cynic al's.

MidlandTrailquestsGraham – Member

OK, I do mean to sound big headed. If that bothers you, stop reading now.

From various threads on this forum,it seems to be a common belief that…

29ers are no good on twisty singletrack
Fat people ride slowly
Tyres must be at least 2.2" wide and run at 20 – 30 psi for optimum grip
Hub gears are heavy and slow
Suspension should be professionally modified and adjusted to suit the rider
Bunnyhopping and other technical skills are essential
Bar ends should not be used with risers

…so how come I, a 47 year old with a BMI of 28, riding a fully rigid Rohloff 29er with bar ends and risers and 45psi in the 2.0" tyres, who is unable to bunnyhop up a curb and gets off to walk the tricky bits, can consistently finish in the top half, usually in the top third and occasionally in the top quarter in races from 50km to 24 hours and currently be 5th in the Midland Trailquests Autumn League (did I mention I ride trailquests ?)

I even managed to get a top half finish in the Kona mash up after they'd sorted the timing shambles, when trail centres are really not my sort of thing.

Where are all these people with their perfectly suited and perfectly set up bikes and why do so many of them ride slower than me ?

Sorry, I think you need to reread your first post. I think you have missed your own point, not I!

What you have tried to say is that someone who does not fit into what you think is a commonly perceived stereotypical "fashionable" persona can perform at a more than respectable level – therefore making the argument that the qualities that constitutes the minimum requirements of a "proper" mountain biker (lithe body, riding a fully tuned bike with fat soft tyres) are null and void. Your assessment indicator for this argument was comparing your performance to others. Whilst I understand and even agree with elements of your argument, what I and many others have said is using your performance as proof does not really cut it as YOUR PERFORMANCE (note – I'm not calling you slow – lots of aspects make up performance inc fitness but also experience, skill level and equipment choice) is not all that great judged by standards I and others would consider worthy.

I used racing as an example because it offers an opportunity to compare one bike and rider with another. Maybe I should have said that riding a bike that doesn't match the majority view on STW forum of how a bike should be set up doesn't prevent me from enjoying the scenery as much as other people.

– now you are just changing the goal posts entirely 😆

Slightly as an aside – I would suggest the "perfectly suited and perfectly set up bikes" you refute are just carefully considered purchases which the owner hopes will suit their preferred riding style and location – not unlike your own purchase! If you went into Halfords and said "Sir, give me your finest bike £500 can buy" it is very unlikely it would be a 2.5" tyred 750mm handlebared long travel hardtail as beloved my many on here. But neither would it be "a fully rigid Rohloff 29er with bar ends and risers and 45psi in the 2.0" tyres". Both are nichemongertastic – one fashionable to pseudo gnarr rad dudes and the other fashionable to the bearded trailquester 😉 and both the preserve of STW forum geeks obsessed with kit (please note I own or have owned bikes that happily fit into both these categories!). If you mainly ride trailquests your beardy bike is the best bike for the job so if you pass apparently fitter folks on their silly wide tyres & bars on your trailquest silky smooth forest tracks it's hardly surprising. Similarly if throwing yourself down blacks is your thing the beardy bike might be the reason you have a queue behind you and it would have been a more surprising statement if you had asked why others were so much slower than you in that environment.