Realisation that I’m crap at mountain biking.

I’ve only been at it the last 20 years but my local trails are completly unrecognisable these days from a techy point of view. Maybe its  not you thats got worse, maybe its the level of gnarr that has gone through the roof :)

MTB is a broad church

And

Ride what you enjoy

sums it up nicely.

Think it helps that I avoid social media stuff and really only use YouTube for mtce tips/advice.

If you’re okay with it, carry on. If you’re not okay with it, carry on. If you don’t want to continue, stop. HTH! :-D

If you’re smiling you’re doing it right.  The rest of the shit doesnt matter

I never rode black and still don’t. Blue and wheels on the ground. On the road it seems I’m technically an excellent fast descender. Off road… I’m a happy mincer. Still fun though. I just don’t like getting hurt.

Back in 2010 by some miracle I bagged a season in Whistler at 53 years old as a chalet maid ? The number 280 has lived long in my memory, it’s how many laps I did in the bike park, It used to really  bother me that they were mostly Blues , Crank It Up Samurai Pizza Cat , Heart Of Darkness etc etc , occasionally I’d stray onto Blacks and do the smaller GLC drop but honestly they weren’t my favourite and I was crap at them .

Now looking back I think ” not bad for a bloke who a year before was diagnosed with Osteoporosis and was told never to ride off-road again “

Comparison is the thief of joy old chap.

Ride for you, it’s really that simple. That’s the secret.

Love going fast downhill, but definitely wheels mostly on the ground, have a good few KOM’s – you’d probably describe anything I’m any good at as old school mtb riding – fast with some mild tech

Rode all the Blacks in the early days of BPW, but a few of them are beyond me now – don’t do jumps and seriously steep tech scares the living daylights out of me.

As I’ve got older, the local riding groups have got younger and they go for the steepest techiest stuff that’s available – I don’t like it. There are some guys my age that ride it without batting an eyelid, but one bad crash, self employment and recently a TIA all hold me back a bit.

Love MTB, love a bit of tech, but know my levels and don’t feel the need to push them any more