Viewing 40 posts - 81 through 120 (of 125 total)
  • Who is the best rider you have ridden with?
  • BigJohn
    Full Member

    I was thinking it was a toss-up between Walleater (hi Will!) and Scruff.  Although I once went down that odd mid-Wales downhill course (that crossed a road – Nennerch?) about 20 years ago with a young woman called Tracey Moseley who I’d never heard of.

    daern
    Free Member

    It’s all relative.

    For me, it’s my mate Steve. When it comes to XC, he can descend on rocks faster than I can on tarmac – he’s simply immensely fast. I remember descending into Nidderdale in foul weather. He was on his “spare, spare” bike – an inexpensive hardtail – and I was on my exotic, carbon FS steed…and I could barely keep him in sight. Simply astonishing! The difference is probably even more pronounced when we start climbing – he’s a machine!

    On the other hand, last night, I rode home from work on the CX bike with a colleague and he repeatedly commented about how incredibly fast I was, and “how do you manage to keep your tyres stuck to the ground when riding rough stuff so fast?”  We averaged around 9mph for the 15 miles before we split and I was easily able to up this to 16mph for the remaining 15 miles on my own, while he more or less collapsed through the front door.

    Honestly, I’m no better than anyone else here, but from the perspective of a casual, commuter cyclist, I must have seemed almost godlike to him! I think I need another ride with Steve to remind me of just how shockingly average I actually am as a rider! 🙂

    bob_summers
    Full Member

    Ton, Martin Early lives round my way* I think, he takes photos of the junior road races. * Or comes over a lot. San Sebastian.

    There’s some talent come out of our youth club, Spanish u23 RR champions, CRI etc, ridden with some since they were 12 years old (when I could beat them!).  We get current and ex pros on the Saturday chain gang , but you’d need to be brushed up on your Basque cycling history to remember most of them; Olano, Osa, Beloki, Astarloza etc. Still seriously quick in their 40s ( except Astarloza who got really fat after retirement).

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    Beagleboy
    Full Member

    Haven’t actually ridden with anyone famous, but my mates and I were packing our bikes up in Glentress car park one winter’s day when a lovely young lady wandered over to me. She was asking how long it would take to do the black loop as they didn’t have lights (it was getting late in the day), and I said 2-3 hours depending on how quick she was. She reckoned that was do-able, so I looked over her shoulder and asked about her partner who was bent over his bike fitting his wheels on. I actually said something like, “What about your mate, is he fairly quick on a bike?” She replied that he was pretty good ( I saw him smile through his sideburns at this point), so I wished them the best of luck and turned around to see my two mates just standing there, gaping.

    Apparently I’d just asked if Guy Martin was fast on a bike.

    100mph
    Free Member

    Having ridden DH for 25 years and visited Whistler a lot of times, my ‘ridden with’ list is quite long!

    However, similar to others above, the most memorable and best have been the random invites at Whistler where we met a legend on the chair and asked if we wanted to ride with them;  Tippie, Gracia, Peaty, Lopes, Smith, Hill and both Kovariks.

    But the most memorable was meeting a grom called Jackson Goldstone when he was 5, he had no brakes on his bike ‘coz his dad said he used them too much!!!

    colp
    Full Member

    My lad was chatting to Jackson when we stopped before the last section of A-line a few years ago, said he was a really nice lad.

    Ridden with Tracy Mosely and Scott Beamont years ago, and Geoff Gulevich in Leogang.

    I ride these days with my 16 yr old lad and his friends who are all seriously good riders, keeps me young! This is him on 50:01 at Revs.

    flange
    Free Member

    I did a charity day at Sherwood with Danny Hart about two weeks after he’d won his first rainbow jumper.

    Considering he was on his DH bike, the way he went through the big set of trails there was pretty mind blowing. I bought him tea afterwards, proper sound lad

    Lester
    Free Member

    Tony Doyle aka Jedi

    ride with him and our group at least twice a week, and just me and him most Mondays.

    its great to ride with him doing exactly what he teaches, and with a casualness and confidence i will never have.

    you wont take this away from one of his coaching courses, but he is super fast as well as technically brill.

    also Zak Shaw champion Bmx er is pretty awesome too

    jeffl
    Full Member

    Did a #JennRide back in 2015 and Rickie Cotter was there. Lovely person, really friendly, nice social pace. Then it came to the hills and she was chatting away whilst I was blowing out my arse to keep up with her, brilliant 🙂

    jivehoneyjive
    Free Member

    I’m giggling to myself at the prospect of all the pro racers seeing this thread, but staying out of it, because they know in their heart of hearts the answer is Nico Vouilloz, Sam Hill or Greg Minnaar or for the ladies Anne Caroline Chausson, Rachel Atherton or Tracy Moseley, though of course when you start getting into the more freeride/freestyle side, things get a bit more complicated… I would mention XC, but to my shame I have to admit my ignorance in that field.

    Anyhoo, a few weeks back it somehow ended up with just Greg Minnaar and I riding down the Pleney, though it doesn’t really count, as we never exchanged a word (we weren’t in the lift together, I just caught him up 😁), he was recovering from injury and I’d had 2 teeth out the day before. Nonetheless, his fluidity and speed were of course impeccable.

    Riding with the RideIO team at the mega was great; Emyr Davies is a top guy and has mad skills to boot (he must be one of the top UK finishers of the mega, with an 8th the year before), and aside from being speedy buggers Louis Meade and Will Hart have top bantz.

    I’ve also ridden with the Dudes of Hazzard, though due to unfortunate circumstance, some of those memories are a bit tarnished.

    breadcrumb
    Full Member

    My mate Paul has a lot of KOMs, does that count?

    I rode the best part of a Strathpuffer lap with Jason Miles a few years ago. To be fair to him it was about 8hrs in, he was solo and I was in a pair.

    Thoroughly nice bloke 👍

    timmys
    Full Member

    Booked a heli-biking trip in New Zealand and turned up to find Chris Ball on the same trip. He spent the time at the back of the group chatting to his mate Pang* who was guiding the ride so didn’t actually see him riding. He said he’d send me some photos as my camera batteries died but never did 🙁

    * who I believe has second secret identity as the Huck Wizard so not exactly a shabby rider either.

    DezB
    Free Member

    of course when you start getting into the more freeride/freestyle side, things get a bit more complicated…

    Walleater done a proper ledge – Wade Simmons!

    Blazin-saddles
    Free Member

    Ton, Martin Early lives round my way* I think, he takes photos of the junior road races. * Or comes over a lot. San Sebastian.

    Not unless he’s moved recently.  He lives near Stoke.  although it’s an easy mistake to make as Stoke looks just like San Sebastian.

    twistedpencil
    Full Member

    Nigel Page showed me the cheeky trails at Rivi, that was fun, though I struggling to keep up.

    Shared a BMX gate with Liam Phillips, bloody rapid. Liam not me.

    Raced Craig Maclean on a BMX last Saturday. Track cyclist very handy on a small bike, left me for dead out of the gate.

    Nick Craig on a North West Mountain Bike demo day. I was helping out and he went off to chase down a rogue ebiker. Awesome acceleration.

    Shared startlines at the Mega with some great riders. Remy, Sam Hill etc..

    What I will say is that they’ve all been great to chat to.

    I keep bumping into Nigel and he must think who’s this prat who seems to know me, but doesn’t let on, last saw him at the end of the Mega with Elliot Heap.

    howsyourdad1
    Free Member

    I’m most impressed that most people on here actually ride!

    Some awesome stories on here. Very cool to read

    Saccades
    Free Member

    Robin Seymour – not a well recognised name (was sponsored by stw for a while) but makes everything look so easy whilst on a 80mm hardtail. Builds stuff like a trail fairy on speed and epo, incredibly polite when overtaking and all around good guy.

    Took me down a trail with hairpins so tight the only way to get around was to lift the back end into the air and flick it around. In the shitty, wet mud at 20kmph. I crashed wondering what the **** I had just witnessed.

    Current 3x world champion xco masters.

    ferrals
    Free Member

    Njee when he was quick I guess

    Crushing of inditement of Njee from Weeksy there!

    Don’t think I’ve ridden with anyone crazy good, execpt for a few yards when getting lapped in xc races

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    I yo-yo’d down Porcupine Rim in Moab with Rene Wildhaber.  I’ll leave it to you to decide who was doing the stopping and the overtaking!  We had a chat and he had a go on my fatbike at the car park at the bottom.

    People I’ve actually ridden with, though, probably Gez or Tym.

    BadlyWiredDog
    Full Member

    It depends a bit on how you define ‘best’, but I was fortunate enough to ride with the late Steve Worland a few times. He had this lovely knack of somehow floating effortlessly through the sort of flow-distrupting minor trail carnage that had everyone else reduced to spasmodic jerkiness. I’ve ridden with other people who were outright faster and more ostentatiously ‘skilled’, but he had a sort of zen-like fluency that you don’t often see.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    Reality is for me it’s hard to pick out a best as everyone I ride with is better than me anyway.

    spooky211
    Free Member

    I did a coaching day with Steve Jones (ex Dirt now GMBN) and Rob Breakwell (nickname was Bobby Dazzler, think he rode for the Dirt team back in the day) and they, especially Rob were very quick. Managed to get about 1/4 of a run down the Pleney with Sam Hill back when he was on an M1, was unbelievably fast!

    andyrm
    Free Member

    Been lucky enough to ride with quite a lot of really good guys from when I was racing in Europe quite a lot 4/5 years ago. Got to know Manuel Ducci (2013 Superenduro champion) around 2012 and was always blown away by his technical capability and power. He’s more or less retired now (but still in the industry) but still got skills and pace in abundance.

    Karim Amour is another one – effortlessly fast and unbelievably creative with line choice. Practiced with him at Superenduro Tolfa back in 2013 and it was like he saw a totally different landscape to the rest of us. I used a couple of his lines and made some good time (even overtaking 2 riders using one of his lines!), but the large majority of his creative lines were simply unachievable to a mortal.

    Without a shadow of a doubt though, the best is Nico. Was lucky enough to try and follow him in practice for one stage in Dolce Acqua 3 or 4 years ago. It wasn’t just how fluid, fast and effortless he was that blew me away, it was the unbelievable pinpoint accuracy of his manoeuvres and his ability to completely change direction without slowing down that blew me away. I tried (and failed painfully) to follow some of his more ambitious lines (why oh why did I think I could do that?!?) and not only did I not have the skill to take them, I don’t know how such a tiny man could generate the colossal amounts of grip required to take them. It’s one of those things I will just have to chalk up as “beyond understanding”.

    I always think of it as an absolute privilege to ride with top guys & girls who are on a totally different level – you not only get an insight into how bloody amazing they are both as riders and as people, but always end up picking up some nice little tips or new ways of seeing the trail ahead.

    djglover
    Free Member

    Road cycling, but last week  Geoffroy Lequatre, winner of the 2008 edition of the ToB came out on our training ride as he was staying in the area.

    Also I have ridden with Stephen Roche, who came on a club ride when he was in town to promote a book at a literature festival.  I don’t suppose you can get much better than a triple crown winner, he’s certainly up there with the great road men

    mildred
    Full Member

    Had a couple of days riding in the Portes du Soleil with Ffion Griffiths & Emmeline Ragot In 2011 (I think). Besides the fact they were utterly charming, friendly & totally grounded i was amazed at the finesse they had just riding trails.

    I recall one their brakes failed halfway round a big loop and despite loads of faffing we couldn’t sort them. I can’t remember which DH course (I think it was La Conche, but not 100%) but they rode this without brakes, drifting into all the corners to scrub off speed. It was a lesson in bike control from them both. It was also funny that they took the piss out of my lack of finesse so mercilessly throughout the ride, telling me I should apologise to my bike regularly. Emmeline went on to win the world champs that year.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    I do remember early morzine days for me seeing this bloke in a full on replica cannondale dh race bike and the sad bloke had got the kit on, oh no that was cedric..

    Year or so later saw Rachel Atherton at the top of the pleny and set off to follow, she was putting about 1s on me per corner without looking like she was trying. Then she hopped off onto some off piste and was gone.

    joat
    Full Member

    I once beat Ben Swift to the coffee counter, I may have pushed in when someone wanted to talk to him though.

    oreetmon
    Free Member

    Use to ride regulary with Elliot heap and his RIDEMTB partner. Elliot started riding for CRC about the time I became a dad. Not seen him for a while.

    4/5 years ago, we drove past pagey and ‘his mate’ on our way to ride the (Secret at the time) special-k track up rivi that we had helped to build.

    mate showed me a video a few days later of pagey and ‘his mate’ Sam Hill riding special-k.

    Gutted 😕

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

     I may have pushed in when someone wanted to talk to him though.

    I pushed my way out of the end of the whistler track end last year, you know be a bit forceful… Sorry bulldog ..

    edhornby
    Full Member

    I tried to race two posers with flash bikes and full kit along bury new road when coming back from work. then at the lights I spotted that they had their names on the bikes and it was the yates’ (just before they signed for orica greenedge) so said hello and that. I have never seen road bikes accelerate so fast. ever.

    iain65
    Free Member

    Robert Miller came on one of our club rides once, the autumn after he won the mountains jersey, a bit of a superstar in my book.

    hodgynd
    Free Member

    Reading the post further up the page about Guy Martin ..I was marshalling at a Kielder Marathon event a few years back ( which Guy took part in ) and while there is no doubting he is quick on a motorbike ..that didn’t transfer itself to a mountain bike ..

    lapdog
    Free Member

    I have raced many times against Anton Cooper when he was a lot younger.

    i still remember him huffing and puffing past me up a hill when he was a small 12year beginner. He started a minute behind us in sport class while I was riding expert. I remember thinking stupid kid going too fast at the beginning – he will blow and I will pass him soon. Never saw him again. He just kept improving until he now featured in a sprint finish this year with Nino for first place in a world cup! whereas I have now turned into a slow old codger who is getting interested in E bikes!

    MTB-Rob
    Free Member

    lucky to have ridden with a few great riders, Oli beck, Katy Crud, Sally Bigham,Nick Craig plus others at races on track, Rich Warner, Annie Last, Steve Peat + a few others.

    Shame it’s not who’s bike you worked on. would have a few more lol

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Two come to mind, 1st one was a guy called Farid Bourebrab who we followed on a guided day around Chamonix in 2009.

    More lately it would be Brett Penfold who’s one of my son’s best mates & rides an Airdrop, interesting article here…

    https://www.airdropbikes.com/blogs/news/race-winning-bitmap

    TheLittlestHobo
    Free Member

    Stuart ‘Pepe’ Winder.  Didn’t know him very well but my neighbour rode with him all the time.  Insane bike skills.  RIP

    alangrozier
    Free Member

    Crawford carrick Anderson Scottish mountain bike chap

    DezB
    Free Member

    ^^ Legend

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    I had a couple of beers the night before with the guy who won SSUK. Seeing as drinking is such an integral part of the event I think that counts. But that means my excuse of being hungover doesn’t count!

    reggiegasket
    Free Member

    rode with Kevin Schwantz on the Maratona for about 100m. I was in awe.

Viewing 40 posts - 81 through 120 (of 125 total)

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