Your riding

How do you rate yourself riding off road? (DH style riding excepted). Big yourself up or be falsely modest if you want, but the genuine answers are the best..what is your strength/weakness?

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

i have no frame of reference as i’ve only ever really ridden in one place, my fitness level is only comparative to a small group of people who ride with me and i’ve only managed to keep up with yeti once.

i enjoy it though 🙂

Ooh, good thread. I don’t think we’ve ever ridden together but it sounds like you might be me.

I’m officialy Competent, Andy Barlow said so. I prefer slow, techy rocks and roots and the like is where I’m best. I struggle a bit with really narrow sunken trails, sheep-path sort of thing, brings out the worst in me. I can jump but I don’t really enjoy bigger air at all so I’ve not put much effort into it.

Averageness is hard to say… I mean, most of this forum will be above average for general mtbing, frankly the bar is low. But for enthusiasts it’s not the same.

My race results say I’m middling but then I guess the sort of people who enter the sort of races I like are mostly pretty good.

All in all- pretty solid. Faster and safer than most, but I’m one of those “good, ordinary” riders rather than an actual good rider I reckon. Lots of self-learned bad techniques executed very well, rather than good techniques, probably. There’s no shortage of riders that can run rings round me. But I’m pretty happy.

Fair to middling.

On the bike I’m more like a God than a man.

😉

I’m no simonralli when it comes to teh gnar, that’s for sure.

I’m good on smooth and flowy jump/bike park style trails and DH. Not so great at techy/rocky stuff and i don’t really enjoy that sort of thing. Being an ex (until recently) bmxer, to me riding is all about jumping off things rather than long epic rides and natural features.

Not really sure whether i’d be considered a “good rider” but i can ride a lot of the bigger stuff at woburn that i used to be scared of so i feel I’m not too bad 🙂 i used to be much slower than everyone else i used to ride with but i haven’t ridden with them for ages and i have improved loads since then so its hard to say!

Pretty damn awesome. 8)

not too bad for a ‘7lbs under 20stone’ grandad.

i think i do alright, but in every race i’ve ever entered i’ve done less well than a 1 legged man in an ar53 kicking competition.

(actually last on more than 1 occasion, and even asked if i’d consider ‘retiring’ before the start of my last race – i guess my reputation sometimes precedes me)

i’m beginning to suspect that i suck, and it’s seriously affecting my mojo 🙁 . In my dreams i aspire to midfield-mediocrity.

3/10 – 4 on a very good day with a following wind.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

I have most fun.

I’ve finished 4th at a few events. 😉

Difficult to judge I’d say as I rode solo most of the time.

Someone who does know what they’re talking about has looked at my riding and told me I have the potential to be a decent rider (probably some affirmative psychology involved, but IIRC the phrase was “You can ride a ****ing bike”).

I do think I have pretty good bike handling skills but that leads to me riding ‘reactively’ too much – relying on those skills to keep me upright once I hit stuff rather than reading the trail ahead and picking lines etc.

Best at twisty, rooty, wooded singletrack.
Not bad on drops.
OK on (moderate) jumps and rocks.
Worst on steep, techy climbs.

Northwind – Member
Lots of self-learned bad techniques executed very well, rather than good techniques, probably. There’s no shortage of riders that can run rings round me. But I’m pretty happy.

I’d go along with that for my riding too.

slainte 😳 rob

I have most fun.

Does Strava measure that?

Fairly shite If truth be told , lost a lot of confidence and shoulder strength when I broke my collarbone and have struggled to get back into mountain biking. It will come back Im sure , but need to do a skills course .
Actually looking forward to night riding season as thats when I last enjoyed riding with mates.
A fairly poor 3.5/10

Average DH racer (aim to be above halfway in the results am if I’m doing well, aren’t if I’m not!), above average endurance XC rider (never won anything, but had 2nd/3rd in a couple easier team 12/24s)

Though as above, many people ride but don’t race, racing at all /probably/ means faster than average?*

*i’ll keep telling myself that regardless of what you say 😛

Not as good as I used to be.

I was 109th out of around 200 in my Mega qualifier group, I reckon I’m now technically quite a bit better but not as fit. Shit at jumping but reasonable at most other things (apart from climbing quickly). Would like to corner faster.

Occasionally I start to think I might be getting to be OK on the bike, and that’s usually a sign that I’m going to fall off and injure myself entertainingly in the next few days.

I have most fun.

Does Strava measure that?

Nope. Smile does.

I’m better than I was!

Slowest climber and descender of the guys ive been riding with. I’d like to think I make up with in fitness some of what I lack in skills.

Can’t decide if I should give up smoking or go on a skills course to improve.

Does Strava measure that?

I am now going to come up behind people and yell, “I’M HAVING MORE FUN THAT YOU! MOVE OVER!”

😉

Nope. Smile does.

Can I download that?

Can’t race for toffee

Like some air, not afraid of steep, proud of my BMX and non-road background meaning wheelies and bunny hops come naturally which makes me awesome 😀

Never tried spd’s, never have Lycra on show, fall off a lot. My bashguard is not (just) for show. Working to improve my endurance atm.

Twisty tight flowy singletrack is my friend.

Could try harder.

I’m pretty good on the rocky rooty twisted type of trail that has others reaching for the brakes and slowing. The harder it gets the more i love it.

Rubbish at jumping, and unfit as is possible to be.

BUT, according to Dunning–Kruger, i’m likely to be inept and ignorant.
All of the above is possible.

If I let myself get away with it, I walk things I know I can ride. When I ride things that are beyond my expected level of ability I’m fine.I blunder into black runs on bike parks every single time and ride the lot then get off on trails I have ridden dozens of times. At my best on flowing singletrack though, corner quite well and keep pedalling rather than resting.

Reasonable on fastish rocky stuff, slightly worse than reasonable on slow techy stuff, not particularly good at twisty stuff as most of what I ride is straight lines with rocks. Beyond awful when airborne, hoping getting a bmx will help with that. Not scared of speed, but I like having my tyres in contact with the ground.

Ride a lot, sometimes I feel fast then as soon as I ride with my best riding mate I feel slow, good when its pedally and open, slow up when techy, pants in the air too. Love it to bits though and makes me happy as….

Can I download that?

There’s an app for it.

To download it – Simply press and hold the “On/Off” button until it turns off. Then go out and ride.

😉

On a slightly more serious note, I’m pretty happy with anything. .

Used to hate fast rocky stuff, then just rode more of it. Good at slow techy/trialsy bits. And overall not as fit as I’d like, but probably fitter than average.

It all Depends who you compare yourself with! I’ve got various mates that race at uci/world cup level. So consider myself slow! But on the whole, I’m not.

not bad in the techy bits, powerful on the climbs, pretty quick in flowing singletrack. Not bad racing single speed Vs gearies, still kick most folks arses. Sack of total bollox in the air and on downhill big boingy bike territory.

*all is a lie, I’m cacker than a cack thing sitting a pile of it’s poo* 😀

Overly cautious and getting more so as each year passes. I can’t to jumps or drops. Quite like climbing even though I don’t really have the fitness for it. Tend to avoid trail centres.

Lost a lot of confidence after a nasty fall last year. Ended up selling my FS & just have a rigid 29er HT. The thought of coming off again puts me off riding daft these days. Much prefer ambling along bridleways & cheeky local trails.
I bought a Kona Ute for christ sake, things must be bad. 🙂

I’m pretty good at climbs, both of the fireroad slog and technical variety, and i’m not too bad at tight singletrack though any jump or drop off more than a couple of feet high strikes fear into into my heart.

I ride mostly natural rough trails though, when i go to a trail centre with smooth, flowy trails i feel like danny hart! 😀

Inconsistent.
Occasionally very quick……..often pretty average.

As I’m a short arse I think I’m quite quick through tight techy sections but when it opens out I loose my speed. Don’t mind being in the air could get better at it. I manly like getting out in my local trails with my mates especially the one we call the old goat who is rapid on any open section and getting a cheeky McDonald’s afterwards.

I’m like that ford escort that you see out every now an then., old and broken but still plodding along…. 😀