MTB skills - are you happy with your riding ability?

[highlandsflyer]

Re:

My skills barely exceed clicking on the BIN nowadays. Not being a racer, I never really worried about my skills rather than enjoying myself. The great thing about cycling, for me, is that there is a great satisfaction in riding well. regardless of how that relates to other riders.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

In a word, no!

Weakest link? Downhills.

Partly owing to low stem/high saddle bike set up. Anything steep and I can envisage myself going over the top. If I stop, I can't get my rump back on the saddle for the same reason.
Plus the aches and pains associated with crashing. They last longer than they used to, at 48.

Did a group night ride last night, and I swear I was holding up the lady behind me as I was nervous about crashing on a steep, grassy, twisty downhill.
In my defence though, I did only have 40mm of travel on my Sunn!

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re: Re:

In a word, no!

Weakest link? Downhills.

Partly owing to low stem/high saddle bike set up. Anything steep and I can envisage myself going over the top. If I stop, I can't get my rump back on the saddle for the same reason.
Plus the aches and pains associated with crashing. They last longer than they used to, at 48.

Did a group night ride last night, and I swear I was holding up the lady behind me as I was nervous about crashing on a steep, grassy, twisty downhill.
In my defence though, I did only have 40mm of travel on my Sunn!

Suspension is no excuse, there are many on here who could ride it on a rigid 50s bikes ;-)

 

[legrandefromage]

Skills for what sort of riding? I was quite flattered to be described as 'quite good' by a well known MTB dignitary whilst navigating some forest one dark November afternoon. Plus my skills at fast downhill with only drum brakes are now passing into local folklore...

 

[Mike Muz]

Re: Re:

In a word, no!

Weakest link? Downhills.

Partly owing to low stem/high saddle bike set up. Anything steep and I can envisage myself going over the top. If I stop, I can't get my rump back on the saddle for the same reason.
Plus the aches and pains associated with crashing. They last longer than they used to, at 48.

Did a group night ride last night, and I swear I was holding up the lady behind me as I was nervous about crashing on a steep, grassy, twisty downhill.
In my defence though, I did only have 40mm of travel on my Sunn!

Suspension is no excuse, there are many on here who could ride it on a rigid 50s bikes ;-)

I appreciate that rigid forks wouldn't have squished, that would have helped FC, decent lights would also have helped.
A bit.

 

[T'boo Ted]

At the moment NO.
I used to consider myself reasonable, not the greatest, but I was above average. But thee days Id say I'm well below average...I'm just not sure if years ago, I was above average in a small pool of people with no skills and thee days the pool of people riding has grown exponentially and a heap of skilled people have joined in...

But really stuff I used to ride off the brakes 25 years ago on a rigid I struggle on a 5 in FS bike.
I think I've just gotten really really crap, I did have a few years away from much of any mtb

 

[RobMac]

Re:

What I have discovered lately is if I don't ride enough off road my O/R skills plummet, what took months/years to build up start to deteriorate in a matter of a few weeks.
What I enjoy is steep/gnarly/technical/slippy DH but not at high speed and ditto going up :twisted:
I'm no good in the air, proper air I mean.
So am I happy? On a good day yes, but there's always room for improvement.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

I also find they improve after the first pub stop.

 

[gradeAfailure]

Interesting set of replies... I should clarify as well, I didn't just mean downhill stuff or jump/drops in terms of your ability; it can be anything! I've got a couple of short, sharp, loose gravel climbs on one of my routes that some days I pick the right line and clear easily, but others I make a silly line choice or bad weight shift and spin out and have to dab.

So does anyone actively do anything to improve their riding? On the climbs I mentioned above, often if I don't clear it clean, I'll ride back down, catch my breath and have another try, picking a different lne or shifting my weight differently. On flowy singletrack, I'm always muttering "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast" under my breath to remind myself to not be harsh on steering/braking inputs. Sometimes I go for a ride just to get to a particular section of trail, then spend an hour repeating it over and over (I hate using the word sessioning ), trying to ride better down it each time.

Just me?

 

[RobMac]

On the climbs I mentioned above, often if I don't clear it clean, I'll ride back down, catch my breath and have another try, picking a different lne or shifting my weight differently. On flowy singletrack, I'm always muttering "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast" under my breath to remind myself to not be harsh on steering/braking inputs. Sometimes I go for a ride just to get to a particular section of trail, then spend an hour repeating it over and over (I hate using the word sessioning ), trying to ride better down it each time.

Just me?

No! I do the same thing and when things don't improve I become rather vocal and question my own parentage or my sexual inclination, some times when its really bad I'll discard my bike in a nearby tree or bush while I calmed down