MTB skills - are you happy with your riding ability?

[Muddy paw]

Similar situation for me , as well losing fitness etc ( not to mention weight gain :facepalm: ) i seem have lost the confidence i had .
I had a background in moto x and this seemed to cross over into my cycling , i was a good single track / downhill rider in the late 90s but i tried some descents and trails i used to ride back then last year and i was terrified lol ! just felt totally out of control and very much a passenger clinging on for grim death . .
In my defence i used to ride a Spesh s works fsr and Santa cruz heckler so maybe the full sus helped in comparison to the M trax i rode last year
I rode last sunday and my mud/rut control was awful , i am 56 at the mo :facepalm: .

Talk about opposites :shock: as you say you'd been putting the weight on where as i'd been loosing it due to a lack of appetite although over these last several weeks i've gained some weight back but need to watch i don't pile to much back on as i don't want to be back at 17.8 stone like i was at the start of the year ..


Yes i should imagine going from moto X into mountai biking felt quite natural for you at the time with a similar need of physical fitness for both although ..

Yes i have to agree with you about losing confidence when you've been away from it for a bit and especially going from being use to riding full suspension to hardtail as your weight gets thrown much further forward on a hardtail compared to full suspension infact i would go as far to say that you'd of felt more at ease on a full rigid with the seat lowered as that's all i've been use to tbh but i'm pretty certain that would put the wind up me atm .

I found out the other week that my old prefered riding position scares the life out of me and have had to raise the handlebars alot higher to what i had been use too so even though that's no where near the same compared to your situation it still goes to show how easy it is to loose confidence over a period of time but i'm still eager to get my 1st taste of off road when i'm feeling fitter and 56 years of age is still quite young to still be riding a bike these day's ..

 

[shinobi]

Re:

Muddy Paw
The riding position is a big change , wont be going back to 0 rise 150mm stems any time soon lol !
I rode my old Cinder cone last weekend and it actually felt pretty good rigid with the stock bar n stem setup .The old fsr and heckler were running 120mm ish stems which are long by modern standards

Paul

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: Re:

Muddy Paw
The riding position is a big change , wont be going back to 0 rise 150mm stems any time soon lol !
I rode my old Cinder cone last weekend and it actually felt pretty good rigid with the stock bar n stem setup .The old fsr and heckler were running 120mm ish stems which are long by modern standards

Paul

Hi Paul ,
0 degree rise stems at 150mm long :shock: adds quite a stretch to most frames which is close to what i tried using a short while ago on my hack so i know exactly what you mean as i found it very unerving due to the very twitchy handling hence why my latest stem i've acquired for my hack is 110mm and a 6 degree rise and while my stem is only 10mm shorter having that slight rise makes a difference coupled with riser bars which is great for road use and should be good for light trails too but as for proper off road i'll be sticking with 100mm or less ..

Ian

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

One minute, a shorter stem makes the handling twitchier. Longer stems 'slow it down'

Bit don't confuse 130-150 stem from the early 90s being wrong, they are what they are for the frame / fork design.

They then shortened as forks got longer and frames adapted to them. That is all.

 

[shinobi]

Re: Re:

One minute, a shorter stem makes the handling twitchier. Longer stems 'slow it down'

Bit don't confuse 130-150 stem from the early 90s being wrong, they are what they are for the frame / fork design.

They then shortened as forks got longer and frames adapted to them. That is all.

Yes , Mine was a comment more on the way things were and the evolution of things .
My M2 of the early 90s had the correct future shocks and the long low stem and I rode everything that way with no problem , the FSR came along with a carbon Judy and a 135 mm stem , maybe 5 degree rise then the Heckler with 80 mm forks and a 120mm stem still riding the same trails , probably in a lot more comfort and control though

 

[Woz]

Re:

Oh dunno. Never been my forte techy DH gnarly stuff despite
being a nob BITD and having a habit of riding
down stairs in a 2-up 2-down house
which ended in a fractured ankle and bent forks(w/o helmet w/ toe clips).


I'm happy if I can ride on the limit of the bike / tyres on
tight twisty forest / gravel
single track. Usually have
enough courage to find that limit
then calm it down a notch.

Same on ice or snow, but do seem
a bit of a pussy on wet rooty stuff
since I like faster rolling retro PSI.

Still can't ride on a 15cm wide plank of wood crossing a brook
without having an epic fail though
so need to improve on that.

 

[tufty]

Re: Re:

Still can't ride on a 15cm wide plank of wood crossing a brook
without having an epic fail though
so need to improve on that.

Thank fsck for that, it's not just me. I mean, it's not like "riding in a straight line" is a particularly *gnarly* thing to do...

Oh crap oh crap please don't fall in oh crap

 

[Muddy paw]

Re: Re:

One minute, a shorter stem makes the handling twitchier. Longer stems 'slow it down'

Bit don't confuse 130-150 stem from the early 90s being wrong, they are what they are for the frame / fork design.

They then shortened as forks got longer and frames adapted to them. That is all.

Yes , Mine was a comment more on the way things were and the evolution of things .
My M2 of the early 90s had the correct future shocks and the long low stem and I rode everything that way with no problem , the FSR came along with a carbon Judy and a 135 mm stem , maybe 5 degree rise then the Heckler with 80 mm forks and a 120mm stem still riding the same trails , probably in a lot more comfort and control though

I prefered the longer stem bitd regardless of fork length as i'd do anything back in the 80s for that racey setup and i only rode rigid forks so wasn't too worried at the time about how much weight was thrown forward on the bike ..

 

[shinobi]

Re: Re:

Still can't ride on a 15cm wide plank of wood crossing a brook
without having an epic fail though
so need to improve on that.

Thank fsck for that, it's not just me. I mean, it's not like "riding in a straight line" is a particularly *gnarly* thing to do...

Oh crap oh crap please don't fall in oh crap

 

[tufty]

I laugh now, but I was proper shitting it at the time, especially as I had seen the bloke with the camera beforehand so it was obvious any "falling in" would be immortalised. Going through the photos, it seems I was one of the few that rode across it rather than walking.

So maybe it was gnarly after all.