jam bo wrote:Recently though, I've started trail running after realising on a couple of exploratory dartmoor rides I'd ruined a perfectly good run by taking a bike for a walk.
So true...!
Pity my knees are to creaky for KIMMs & OMMs now.
As for skills training, I think the transition, many moons ago, to SPDs has limited my progression and sticking flats back on for 'skills days' would probably allow me to attempt things where I am likely to fall off without landing with a bike still clipped to my feet!
jam bo wrote:Recently though, I've started trail running after realising on a couple of exploratory dartmoor rides I'd ruined a perfectly good run by taking a bike for a walk.
So true...!
Pity my knees are to creaky for KIMMs & OMMs now.
As for skills training, I think the transition, many moons ago, to SPDs has limited my progression and sticking flats back on for 'skills days' would probably allow me to attempt things where I am likely to fall off without landing with a bike still clipped to my feet!
I've gone back to clips from flats. When it gets a bit rowdy and fast on a short travel bike, being attached to the pedals means you can let the back end skitter a bit without worrying about blowing a foot of a pedal.
As for skills training, I think the transition, many moons ago, to SPDs has limited my progression and sticking flats back on for 'skills days' would probably allow me to attempt things where I am likely to fall off without landing with a bike still clipped to my feet!
Skills coaching / training isn't about falling off - if you're falling off, you're not really learning. There's a lot of "if you're not falling off, you're not trying hard enough" out there. Truth is, if you are falling off then something's wrong. If you're happy and comfortable clipped in, there'd be no benefit to change to flats for coaching.
There's also a belief that 'jumping off stuff' is what's important but that's far from the truth as well
I think the SPD vs Flats debate(?) is more along the lines of one less thing to worry about when learning than actually falling off but it probably depends on just what you are practising. I don't think I'd want to practice manuals or wheelies with SPDs - looping backwards wouldn't be fun!
I switch between SPDs and Flats on a regular basis but it's more about what I'm expecting from the ride than any notion of "I should be using X".
I've no interest in jumps or doing Danny McAskill style tricks or the like but being able to bunny hop water bars is useful in my general riding (look at all the comments about water bars in the HT550 reports), I just have to learn how to do it.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
whitestone wrote:I've no interest in jumps or doing Danny McAskill style tricks or the like but being able to bunny hop water bars is useful in my general riding (look at all the comments about water bars in the HT550 reports), I just have to learn how to do it.
I'll come find you at the YD200 and give you a lesson (not that i'm claiming to be the worlds greatest bunnyhopper) and we can spend the first mile or two leaping around the roads of Skipton
As for skills training, I think the transition, many moons ago, to SPDs has limited my progression and sticking flats back on for 'skills days' would probably allow me to attempt things where I am likely to fall off without landing with a bike still clipped to my feet!
Skills coaching / training isn't about falling off - if you're falling off, you're not really learning. There's a lot of "if you're not falling off, you're not trying hard enough" out there. Truth is, if you are falling off then something's wrong. If you're happy and comfortable clipped in, there'd be no benefit to change to flats for coaching.
There's also a belief that 'jumping off stuff' is what's important but that's far from the truth as well
If I read the quote from above I can sense where this sentiment comes from...
Bearbonesnorm wrote:
If we're absolutely honest about it, 95% of the mountainbike population still ride as badly as they did 5 or 10 years ago
If I keep riding within my limits progression is slow or basically non existent. For some progression is part of the fun too...
Same goes for any new thing you do. I'm not saying you'll not learn anything if you don't push some boundaries and make mistakes, but gosh it'll be dead slow. No matter if it's paragliding, packrafting, mountaineering, seakayaking or mountainbiking.
Are we even talking about mountainbiking or cycling?
(I had a rather long text about differences and similarities and techniques and much more including examples from the perception blahblahblah and fussing about how there's no need to discriminate jumping off stuff with more practical examples and blah... but lets quote Ian B. instead:
"[...]came past me again, riding with a fluidity that I longed to master, hopping each of the water bars like a gazelle"
That's where learning how to bunny hop properly, maybe facilitated by flats rather than cleats, and know how to jump of things come in handy too, UK long distance riding.
Get loose folks. Get to know when your tyres loose grip, let them go, learn how little they need to catch again. This and more will in the end also help you ride with confidence when not wanting to even get close to your limits.
If I keep riding within my limits progression is slow or basically non existent.
Gian, I'm sure that's very true but I think you need to remember that you probably don't fit the profile of the 'average rider' ... who would likely benefit greatly by learning (and importantly understanding) such things as correct body positioning and braking ... many peoples riding skill set is built on very shakey foundations, so it's not surprising that cracks appear when put under pressure
The nub of the thing seems to be, what has bike development done for us?
For me the answer is errr... both complicated and very simple.
I am completely in love with riding bikes, rigid ones with flat bars, rigid ones with drop bars (enjoyable rather than outright fun), front suspended ones and fully suspended ones.
Back in 1997 I entered the wonderful world of mountain biking. A drunken episode saw me become the proud and more than a little baffled owner of a Specialized Rockhopper, it was fully rigid, had v brakes and 3 chainrings.
I rode it to work and back, sometimes looping away from the direct route to ride some paths and tracks.
Within weeks I knew my local hill like the back of my hand, felt healthier and was looking for far flung adventure. I loaded a backpack and rode of into the wild blue yonder, by dusk I had got as far as Crowborough. Some digs in a pub, a local running clubs AGM and the company of a marathon runner for the evening and it dawned on me that my bicycle and I had an exciting future together.
Lunchtimes were taken up with reading bike mags and dreaming of adventure. An article waxed lyrical about a place called Coed y Brenin. A visit to the train station on the way home and my tickets were booked. A tormented train journey and the realisation that bike mag info is not always well researched as I was told I couldn't bring my bike into the supposedly bike friendly b and b did nothing to dampen my excitement. I rode Coed y Brenin on my rigid Rockhopper, I loved every second! At the cafe I meet people, we infused about the trail, the near misses and about our bikes.
Fast forward to the spring, 2017.
My son calls me up, he has been talking to a lad at college, the lad is mad into mtbing. My lad tells me he has invited this kid along on our summer hols, well, I have always encouraged him to be generous and friendly!
I decided to put a trip together, a 6 bed chalet is booked and I set about filling it with friends and friends of friends. Some who have never been on an uplift, some that have never pedaled up a hill.
A cracking week is had by all, we loved every second!
In the bars, cafes and in the garden we infused to each other, to strangers in lycra, to strangers in body armour and to anyone else that would listen about the trails, the near misses and about our bikes.
The bikes are to some degree not what matters, it's the biking that counts. The places it takes me, the people I meet, the deep down heart felt joy I take from riding a bike.
Both in body and mind I am happy and healthy thanks to these wonderfully interactive machines that are basically the same as they have ever been.
Ok, so did I ride the same bike down the trails as I did on my first visit to the Alps back in 1998. No.
I do still ride many of the same trails, now my chosen (yes, it is a choice, no one forced me) conveyance is a 160mm travel 29er. has my riding ability plummeted due to the bike dumbing down the experience, I don't think so.
As with all things in life, I chose what I feel is the appropriate tool to achieve what I want. What I want is to ride hard, to push myself and to see how fast and how far I can take my riding. Sometimes that involves riding my beloved rigid around some pretty techy trails, I get a perverse amount of pleasure from being on the tail of someone on a 'more appropriate' bike, seeing their face when you are still there at the end of a trail does give me a nice warm if somewhat smug glow. Often though I find that the bike is the limiting factor. On a 'more appropriate' bike I look to take it and myself as far as I can, often I am the limiting factor, which works for me, it means I have room to progress, to explore and push, which I enjoy.
I work on my riding constantly, bike development simply opens out the amount I can improve and brings a different sort of pleasure.
After 20 years of riding I am still developing, which is one of the things I love about riding.
My personal development as a rider has far more to do with what terrain I ride than the bike development of the last few years. I believe mountain biking is about 85% psychological, some of that comes from riding a bike you know and trust but the majority comes from knowing you have worked on and gained the relevant skills and knowing that when pushing beyond those skills you are doing so incrementally.
but sometimes people let their heads get in the way of their 'progress' .... i have coached many into doing things they Never thought they ever would in only a few short hours, but some have let their fears get the better of them
but sometimes people let their heads get in the way of their 'progress' .... i have coached many into doing things they Never thought they ever would in only a few short hours, but some have let their fears get the better of them
Yes but your thought process doesn't have to be negative. You control and ultimately overcome your fears and anxiety with your head ... not your nads I find once people have a proper understanding of what they're trying to do, why they're trying to do it and how to, then MTFU is very rarely called for.
