loosing you offroad mojo ?

[ton]

has anyone ever lost their offroad mojo ? i think i may have.

just had a great week away with the lads, riding from leeds, into the dales then the lakes and back via the dales.
all the blokes have 30 years or so offroad riding experiance.
so i plotted the route using offroad where possible, but without hindering our progress too much.
on gentle offroad stuff, i was ok, but on anything remotely gnarly, i was way off the back, even getting off and walking stuff.
i found myself looking at the trail and obstacles and worrying about falling off or damaging myself or my bike.
walking on rocky ground is now a challenge for me with my fused ankle, and false hip, and i just think i am gonna hurt myself seriously.

is it time to hang up (for good this time) my off road wheels, and plan routes that i can ride 100% of the time.

[RIP]

Never.

St Peter (*) would beckon.

(*) If I'm out of luck.

PS. Big sympathies if you really have. You sure? . " fused ankle, and false hip, and i just think i am gonna hurt myself seriously" .. "on gentle offroad stuff, i was ok, but on anything remotely gnarly, i was way off the back" - find the sweet spot in between then carefully build back up? Off-road does not equate to gnarly/obstacles - plenty of remote tracks & roughstuff including gr*l. Surely a lot of the "off-road" experience is the location and macro-terrain etc not the micro-terrain? Reg feels unqualified to comment anyway, so now shutting-up.... calling Messrs G and P for real experience and expert advice!

[ScotRoutes]

I think I know where you're coming from Tony. After a spate of 3 stupid accidents in a few months, by the time I got back on the MTB I was just so anxious that I couldn't relax on anything the least bit rough. Of course, as soon as that happened I tensed up, slowed down, over-braked and that made everything even worse. I reckon it took me a year or so to get to a point I was happy to start riding that stuff again.

[Lazarus]

no but the length of recovery time from injury means i stay within what i consider my safety envelope and never do stuff where i am wondering if i will get down without crashing
The "gnar" is down at 8 ish for me so still able to do most of the lakes etc but I am careful these days
I suspect there will be a time when I feel like you but then i will just do tame off road /gravely stuff

[fatbikephil]

Ask me again after this weekend.....
Seriously its all about varying your ambition to match your skills. No probs all part of getting old.

[Richard G]

Yes, yup, aye, mmhmm.

Especially given my biggest ever injury was on a nothing bit of trail.

[lune ranger]

It’s difficult when things change but as I see it you should just do what you’re comfortable with and you enjoy.
When I got my head injury I lost half of my vestibular system meaning my balance isn’t what it was.
Whilst I’ve managed to rehab a bunch I still have problems. Loose rocky stuff is my nemesis and it frustrates the crap out of me.
Back in the day I rode almost entirely off road and especially MOUNTAIN biking.
I’m usually now riding longer mixed surface routes and still enjoying it. I will and do ride hard off road, I just know when I’m better off getting off and walking rather than risking what little brain I still possess.
As has been said above there are many reasons that off road riding is rewarding and ones ability to ‘clean’ hard sections of trail is only one of them, it doesn’t need to be the be all and end all.

[Jurassic]

I put myself off mountain biking about fifteen years ago by trying to ride stuff I wasn't comfortable doing. I ended up putting myself under so much pressure to ride harder stuff that it stopped being fun and I pretty much stopped riding for ten years. When I came back (to cycling in general but mountain biking in particular) my only concern was that it should be fun. I only ride hard techy things when I'm "feeling it" these days and if I come across something I don't fancy I get off and walk it irrespective of what riding companions do. Ironically I think I'm now riding better than I ever have done and am enjoying it more than ever as well.

[The Cumbrian]

Not quite the same, but I started mountain biking when I was 16, way too many years ago, and then stopped in my early twenties. I returned to it last year, and was disappointed to discover that I wasn't prepared to launch myself down things that I would have simple back then.
As others have said above, maybe on that trip you just weren't feeling it, and it's wise to listen to your mind / body in those situations. It doesn't mean it's going to be like that forever. Just get out and do some cycling that you know you'll enjoy. If you get your mojo back, great. If you don't, you've still been out having a good time.

[Moder-dye]

I'm pretty anxious too after my knee replacement and really just like the regular
rough road tracks and single tracks. Anything particularly technical I'll walk. TBH I've been like that for years as any off will really jar my back and lead to other issues.

I just enjoy the nature of being off road and the some fast not too tech downs when I can. Never had any interest in trail centre stuff. Gr*v*l is perfect for my needs.

I'm Currently road only and limited frequency
with that as C19 means there's no steroid injection clinics for my wrists and have been getting really bad. Even road with shock stop stem gets too much at times. Bad enough I've been looking at recumbents!

[Borderer]

I think any sort of fear response following trauma is pretty healthy. It's just if it doesn't diminish over time then it can become a problem. I am the same with road riding now following a car encounter last May. In time the trauma will fade and my head might start to forget, but at the moment it is definitely limiting what I feel able to do.
As others say - just get off and walk for a bit.

[Richard G]

On the bright side, there's still a load of riding out there that is fun without being super gnar.

I always preferred flow to tech anyway.

[Mariner]

There must be a law of conservation of off roaders as I have found mine again.
Just walk away and have a rest. Winters coming so explore other things and maybe
one day you might get back on yer bike and really enjoy it.

[jameso]

Since when has off-road had to include any 'gnar' and all of that enduro-related stuff anyway?

Open rural tracks, woodland bridleways, multi-line byways, Ridgeway/Salisbury plain terrain, it's great. Low risk, great experience.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Some of us thrive on it, some dislike any of it, some like a bit of it here and there.

You're all very wishy-washy today you are*






*however, you're also dead right and it's easy to believe that 'off-road' must some how involve some kind of mythical 'progression' in order for it to count, which as we both know is simply bollox.

[jameso]

Ha ^ sorry I edited that as I thought it was talking about my preferences over Ton's more valid safety-injury concerns.

(for clarity I just said I used to ride 4X type stuff in the very early days of that 'little jumpy hardtail' thing and felt there was always pressure to 'progress' and develop skills, whereas I just like to ride mostly. The 'progression' thing was directly related to risk and too much of that killed the fun for me. Some of thrive on that progression and the thrills, some of us don't ... and some of us are 'wishy-washy' about it )

[Cheeky Monkey]

I've lost my confidence to ride technical stuff for some lengths of time (like others) after banging myself up or when carrying an injury. Without being all Billy-big-bollocks I just found I had to push myself a bit to get it back.

As I'm getting older I've lost a bit of the urge to ride lots of tech stuff. I'm just happy being out and rolling along.

The only time I miss being more technically confident is when it "gets in the way" somehow of a ride or part of it.

I completely lost my motivation to ride about 5 or 10 years ago. I did other stuff and thoroughly enjoy it now I'm back at it though don't get out as often as I used to (several times a week). I've found also that I'm abandoning the chase of new and fancy gear (as much as possible). I wasted lot of time accumulating bikes and building up a similarly set-up fleet. Too much attention to gear, not enough time just riding. I'm still a sucker for some sweet Ti and other gear (tarps at the mo) but the fleet is being whittled down. Funnily it's more the emotional attachment that stops me parting with some and hell, I've only got rid of two

Take it steady fella,smell the flowers and enjoy the amble, if you can

[ton]

cheers for the replies everyone.

i thoroughly enjoyed the weeks away, it was just the few proper rough bits i had the hold back on.
on one day we rode from dent to grasmere, via borrowdale/breasthigh road which was vaguely exciting.
later in the day we went over garburn from east to west, i hated it, and then jenkins crag from east to west, which i minced down.

i will stick to the easier totally rideable stuff from now.

cheers.

[slarge]

cheers for the replies everyone.

i thoroughly enjoyed the weeks away, it was just the few proper rough bits i had the hold back on.
on one day we rode from dent to grasmere, via borrowdale/breasthigh road which was vaguely exciting.
later in the day we went over garburn from east to west, i hated it, and then jenkins crag from east to west, which i minced down.

i will stick to the easier totally rideable stuff from now.

cheers.

But those bits Ton are quite full on. There’s nothing wrong with having that sense of self preservation and I think in truth that most “mtbers” prefer the faster smoother tracks than the full on bits. It’s only the fearless youth that take their brain out at the top of some demanding descents. Join the rest of us mincing and pushing!!

[lune ranger]

cheers for the replies everyone.

i thoroughly enjoyed the weeks away, it was just the few proper rough bits i had the hold back on.
on one day we rode from dent to grasmere, via borrowdale/breasthigh road which was vaguely exciting.
later in the day we went over garburn from east to west, i hated it, and then jenkins crag from east to west, which i minced down.

i will stick to the easier totally rideable stuff from now.

cheers.

But those bits Ton are quite full on. There’s nothing wrong with having that sense of self preservation and I think in truth that most “mtbers” prefer the faster smoother tracks than the full on bits. It’s only the fearless youth that take their brain out at the top of some demanding descents. Join the rest of us mincing and pushing!!

Yep.
Jenkins Crag was specifically designed to be minced down.