How bad were you?

Ditch Witch

When you first started?


I bought my first MTB about 7 years ago.



I nearly died riding it home from the shop.





It was less than a mile.




And almost flat (very slight uphill that you don't even see in a car).

flashbax

The first ride out on my new kraken about 2-3 yrs ago before it got nicked was the scene of the best/worse crash i've ever had. We were all riding down a steep dirt track really wide looked really easy so i powerd off in front and failed to hear everyone shouting to warn me of the log steps fast approching. I had no lid no pads and hit the first log sending me over the bars and hitting the 2nd step then the bike landing on me...bent the wheel and front mech and made me look a total fool

.blitz

In the early 90s mrs blitz and myself were into mountains in a big way. We were working our way through the Munros and we were driving up to Scotland whenever we could.

The logistics of the first 80-90 Munros were fairly easy - just park up and start walking - but the rest were remote and inaccesible. So we had the idea of getting one of those new-fangled mountain bikes and riding in to the mountains. It worked really well; ride in, hide the bike in the undergrowth, climb the mountain, ride out again and back in time for tea and cakes.

At the time MTBing was a means to an end and it was probably 2 or 3 years before I got into MTBing just for fun.

Anonymous

i was always as bad as i am now. i never seem to get any better but i still have fun. my bikes are wasted on me and i am very much the kind of rider who would upset most real mtb riders as i am all the gear and no idea.

im not sure i will ever get any better either, im far too much of a coward to really push myself as i take forever to recover even from a decent pedal strike.

AndyOgy

I'm the total opposite.

I used to be really good when I were a lad. I'd ride whenever I found the spare tme, usually with a mate of mine who raced semi-pro. And I kept up.

However, a car crash and a smashed rib cage meant that I couldn't ride for a while. I also had another accident during my recovery period and messed things up even more. End result was that cycling became a thing of the past for me,

Many years later and fully recovered, I came into some money last year and purchased a Rockhopper. The ride from the shop to my flat nearly killed me and it was only about 1.5 miles. I got back into the swing of it quite quickly and was soon doing 30 mile off road loops but I'm nowhere near as good as I used to be, and probably never will be.

I'm so glad to have cycling back in my life but I'm gutted that I lost so much skill and fitness after about 14 years out of it.

blister pus

First ride?

12 months ago-ish, Got out of the back gate, rode around on the surrounding streets on a 90 quid pretend mtb bike, hit the first major steep road / climb to get out into some countryside and had to get off 30 yards up it - defeated. Went home sweating.

I realised I was unfit.




Now doing 20 odd milers of peak district terrain. ...........on a different bike.

stubs

I have always been rubbish technicaly but youth, fitness and stupidity got me around quite quickly. Nowadays age, lack of fitness and cowardice means I take it easier these days

Northwind

I've been riding bikes almost as long as I've been walking but I imagine I crashed a lot when they took my stabilisers off But it's a bit like riding a bike, you never forget.

captainfly

I was stunned and amazed how easy this MTB thing was physicaly, though having been doing 5 freeweight sessions a week with 5km on a recumbant exercise bike,, a couple of 10km sand dune runs a week with 10kg pack and a a few hours punch bag work and martial art training a week had put me a the fittest I've ever been, yes I am a fanatic who started out four stone heavier with gout and calcified arthritis, gentle low imact exercise kind of got the better of me :roll: and I still can't walk five steps on a hard surface without it hurting like a slegehammer to my knees and ankles :twisted:
Then on night watching the extreme sports channel the commentator on some mountain bike race said that on of the competitors had been advised to get into cycling as a low impact activity(start of april), two weeks later I had my bike Have done a couple of 20km rides and not felt too knackered, if fact my legs seem to love it, why didn't I do this sooner

Anonymous

sheepsteeth wrote:

i was always as bad as i am now. i never seem to get any better but i still have fun. my bikes are wasted on me and i am very much the kind of rider who would upset most real mtb riders as i am all the gear and no idea.

im not sure i will ever get any better either, im far too much of a coward to really push myself as i take forever to recover even from a decent pedal strike.

I'm a bit like you too. I'd been out of the saddle for nearly ten years and prior to that there was another lengthy break too. :oops:

What I hadn't realised was that a lot of the skills talked about, I actually picked up as a child thrashing around on my old bmx's etc.

As a relative noob reading magazines and forums, talking to other riders I found that I already had and used these skills from past experience.

So I am as bad as I was when I was aged 5-16 but looking at it now thats not actually that bad at all!

Now that my fitness levels are getting better I am looking for more challenging riding and i'm now hankering after an orange five pro to do it on.


Bikes are fucking awesome!!!

Things that help me a lot:

I visualise what I want to do before I do it (if I can) and the two things going in my head when it gets a bit challenging are:

Momentum is my friend

and

Only use the front brake

This might not be correct, who cares it works for me 8)

The Northern Monkey

My 1st memory of bike riding was being pushed into a big ditch full of nettles by my dad when I was about 4yo lol.

Been riding on and off since then

Remember getting some old manitou forks fitted to a daewoo mountain bike I has when I was 7/8, was showing them off to a mate going down stairs when the susp rebounded and threw me over the bars

Got a GT Chucker about 4-5 years ago after 2 years out... picked it up from the bike shop and ended up having to push it half way home because I'd got so unfit!

AndyBike

I started riding bikes when I was 4. I learnt to ride on girls bike with big fat wheels and tassles on the grips in 1970, at 12 I had a Raliegh Tour de France with 10 gears!


Started MTBing 12 months ago and bruised my ribs going over the hadlebars whilst weaving in and out of the white lines on the road. Only had 9 PSI in the front tyre because I was too excited to get out and ride.

Ditch Witch

Years ago, I was cycling home from work, pretending I was racing through Paris in the Tour de France final stage.

Gunning it like a loon toward home, rounded the final corner, commentary racing in my head, I'm streaking into the lead with Eddie Merckx chasing me down. Then, just as I'm about to become the first ever woman to not only race, but win, this illustrious competition of giants, my foot slipped off the pedal, straight through the front spokes. I flipped over the handle bars and landed on my back in the middle of the road.

Fortunately, it was night and no one saw me. At least, I didn't hear riotous laughter. Front wheel and left foot knackered, I limped the 200 yards home.

miss notax

I was VERY bad when I started riding - that was only 18 months ago mind and i'm not sure how much better I am now!

Having not ridden a bike since about 1985 I had a quick ride around the drive then off to Cwmcarn a week or so later with my other half. Lets just say that I was NOT amused, it involved a lot of swearing, walking downhill, and it's a miracle that we're still together.... :?

I've mastered downhills now, but I still like to think that I'm particularly talented at walking my bike uphill and over major obstacles

Ditch Witch

Did you cry? I did


every venue we've ever been to has a "teardrop hill"

miss notax

Oh yes

All part of the experience isn't it.... :? :shock:

Mark\' 62

Got my first proper bike when i was about 12 or 13, a yellow ten speed racer me dad bought it of a neighbour for £15, which in the '70s was probably a lot of money, i was made up out at 7 in the morning and on it all day in the school hol's, i can still remember the HARD leather saddle, lol, within 12 months it was sprayed black with gold go faster stripes on the frame ( you always new someone who worked in fords! ) and then a set of cow horn handle bars on and thought it was the best bike in the world, ha

memories what would we do without them,ha

stumpyjon

Well I'm probably at my peak at the moment, fitness and skill wise. Been riding on and off for 10 years but not what I'd call proper mountain biking. That started Easter 2007 when I got my stumpy FSR. I can rememaber my local loop taking me about 3 hrs on my old hardtail, not being able to walk upsatirs for 20 minutes when I got back to shower (legs wouldn't hold me :oops: ).

Now I can knock the same loop off in under an hour and not be knackered when I get home.

Skillwise it's a bit different. I think the trouble is as I've got better I've realised more and more what other people are capable of. 3 years ago a log across a path wouldn't have phased me, it was simple, it was unrideable, get off and carry time. Now I'm better I expect myself to get over it (even if I'm scared ).

dazoo666

Hadn't been on a bike for a long time (10 years) untill last year when I bought a Spesh Hardrock. Took the bike out for it's first ride through some local forest with a mate who has been biking for years. Apparently he could see the horns appearing out of my head :twisted: as I took a small jump, landed perfectly but failed to notice the trail heading immediately right as I carried forward. Consequently I took a spectacular dive over the handle bars which resulted in very painful wrists. Apparently I was lucky not to break both of them.

Nearly a year on and and a new bike and I would like to say i'm alot better. Skills have definately improved but i'm still a beginner by a long way. Can't, for some reason, bring myself to take the same jump. I bottle it every time.

Ditch Witch

Positive visualisation. Try it.


I use it all the time when snowboarding to turn on scary runs.


Close your eyes and see yourself going over the jump. If you bottle it in your head when you're not even doing it, then you have no hope. Keep imagining it until you stop bottling out. Imagine landing perfectly and taking the turn in perfect form.

Once you can do that, you'll have more hope of doing it in real life.

Sounds kind of weirdy beardy, I know but it works for me

Flenser

Ditch Witch wrote:

When you first started?

I bought my first MTB about 7 years ago.

I nearly died riding it home from the shop.

It was less than a mile.

And almost flat (very slight uphill that you don't even see in a car).

I got given my bike about two months ago now and it's pretty much the same story as above. Took it out for a mile ride the first time and could hardly walk when I got home!

Yesterday I rode almost nineteen miles. Amazing the difference a couple of month made.

SpinningJenny

I am now probably the fittest I have ever been, having taken up proper gym training with a proper instructor at the grand old age of 38. My trainer conned me into signing up for the capital to coast bike ride at the end of June (60 miles!) and I got into serious mileage a few weeks ago, plus the gym work and using the gym bikes to get used to time in the most uncomfortable saddle in the world.

When I first got back on a bike since the early 90s, I thought I would die. I had an 'incident' involving the kerb and my pedal which left me flying through the air and onto the pavement, head first (yes, a helmet was involved so nothing serious other than many bruises in strange places!). No other traffic was involved coz it was early o'clock on a Sunday. Just my own stupidity The OH doesn't know, otherwise I would probably be banned....

Anyhoo, now I'm on the MTB trail, new bike, new passion and much more skill than I had before. Plus a 26" wheel is much easier to manoeuvre than a 700c hybrid bike wheel.

Ditch Witch

Yet you say you're not ready to come out on a girls ride with Little Miss Slow me?

SpinningJenny

Doh! You're not supposed to read my posts, you know!

My hesitancy is due to the fact that (ahem) I'm a little, errrr, clumsy in the riding off-road department. Got myself sorted road-wise, but tbh don't enjoy wrestling with the motorised vehicles so much!

You however, appear to have been doing it for a while. I don't want to show myself up

Let me get used to Sexy Sadie first (she's a lively lass) and then I'll be unstoppable - probably literally!!! :shock:

mongoosed

When i started i was crap and i'm still crap now but hey it's all about the fun,i hate going uphill but i love tearing downhill,i don't have the fear anymore.

Nik_B

I was sweating and puffing a fair bit after this

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... 825&num=10

SpinningJenny

that made me laugh out loud, which has just spooked my work colleagues no end

nice one!

The Rookie

Had a holiday in Devon, hired some MTB's for the day to ride the Tarka trail reaslised how much I missed it (last cycled at Uni 20 years ago) bought a cheap and nasty second hand MTB, realised it was a mistake (as I couldn't keep up with my Daughter), so built up a bike from just a Giant Rincon frame (total cost £70!) and am now commuting half of the way to work (3.5 miles) which is OK apart from slightly tight thighs (its very hilly!) have done the full 7.5 mile commute once, but aim to get a little fitter before doing it everyday!

Simon