How "good" are we?

ride_whenever

Okay, i don't compete on a bike, I use my bikes for fun. I used to compete in rowing, and am now a coach.

I do not understand this idea of racing for fun... or training for fun. If you want to race then you should race heart and soul, and train to be the very best you can be. If you want fun, then by all means go and piss about, god knows i love nothing more than hitting the hills after training and messing about in the woods.

When you've poured everything into preparing for a race, you cannot afford to judge yourself on the performance of others, you've invested too much and the emotional trauma is too much. I know several athletes who've come second at national level a while ago now, and you still cannot talk to them about it. That's why you need to work against yourself.

Effectively you want to come back and say I could have done nothing to go any faster, it actually doesn't matter if you win of lose, and conversely, you can be a chunk in front, but if you slack off, you feel rubbish at the end of the race.

joshtp

i dont care about all this jusnk with races. thats not why i started the thread, i just think its interesting to see where you are in the scale of "noob-steve peat" you may think your cack on a bike, but what if your acctually faster than the average rider, or have better technique, or vise versa. i think its interesting to know that, it can help you improve, and help you to enjoy your bikin more. there is nothin wrong with wantin to know how "good" you are, but i agree that getting better is not the reason we ride, its a happy side benefit, and something we all want to do.

weeksy59

ride_whenever wrote:

I do not understand this idea of racing for fun... or training for fun. If you want to race then you should race heart and soul, and train to be the very best you can be. If you want fun, then by all means go and wee-wee about, god knows i love nothing more than hitting the hills after training and messing about in the woods. .

I don't see why that's not fun though ?

I gave 100% when i raced, but it was still fun even though i was going to die.

projectsome

imho, there's no real answer. on a hardtail I'm as fast as most guys I ride with but on a full susser not so fast... seeing as we all ride diferent bikes it's hard to tell.

grumsta

I do not understand this idea of racing for fun... or training for fun. If you want to race then you should race heart and soul, and train to be the very best you can be. If you want fun, then by all means go and wee-wee about, god knows i love nothing more than hitting the hills after training and messing about in the woods.

Well I've done a couple of races, I did some training but didn't train that hard and tried my best on the day, though probably didn't quite push it as much as some people might have done.

I had a great time and I think it improved me as a rider as I realised I could push it a bit harder than I normally do and stay in one piece (mostly).

Is that ok with you?

bomberesque

weeksy59 wrote:

I gave 100% when i raced, but it was still fun even though i was going to die.

yeah, see? that's just wierd

OK, sorry I mentioned racing. To answer the OP's real Q then I think that I'm pretty good on a bike in absolute terms. of course I'm better at some things than others but generally I believe I'm a good rider.

However, I've been riding mountainbikes for 20 years and by that measure I should be better than I am and certainly there are guys in my club who can embarrass me on any given trail, I suspect this will always be the case, although there are fewer of them now than there were 4 years ago when I joined.

Part of this is that I spent 12 years living in Asia and not riding much at all (once a month I guess). The last 4 I've been back in Europe and all the opportunities (mostly to do with land access and existing sporting and commuting infrastructure) that this offers and currently ride 4-5 days a week (road and offroad).

In fact, I have been frustrating myself as I realise that the years I spent only riding once a month are gone and I cant get them back and at 40 I'm realising that I'm closer to the last day I ride a bike than the first. I think I could spend the rest of my riding days improving and never get to the levels of ability that could have been achievable had i not taken "10 years off". When I catch myself thinking like this I tell myself to chill the fuck out and get on and enjoy my biking and at the moment I *really* am.

mac_man

bomberesque wrote:

In fact, I have been frustrating myself as I realise that the years I spent only riding once a month are gone and I cant get them back and at 40 I'm realising that I'm closer to the last day I ride a bike than the first. I think I could spend the rest of my riding days improving and never get to the levels of ability that could have been achievable had i not taken "10 years off". When I catch myself thinking like this I tell myself to chill the fark out and get on and enjoy my biking and at the moment I *really* am.

Well said... just wish I'd got back into it sooner... and I'm 45

weeksy59

bomberesque wrote:

yeah, see? that's just wierd

OK, sorry I mentioned racing..

It' OK mate, i'm not as sensitive as some on here

paul.skibum

I am a disappointingly competitive person (considering I have never chosen to compete in anything formal) and lately have had the fitness and ability to match so I go hell for leather to prove myself over my ride mates on anything we are on - downhill? I'll try to gap them. Flats? I'll try to gap them or overtake. Ups? I'll rip up and laugh at them floundering.

It's a disturbing trend that comes from finding myself fit and full of energy vs my mates who have kids or whatever.

I have no idea how I technically stand against other riders, as many have mentioned, the freeride stuff I am terrible at and scared of air, but tech riding on roots, tight singletrack etc I think I am pretty quick and pretty fluid. I have fun but at the end of the day I find myself out of the saddle cranking after cars/other bikes/objects just out of sight no matter what as I always want to go faster.

weeksy59

paul.skibum wrote:

I have no idea how I technically stand against other riders, as many have mentioned, the freeride stuff I am terrible at and scared of air, but tech riding on roots, tight singletrack etc I think I am pretty quick and pretty fluid. I have fun but at the end of the day I find myself out of the saddle cranking after cars/other bikes/objects just out of sight no matter what as I always want to go faster.

Get over to Pangbourne Sat morning for a ride with the lads in mountain high and see how you compare. Plenty of them are current/ex-racers so it's a good guage.

cat_with_no_tail

How good are we?

Dunno about you, but I'm fkn awesome!

And because I say so on an interwebs forum, it's automatically true!

jayson

Ive always fancied the idea of entering a race just to test myself more than anything else but the thing that always stops me is the thought of being completely embarassed and run into the ground by the other uber fit riders there, im not grounded enough to deal with that amount of shame!!!

I would say my overall fitness is average, cold be better but have been alot worse than i currently am.

weeksy59

jayson wrote:

Ive always fancied the idea of entering a race just to test myself more than anything else but the thing that always stops me is the thought of being completely embarassed and run into the ground by the other uber fit riders there, im not grounded enough to deal with that amount of shame!!!

I would say my overall fitness is average, cold be better but have been alot worse than i currently am.

I was lapped in the 3 lap Corrick Open race i entered with out 200m left of my 2nd lap.

There was no shame at all in it.

Anonymous

ive always thought i was a bit rubbish at bike riding but its never been a problem, i dont wish to get all hippyish about it but i just like being around bikes, be it out in the woods or in the kitchen tinkering with some thing on a bike or reading reviews and whatnot.

i recently moved and have been riding eith a mate i used to ride with about 3 years ago when i very first started riding. i really was awful back then, very coawardly and not very skilfull but my mate pointed out to me that i was a completely different rider in the tim esince we have ridden together and only after a bit of a chat i have found out that although im not sam hill, im probably not all that bad and certainly better than i give myself credit for.

i have been riding my ht and he has been on his fs and ive been pushing him on trails as much as he used to when i started so im pretty pleased and although "how good you are" doesnt actually matter, its nice for me to realise that the time ive been "wasting" on my bike has actually bourne some fruit.

.blitz

yeehaamcgee wrote:

who cares? As long as you're having fun, and aren;t being a pest to other riders, why does it matter?

We agree on something! Yay

ride_whenever

the beauty of mtbing for fun rather than trying to race is that there are a lot of disciplines, so you're going to have strengths and weaknesses. You can gauge yourself in various aspects against others.

A lot of DJ ers would be very good technical riders and freeriders, but I'd think that their fitness wouldn't be up to enduro riding.

IME if you race, you race to do the very best you can. You look back on it as fun, but at the time it hurts, hurts really badly, you do it because you know that the pain of not doing your best lasts forever.

yoohoo999

i'm only as good as the rate at which i progress. i compare only to myself.

if i'm still hitting bad lines on a trail that i've ridden many times, i consider myself to be a poor rider at that moment. However, if I start landing a drop nicely after having stuggled with it for a while, I am a good rider!

the ability to learn and develop your skills dictates whether or not you are a good rider IMO. Comparing to others is often pointless and can lower your confidence/morale.

Being around better riders who push you can help you develop though, and conversely if you surround yourself with people less capable than you it is arguable that you will progress more slowly.

That said, there's nothing better than being first down a technical trail!

dave_hill

weeksy59 wrote:

dave_hill wrote:

grumsta wrote:

Because it's fun?

It never was and it never will be. I'd rather stick a fork in my eye.

Why isn't it fun ?

Let me put it this way. I've tried racing (both on road and mountain bikes years ago) and despite my best efforts I found it to be one of the most dispiriting experiences I've ever had. Not because I wasn't fit enough at the time, but because I just found it to be soul-destroyingly boring.

I ride my bike for a giggle and to keep a reasonable level of fitness. I couldn't care less about my heart rate or how fast I've ridden a certain loop or track compared to last time (I certainly can't get my head round people who time themselves going round trail centres, I mean why?).

I comes down to the fact that I just don't have a competitive bone in me, whether sport related or in life. I'm not bothered about being good at anything at all. As long as I'm, comfortable, having fun and not getting in anbody's way that's good enough for me.

Oh, and people who do race (whether they're any good or not) drive me up the wall. Just too serious about the whole thing. Lifes too short to be fannying about with training regimes and energy drinks and proving how good you are to people who couldn't care less...

Dazzza

ride_whenever wrote:

measuring yourself against others is irrelevant.

always race yourself, if you half as fast as you potentially could be, but still faster than everyone else in the races, would that be enough for you?


(oh and before you say that's a ridiculous exaggeration, i know some people like this in another sport)

Exactly, i know i am currently fairly quick but i know the moment i compare myself to someone else it'll be the start of a slippery slope that leads to hardly no biking, i don't want to let myself get that complacent, i may have a race coming up in the new year i honestly don't know and im not placing too much emphasis on doing it, what is important to me is to just get out and exercise.

Like you say the race is against yourself anyone you beat is to me a side thought.

You really need to be focused to carry it off.

But i know deep down i will always feel there's more to be had.

supersonic

Me? I'm bloody rubbish!

rhyko7

i ride for fun but have some weird switch in my head where i cant do anything half arsed, as soon as i hit a decsent its serious game time lol, i cant help but be competative, some of my mates race DH and i love the challenge of keeping up with them.
ive never done a DH race so have no idea how well i would do

i thought i was really fit too, until i started doing enduro races and got well and truely wooped by the xc boys :oops:

i think we should have a bike radar riding contest forum member vs forum member lol

filthy667

I thought i was getting quite fit until i went out with my dad a few days ago.
I was destroyed and hes 69yrs old :oops:
He would wait at the top of climbs smoking a ciggy calling me a fat git...the old git.

grumsta

Oh, and people who do race (whether they're any good or not) drive me up the wall. Just too serious about the whole thing. Lifes too short to be fannying about with training regimes and energy drinks and proving how good you are to people who couldn't care less...

That's why I did silly events like the Avalanche Enduro - some people take it seriously but most people were up for a laugh and I had a great crack with the people around me.

lawman

i was 5th in an xc race at sherwood pines a few weeks back till i got a puncture. the guy behind me seemed pretty fit so i asked if he wanted to over take but he said he was quite happy to go at that pace, so i thought hey maybe im not as bad as i thought, left for dead on the singletrack tho i've always considered myself to be pretty good on dh and singletrack stuff, despite the fact i cant jump for shoot, but recently ive become so happy with my fitness, ive ditched my granny ring and big ring time to see how it goes :twisted:

zero303

Racing an xc race will only prove how fit you are and how much bike you can afford. I the Bristol Bike fest course (considered quite techie for an xc course) on a £4k Scalpel and I was mashing up the climb in the big ring and then making do on the singletrack, I'd done so much damage on my personal best on my own bike in the climb alone that I'd have never recovered the difference.

I reckon something like the Kona Mashup would be a good test of how good you are...

rhyko7

a couple people say races are boring and pointless- i cant agree with that at all. i dont think its sad to try and push yourself either, its something some people have built into their brains and others dont, i find it hard to do anything half arsed.if you want to dordle round then thats fine but i would be bored outa my mnd doing that!

this is only my 2nd year mtbing and have gotten well into it now, wish i had started years ago-i get a lot less injuries mtbing than i do on my BMX

i have done some enduro races:
Brechfa enduro - amazing course
Brecon Beast-ok this one was really boring
Forrest of dean 2 lap enduro-was really good fun

the 1 st one i did was the most fun cos i cruised it with a mate then dropped the seat of the long descents and proceded to pin it past a load of skilless xcers on tight muddy switchbacks-the new decsents were something outa a DH course, most the xcers walked it but i was loving it haha

Brecon was crap cos it was loads on the roads and only had couple good descents

Forrest of Dean was such a laugh, it was about 350 people crammed into a 10 mile course, the fun of it was the over taking and block passing on the downhill sections-was following my mate down in hysterics.i and my mate have an adjustable seat so i could pin in down the descents and make really dodgy over takes.
didnt rteally push very hard up the hills but really went for it down them-thats how trails should be ridden, races arent all about how fast you can do it, its about how many people you can p*ss off with harsh overtakes, saying that i normally come in the top 25% anyway.

im also one of those sad people who time myself around trails centres, i guess i just like to challenge myself and like to improve, but i always use more energy going down than i do going up so i aint really an xcer. i actually enjoy pushing myself hard around trails a lot more than if i go slow, i find going slow boring.

i even run a speedo and see how fast i can go down the last section of cwmcarn xc-i was on a mission to get over 30 mph lol

well thats my side of the story and how my way of thinking works

rhyko7

paul.skibum wrote:

I am a disappointingly competitive person (considering I have never chosen to compete in anything formal) and lately have had the fitness and ability to match so I go hell for leather to prove myself over my ride mates on anything we are on - downhill? I'll try to gap them. Flats? I'll try to gap them or overtake. Ups? I'll rip up and laugh at them floundering.

It's a disturbing trend that comes from finding myself fit and full of energy vs my mates who have kids or whatever.

I have no idea how I technically stand against other riders, as many have mentioned, the freeride stuff I am terrible at and scared of air, but tech riding on roots, tight singletrack etc I think I am pretty quick and pretty fluid. I have fun but at the end of the day I find myself out of the saddle cranking after cars/other bikes/objects just out of sight no matter what as I always want to go faster.

LMAO i thought i was bad

xtreem

rhyko7, I coulnd't agree more.
The fun of races is from how many people you're faster.
But if you finish at the last few places of course if won't be fun.

Also, like you, I always try to improve my top speed on some sections,
and I do sometimes measure my time, if I don't forger to reset the speedo.

And I push harder, pick different lines on every descend.

But on uphills and serious long XC rides, I just measure the total time.

weeksy59

Xtreem wrote:

rhyko7, I coulnd't agree more.
The fun of races is from how many people you're faster.
But if you finish at the last few places of course if won't be fun..

disagree, i wasn't far from last and although that was disheartening, it was my first crack at it and an absolute blast !!!! i enjoyed every second of it.... (sort if in a weird way).

The fun from racing is knowing that everyone else is giving it 100%. I'm lucky that when i ride with my mates it's not really hard for me, they're a chunk older, fatter and unfitter (real word?). So i'm never pushing myself hard when with them as such.

In the race you know everyone around you is trying their very very best.

That for me is the really pleasure.

xtreem

Hmm....let me rephrase that.
But if you finish at the last few places it might not be fun.

I think the fun of racing is the fact that there are a bunch of people riding all together.