A Lesson in MTB'ing

White Ninja

Hi all,

I thought I'd share a lesson I learnt last week, perhaps better described as a reality check.

So here I am, a bloke in his`early 30's, reasonably fit, gym 2 to 3 times a week, rides of 20-30 miles every few weeks or so (but only in fair weather). I've been into cycling since my teens, having been an avid fan of Orange Bikes, buying my first C-16R when I was 16 and building it up to what I considered a pretty awesome spec (anodised purple, Middleburn this, RaceFace that, etc).

I've always ridden local to where I live in Essex, so Hadleigh Castle Country Park, Bedgebury,and Thetford on the odd ocassion. So now owning a Specialized Rockhopper Pro '09, the option arose for me to take my bike to Wales on a recent family visit. What better excuse to get in a days riding at one of the many purpose built trial centres I had been riding and druelling over in the magazines.

Well this is where my lesson began..... BRECHFA!!!
So I considered myself an MTB'er, a pretty tidy bike, a few quid spent on clothing, lid, gloves, etc over the past 20 years I thought I'd been riding for. Well GOOD GOD.... I have never ridden such terrain, such an awesome and challenging trail. What had I been doing for thye previous 20 years, a ride around Epping Forest compared to Brechfa was like comparing taking food rrom a baby against 12 rounds with Mike Tyson over a piece of mouth-watering steak.

Needless to say it tested my level of technical ability, which I now realise is utter cr@p, after going over the bars in pretty spectacular style on a blue graded run. I'd like to blame the bike and insist the Mrs that the new Zesty be purchaes ASAP, but with a liitle'un on the way I'm sure she'd disagree.

Just wanted to share my experience and let you all know that I have found god.... and he is mountain biking in Wales :-)

Take care all.

Ninja

weeksy59

THis is why i now spend at least 1 weekend a month at Afan

Raymondavalon

Experience is the hard teacher, she gives the test first and the lesson later..
Been there and done it myself...

White Ninja

I've got to say that I loved every second of it, although had numb fingers and hands after most of the downhill sections, gripping too tight, shocks to stiff???

peter413

White Ninja wrote:

I've got to say that I loved every second of it, although had numb fingers and hands after most of the downhill sections, gripping too tight, shocks to stiff???

You probably weren't riding properly (letting your arms and legs act as suspension as well as the supension). I get really bad hand fatigue if I don't ride properly but can also avoid it even with the forks rock solid.

Maybe try moving your brake levers inwards (levers inwards towards the grips but leave the fixing bolts alone if you like the psoition of the brake itself). That used to cause me alot of pain before I did that.

handful

I did Cwmcarn after a couple of rides on my first mtb and felt exactly the same.....was well out of my depth. :oops:

popstar

Nice post by white ninja ...

Did exactly the same things , over confident , fly over the bars ... back to earth type rider lol. Now I am more cautious, yet not shy to push limits again ... my shoulder and hip just have to heal a bit then again all will be fine.

Have to admit, after riding in Wales ... you just can't give up and wish to come back there. Myself going with wife at the end of March to CYB again. Although, there are nice places to ride in South East too.

I am massaging idea of getting fit to climb Snowdon, and secretly planning a trip to Kirroughtree for pure awesomness of it. Also hear a lot of good things about Cwmcarn.

But for Sunday Warrior type of riders, knee-elbow pads do little wonders at saving a lot of trouble after those unexpected crashes.

p.s. in my own experience with painfull wrists-arms , I have moved seat position 1inch back and problem solved, although it gives a bit of understeer into my handling now ... but guess need to adapt riding style a little to compensate. But then every rider is different, maybe you have different issue completely.

barcanova

I got exactly the same buzz last october with my first ride in Wales.....I usually ride Thetford 2 or 3 times a month but took my new Rocky Mountain Element 50 to Coed y Brenin and rode dragons back and then Tarw and now I'm well and truly hooked, planning to ride as many different trails in Wales as possible over the coming riding season!!
Also experienced the same numbness in my hands/fingers/shoulders and definately put it down to holding on too tight, I figure the more I ride then the more relaxed I will become.....

ilovedirt

I just rode sherwood pines yesterday, which was my first trail centre experience. It was totally different to my local XC type riding i've been doing for the last god knows how long! shame the trails at pines are really in need of some TLC. Can't wait to get to some other trail centres though! Cwmcarn, dalby, whinlatter and glentress are all on the list!

Tim.s

Never hurts to taste a little modesty now and then, I had a similar experience a few weeks ago at Afan.

Can't remember which trail but on one of the nippy downhill sections I was following a buddy at what felt like a stonking pace, absolutely flat out for both of us when I hear an "excuse me mate" and some bloke just absolutely flies past me like im stood still, he wasnt even on the trail when he passed me, just levitating above the rocks at the side. He then dispatched of my buddy with similar flair and disappeared into the distance. The fact that he was riding a XC hardtail and I was on a 6" all mountain bike added to the fact that he was simply on a completely different level to us!!!!

Dr S

That takes me back to the first time I rode the North Face at Grizedale, loved it,decided quick smart it was time for some front suspension.The sig tells the rest of the story, still love that trail rode it couple of weekends back in the ice and snow. First time i've cleaned the initial climb all the way to the top.

Enjoy,

Nick

popstar

Tim S* ... shame on you! I mean not for talking to that flyer on HT. Would love to see this kind of people in action and have a little chat. :-)

Tim.s

Heh We did look out for him but to be honest he was probably at home enjoying a protein shake before we even got back to the car park!

I ride with lots of different people and can hold my own with most but this guy was skipping along the trail as if it was a concrete pathment, seriously impressive.

popstar

Hope that rider wasn't SS who always complains about full-sussers. Don't tell me that guy rode single-speed HT though, that would be an Insult!

Jedi

just relax and learn to look where you are going next not where you are now. trail centers are meade to be ridden