No longer enjoy descents
Discussion
Bike too capable to feel involving on the trails you're riding? Not going fast enough to get the adrenaline going? (even if for valid safety-related reasons). Not challenging your own limits enough or finding new trails to ride? Just some ideas which could be completely wrong.
I'm probably at the other end of the see-saw at the moment, just getting back into MTB this year after quite a few years out of it and finding that its taking longer than I expected to build up confidence and commit to steeper stuff with drops etc, many chicken-lines have been taken!
I'm probably at the other end of the see-saw at the moment, just getting back into MTB this year after quite a few years out of it and finding that its taking longer than I expected to build up confidence and commit to steeper stuff with drops etc, many chicken-lines have been taken!
Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 29th June 13:19
GravelBen said:
Bike too capable to feel involving on the trails you're riding?
This. I've just gone from full sus to hard-tail and am loving it, having to pick lines more carefully but feel much more connected to the trail than my full sus.Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 29th June 13:19
GravelBen said:
Bike too capable to feel involving on the trails you're riding? Not going fast enough to get the adrenaline going? (even if for valid safety-related reasons). Not challenging your own limits enough or finding new trails to ride? Just some ideas which could be completely wrong]
The answers to all of these are to buy a retro bike like mine and reintroduce the exhilarating element of the unknown into descents...
Herr Schnell said:
The answers to all of these are to buy a retro bike like mine and reintroduce the exhilarating element of the unknown into descents...
That looks like an exciting moment...
But agree with the sentiment. I’ve got an old Giant XTC fitted with rigid carbon forks and 1.75” slicks. It was originally my commuting bike but also gets an outing round the local trail when I need a new experience. It’s all about the lines.
Also I’ve taken my gravel bike around most parts of the same trail - that’s a notch up in terms of concentration.
The trail is a mix of rocky rooty singletrack with a few small drops and plenty of ways to get it wrong. It’s got a main singletrack decent around 1.5km long, very rocky, and getting down that in the same number of pieces can be a challenge.
Then I get back on the dualie...
ian in lancs said:
Pace rc35’s?
The very same.I knew they were notorious for all kinds of failure but had been riding them for years and there was absolutley no sign.
Replaced them with some new old stock Marzocchi Bombers my LBS had and took it to Afan a fortnight later to get back on it before nagging doubt set in.
PomBstard said:
That looks like an exciting moment...
But agree with the sentiment. I’ve got an old Giant XTC fitted with rigid carbon forks and 1.75” slicks. It was originally my commuting bike but also gets an outing round the local trail when I need a new experience. It’s all about the lines.
Also I’ve taken my gravel bike around most parts of the same trail - that’s a notch up in terms of concentration.
The trail is a mix of rocky rooty singletrack with a few small drops and plenty of ways to get it wrong. It’s got a main singletrack decent around 1.5km long, very rocky, and getting down that in the same number of pieces can be a challenge.
Then I get back on the dualie...
Halfway down a fast forest descent, rode over some exposed roots, big crack, steering went light and god only knows how but I managed to hang on until it was safe to just ditch it in a big cloud of dust and scraped skin.But agree with the sentiment. I’ve got an old Giant XTC fitted with rigid carbon forks and 1.75” slicks. It was originally my commuting bike but also gets an outing round the local trail when I need a new experience. It’s all about the lines.
Also I’ve taken my gravel bike around most parts of the same trail - that’s a notch up in terms of concentration.
The trail is a mix of rocky rooty singletrack with a few small drops and plenty of ways to get it wrong. It’s got a main singletrack decent around 1.5km long, very rocky, and getting down that in the same number of pieces can be a challenge.
Then I get back on the dualie...
Looking at what had happened I was initally laughing but as I waited for the pick up car the "what ifs?" began popping up and it didn't seem quite so funny then. My own fault really as I knew the forks were known to be a reliability roulette when they were new and at the point they s
t themselves they were 14 years old, that said they were serviced and working fine the failure just came out of the blue.I've been riding MTB since the late 80s and for me the early 00s stuff is a sweet spot. Probably nostalgia more than anything as that's when I was enjoying it most and could justify spending on, what were at the time, top end bikes.
I know that bikes after that are way more advanced and when I go to trails and d/h centres there are some things I just can't tackle with my old clunker but to my mind those environments just get more extreme to provide some level of challenge on the bikes and in a way I think that's kind of missing the point. Just enought tech to go quick on what's there naturally but not so much that someone needs to use an excavator to make the ride exciting is where it's at for me.
Herr Schnell said:
ian in lancs said:
Pace rc35’s?
The very same.I knew they were notorious for all kinds of failure but had been riding them for years and there was absolutley no sign.
Replaced them with some new old stock Marzocchi Bombers my LBS had and took it to Afan a fortnight later to get back on it before nagging doubt set in.
ian in lancs said:
Scary failure! I used to race on them. They were fitted to a gold anodised orange Ali elite frame. Awesome bike - still have it. One day I willl restore to its former glory! I also have the rigid rc35 legs too.
I'd like to see that, always had a thing for Oranges. Probably don't fit the RC35s though.I'd love a retro Rocky Mountain Vertex like what I owned in 2003 but they fatigue over time!
I still love road riding but descending off road was always fun fun fun. Tight singletrack or rocky drops. Now it's meh. I can still do it but the spark isn't there. I must admit in the past few months my job has ramped up and become more adrenaline. Maybe it's that? My mind can't have the overload from two angles? At work and at home?
I still love road riding but descending off road was always fun fun fun. Tight singletrack or rocky drops. Now it's meh. I can still do it but the spark isn't there. I must admit in the past few months my job has ramped up and become more adrenaline. Maybe it's that? My mind can't have the overload from two angles? At work and at home?
Herr Schnell said:
The very same.
I knew they were notorious for all kinds of failure but had been riding them for years and there was absolutley no sign.
Replaced them with some new old stock Marzocchi Bombers my LBS had and took it to Afan a fortnight later to get back on it before nagging doubt set in.
That's a lovely old bike, I'd like something similar just for trundling around bridleways and such on a sunny day.I knew they were notorious for all kinds of failure but had been riding them for years and there was absolutley no sign.
Replaced them with some new old stock Marzocchi Bombers my LBS had and took it to Afan a fortnight later to get back on it before nagging doubt set in.
Also, good work on surviving the fork incident, that must have been scary
Sa Calobra said:
On the mountain bike. I just go about them with a sort of detachment.
Anyone else feel like this?
Sort of meh. Once it was a big grin and fun but no more.
Why??
As I get older (now the wrong side of 30) I do find myself a lot more aware of how breakable I am, and some of the stuff I used to do without thinking now gives me the heeby jeebies just thinking about what would go wrong. It's sad really, I used to be quite handy on a mountain bike but I think I am falling prey to 'the fear'Anyone else feel like this?
Sort of meh. Once it was a big grin and fun but no more.
Why??
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