Has mountain biking peaked?

[G-Zero]

"Has Mountain Biking Peaked ?"

In 37 miles this morning on a couple of bits of NCN 14 and NCN 7 around the Durham, Consett & Birtley areas, I must have seen close to 80 mtbs during the ride.
That's the busiest I've ever seen the routes, so for me the answer is a resounding, happy "No"

 

[marzjennings]

No, I mean that if I go out with my club for a 3 hour mountain bike ride I feel I've done about the equivalent of a 1 hour road ride. That's because I usually ride with my club and the bigger the group, the slower they move as members of different ability cope with the obstacles and the mechanically ill-prepared stand around while while another club-member fixes their bike, or the club waits for slower riders to get up hills. I set my computer to record only riding time so from start to finish on a three hour ride you might only actually be riding for two and a half hours or less. By contrast you can go out on the road bike for an hour and ride non-stop for that full 60 minutes, get home, shower and be off for some family activity.

A competitive MTB event like Polaris or any trailquest, I do solo or with a rider who matches my ability and there's no messing around apart from the odd brief stop to check the route or dib the recording chip, that's not the same as an easy-going club ride.

I get it and it's why I avoid group mountain bike rides. While it's nice to hang out with a few friends, the quality and quantity of riding usually drops as the size of the group grows.

 

[MacB]

I get it and it's why I avoid group mountain bike rides. While it's nice to hang out with a few friends, the quality and quantity of riding usually drops as the size of the group grows.

That makes sense to me, though mainly on the road I've done all of my big effort rides on my own or with a couple of others. However my earliest big efforts were group social rides, my fitness levels then made any ride of distance a big effort, unfortunately it's a bit like that at present as well.

Strangely I found that the fitter and faster I got the more I enjoyed the pootling social rides, there seemed to be a boundary I crossed at which point I was much happier varying my pace etc and a slowdown didn't bother me. But I was also riding hard for 20-25 days of the month so the one or two social rides were a welcome diversion. One goal that I failed to reach then, and hope to reach this time round, is to be fit enough to be able to vary my pace on the steeper/longer hills. I always had to keep going and envied those that could do that but also slow down to keep someone company. It takes quite a fitness level to be able to prolong the pain of a hill at will

I suppose my goal is to be able to join, and enjoy, various rides at various levels and that I think to really enjoy some of the slower paced social rides you actually need a higher fitness level than that required just to be able to blast a faster paced ride. I'm thinking the folks that can shepherd others that are struggling, zip up and down the ride to check on things and do it all in good spirits. Obviously this only applies if you're also getting your faster paced rides in as well.

 

[lulubel]

One goal that I failed to reach then, and hope to reach this time round, is to be fit enough to be able to vary my pace on the steeper/longer hills. I always had to keep going and envied those that could do that but also slow down to keep someone company. It takes quite a fitness level to be able to prolong the pain of a hill at will

At the moment, I'm just relieved to get to the top of most hills, but when I was at my fittest, and riding both on my own and with others, I actually found completely the opposite. When I was on my own I always found myself pushing on up all the hills, but when I was in a group with slower riders, I took it slower to stay at their pace, and found it much easier. Yes, it took longer, but the overall effort expended seemed to be much less. Maybe because I have a triple (road bike), and access to lower gears than a lot of people?

Anyway, I never managed to achieve the same sense of ease on my own because the thought was always there - "Got to get to the top of this hill as fast as possible!"

 

[Zoiders]

If you plan a group ride on the road with beginners you will get the same hold ups as well.

I think you get it off road as some people lack the confidence for road riding so they think a bit of MTBing will be a nice safe and quiet alternative - which is never the case if it's real trails and single tracks, some obstacles are all or nothing, perfectly safe if you are confident to do them, a one way trip to A&E if you bottle it.

People always bite off more then the can chew, a lot of trails (like the dog at Cannock) are purposely signposted to advise beginners and leisure riders to turn back.

Big group rides that have been planned as a social occasion tend to be clunky, a small group of you who have just grabbed the bikes and hit the trails seems to be always more fun, it does help if you are local to the XC stomping grounds though.