stapfam

Many years ago and out on my local hills and we came across about 10 younger mountain bikers. Caught then gradually up a couple of hills and held our own on the flat and downhills. the 3rd hill though was a basket. 12% average for a mile with the steepest bit at the top of 20%. Terrain at the bottom was a "Broken" brick and flint track that was not that comfortable to ride and did not offer much grip. On top of that it was rutted and on wet chalk that is not the easiest of surfaces to get grip on. By the time we got to the top we had passed all these mountain bikers on their lightweight FS Yetis and similar machines except for the leader of the group and he was fit. Waited at the top as we needed a rest too and watched the rest struggle up that final steep bit. They were amazed that we were all on hardtails that were a few years old and that we were of an age that they almost called "Ancient". Chatting to them and they came from a flatter part of the country and had decided to see what our hills were like. Some admitted that they were not as fit as they should be but were a bit surprised to be shown how to ride hills by a bunch of old guys on bikes that they would never contemplate riding.

We had pity on them and pointed out that they had just done the 2 hardest hills on the South Downs Way (A trail of 100 miles along the south Downs Ridge) and that we used to struggle on them till we learnt the right lines to miss the bad areas and the knowledge to find the grip when it was bad. Our bikes were also sorted for the terrain with tyres that would grip on the wet chalk and flints and not sink into the deep scree if we had to go through it. We knew the terrain and had been riding it for 20 odd years so knew what to expect.

For the next few miles I had a ride on one of these lightweight modern machines and it was good. Took the group down to our local cafe and the lad that had ridden my bike was shocked at how it handled. It may have been heavier than his bike but it went uphill so easily. Seemed that all of his leg power was going into the back wheel. That old 100mm travel on the front gave him just enough cushioning over the roughstuff but it held a true line at speed over the rough down slopes that his bike never would.

Final bit of praise came from one of the lads who said he could not wait to get 20 years older so he would have the knowledge and skill that we had to enable him to ride the hills with the ease that we had shown.