jR21

I've been riding the MTB trails in my new community for a few weeks and this last weekend was the first time I got to ride w/ other people! A few of these guys are exceptionally strong riders. This was also the first weekend that I did not enjoy MTB at all, it felt like freaking boot camp when trying to ride hard and keep up w/them. The guys were really nice, never rushed me, gave advice/encouragement, but just trying to keep up w/ them seemed beyond my ability most of the time. By no question to the obvious, I am in much pain today, lol. The repeated advice for getting better is to keep hitting the trails, keep riding, which seems to be of course the obvious. The trails we ride are very technical. Riding with these other riders made me push myself like I never have before, but also gave me a realization of where I stand as a new comer to MTB in regards to skill and over strength.

Im sure i've been given the best and most logical advice (keep riding), but does anyone have additional suggestions, personal testimonies to your first time... LOL, it just feels like I am the slowest rider in the country right now, and being fast like these other guys seems unrealistic for me to achieve...

Your input and/or personal stories/experiences would be appreciated, thanks.

jR

sscyco

One of the reasons I like mtn biking is that there is no such thing as a natural for this sport - you have to have good coordination, good slow and fast twitch muscle reaction and have the mental ability to lay it out where it matters.

Riding is the best way to develop these skills - best to ride with someone that is better than you. Set goals that you strive for - such as riding a climb without stopping, or a technical section without dabbing.

Yea - I got my ass kicked for the first year or two riding. I still do once in a while - but I'd like to think it is few and far between.

Just put hours in.

urbanknight

Yes, I've been there. When I worked for a bike shop as a teen, I got invited to join the grown men for a ride. They made me suffer all the way up to the top of the mountain, passed a joint around (I was too straight edge to take it), and then left me in the dust downhilling it back to the parking lot. best of all, shortly after they were out of sight, I misjudged a rut and pinch flatted. Then, I realized I had not replaced my flat tube from a previous ride and had no patch kit. It was a fun walk back.

agarose2000

Suffer, suffer more, and you'll get better. Keep in mind that there are definitely riders who will outclass you regardless of how much training you do.

Find folks closer but slightly above your strength to train with, and sporadically ride with the "crushers" - that'll keep you improving without getting completely demotivated while keeping your improvement edge solid.

I've found that training with groups is not necessarily the most conducive to continued improvement - learning to train yourself on your own for a good chunk of your training will pay big dividends in jumping up a level in ability, as you will be able to tailor your training to your own needs and not others.

Covalent Jello

thats the best description of puberty ever!

urbanknight

Yeah, good times. Did I mention I weighed 120 back then?

mtnbiker66

What part of Iowa are you in. I know a few guys from Ceader Falls and they are lacking the tech trails so they come here to ride.

potatorider

I too used to get pounded by my more experienced friends. Over the last few years I've put the miles in and am now able to stay with or grind those same guys into the ground. For the record though... because of my earlier experience I now gauge the riders in our groups. It's never fun to get pounded into the dirt. As your skills increase remember to slow your cadence for the less experienced riders. Everyone will have a better time!

jR21

In North Eastern Iowa. The trails are located in Decorah, IA,which is about 100 miles north of Cedar Rapids.

Bikernator

What he said. Riding with those way better than me just pisses me off (I'm very competitive). Me and a buddy of mine started riding together when we both got bikes, and were primary partners for the first year. We were quite close the whole way, so we each advanced rather quickly just in trying to stay 'the best'. If I had access to someone who was a notch better than me, I would prefer to ride behind them on some of the trails. Gives me a chance to see what others are doing and what to work on next. Riding with a badass just seems to let me know what I can't do, it's kinda like watching someone do a full gainer on foot when you're trying to learn to crawl...

Daspydyr 

What's really bad is when the girls beat you too! Then the day comes when a lesser is in awe of you. It will happen, if you ride because you love it and enjoy the people. PUSH yourself, don't judge yourself.

7daysaweek

This type of situation got me into biking in the first place.

I was working a co-op and had just met some coworkers who were "into mountain biking". I thought, "hey i have a mountain bike. i like to ride it! i'm into mountain biking too!"

4 of us went out... one it turns out has actually been riding since he was about 12... he was about 20 at the time and extraordinarily fast. it was an eye-opening experience. i bought a better bike and rode with the same group of guys for the next few months and the co-op ended so we left.

well long story short, i kept riding and one day we happened to run into each other on the trail... he dusted me again but for about 2 or 300 yards i actually kept up with him. then i almost died but it made me feel good.

everyone starts somewhere but as far as i can tell riding is the best thing to do so that's what i keep doing. i don't worry too much about it when i get smoked, i just kinda enjoy the rides i have now where i'm the faster one and take my lumps when i have to.

ed 

My first real ride with the real local boys left me battered and deep fried. Every ride thereafter ended in similar "bonk'dom". I just have the hardest time keeping up with these old men and their ultra-fit wives. Daggum hillbillies and their asymptotic, exponential quad-to-weight ratios. They make me faster...but the more I turn it up, the more they hand me my hiney. Bald-headed superfreak!

mzeffex 

I'm fast on the road, and suck when mountain biking. For this reason I have eliminated racing mountain, and do it just for fun - I don't try to kill myself. I ride, and it makes me happy. It's the only branch of cycling that I do where I don't get pissed at myself when I'm not doing great. I just really, really, enjoy doing it.

The moral of this story is that mountain biking is awesome and I love it.

mtnbiker66

I don't give a big rats behind who is a fast and who's not. I ride 'cuse it's fun. If I was worried about speed I would race......but then I would have to train and where's the fun in that?

ed 

(he said the "T" word)

rnorris

Been mountain biking since the early '90s and still get left in the dust by fellow riders... I'll never be great competetively at it due to size and balance issues, so I just do it because it's fun.

dminor 

Besides the fact that I just have more fun on it, I've discovered an added side benefit of taking my 40 lb., long-travel, fatty-tired trailbike on the group rides: when I get skooled on climbs, I can always blame it on the bike.

jR21

I have made some exceptional improvements over the last week. Of course I have a lot to learn, but, I’ve been putting in 1.5-2 hours a day out on the trails and I have been having fun learning, crashing (soft blows of course), and working to understand my feel w/ the bike and how it reacts to the turf, climbs and descends. I took a break away from the other guys so I can just focus on what the hell Im doing out there. I agree, riding with those guys (the power machines) most certainly makes me push harder than by myself, however, when I do I am pushing so hard that I pay no attention to what Im doing, lol, I just doing what ever to try and stay caught up. Since riding on my own I’ve been more alert to what I am doing, why I am doing it and what I need to improve on. I'm sure Im in the "breaking in" period and will see easy improvements and then eventually level off, for me, that is when its time to ride w/ the stronger riders again, as many of you have mentioned, to learn more and to push myself harder. But I don’t think I wanna be a “racer” so to speak. I can see how there is a fine line between enjoying your ride and training on your ride, both with different effects, in my humble opinion.

I've learned that, even with an entry level bike, it is what it is. As I have been riding I find myself fixing more things and making more adjustments. Right now I am unemployed, so I have no choice but venture the basic mechanic side of bikes. The LBS have shown me great courtesy, helping me w/ adjustments and advice w/o charging me to do the work, this is a true bicycle community! -

I will keep grinding. I had signed up for the local time trials (before I knew what I was getting myself into), and had thought about not doing it, but, I got 4 more weeks and I think I might as well go for it. MTB has been fun and I hope to keep it that way, thanks for your stories, hope to see more. jR

RatedZ

My best advice (and opinion)...

Feel fortunate that you're the "laggard." By being the least experienced, it forces you to the limit to do your best and give 100%, not only to prove yourself to the others, but to prove yourself to yourself. You will never become better at something like this unless you are riding with other riders who challenge you to be your absolute best. By riding with less experienced riders than yourself, or riders on par with yourself, there's no motivation to be better.

By pushing yourself beyond 100%, what used to be nearly impossible for you will eventually become something that only requires pushing yourself to 75%, then 50%, etc. You will keep discovering new and more difficult challenges, conquering each one of them and moving on. Then, you'll look back to that first huge challenge that seemed so difficult, and just be like, "Wow...."