Dr1v3n

I've had my first mountain bike (Giant Trance 27.5") since January 2022. Before that, I rode gravel bike and road bike, but even then I started all of that in about May 2021. I "progressed" quickest with my road bike because I came from a strong fitness background already, so once I got the bike-specific handling down, I was able to hit 40MPH a few times and come home in one piece. I ride fore fitness (exercise) first, and fun/enjoyment/adventure shortly thereafter.

The mountain biking I would say took a bit more time to learn the body position shifting/fluidity, but I do have the basics of that down now too. When I say "basics" i mean that I am comfortable riding either slower on rough/technical terrain, or very fast on relatively smoother and less technical terrains.

That all being said, will more advanced MTB skills sorta develop automatically over time, or do I need to really steer the ship where I want to go, so-to-speak? One area for example that I want to improve is that I feel like my bike is way better than I am. Meaning, this FS bike wants to go FLYING down descents, but I often begin to hit speeds where I don't have the skill to take a corner at, or speeds where I don't have enough time to make decisions on the trail. So, do I actually need to slow down, or should I just practice the same corners and obstacles at those speeds until they feel comfortable? Basically, I can tell that this bike is capable of going very fast downhill, and it wants to, but my bike control skills just aren't there yet. Digging into corners at speed feels like a scary merry-go-round that I may go flying off of sometimes, and going fast downhill also can be a bit concerning when it comes to hitting obstacles that can launch me up, since I don't formally know how to "jump" yet; I'm also not yet able to CONSISTENTLY manual (I have done a couple manuals before, but I "got lucky" it seems). Btw, I've flew off the bike probably 6 times now (not so much recently but last few months), so I've also checked falling off the box lol.

prj71

Watch some youtube videos on MTB skills and then go out and practice them. Best thing you can do.

SkinGriz

Rolla

I'd repeatedly practice the difficult sections at speeds you feel comfortable riding. Work your way up gradually, instead of finding your limits all at once. A lot of it is reading and learning lines, and it's hard to do that when you're getting launched.

jsilvia

I am also fairly new to Moutain biking. I Road ride a lot, It's a whole different skill set to learn. I ride a lot of signal track in the woods, between the Tree roots ,Rocks and Trees, almost forgot the short steep hills and down hills. It is a big learning curve. For me I just keep on riding and learning. Plus I am having fun during it.