Getting back into it, lessons or not?

DaveyDave

Hi all,

Gave up mountain biking a few years ago as in my limited experience over the years I had two nasty crashes. One over the bars separating my shoulder and one breaking my wrist. I wouldn't mind but the wrist was when I washed out avoiding brake bumps when warming up on a beginner trail at The Gap! I'm a big lad and 6'4", I don't fall with grace.

The issue is that I'm not skilled and I lack the confidence, even the Ticknock lower trail would have me tense with a death grip and being too rigid so I'm all over the place. Not wanting to wreck a rental bike also doesn't help.

Looking into bike lessons it seems you need a bike for most? Biking.ie have a Kickstarter lesson in Ballinastoe which is fine (€50 + half price rental) but their core skills and trail craft require your own bike. A private lesson is €90. The lessons and bike rental would very quickly add up to the cost of an actual bike.

I imagine the general opinion would be to just rent a bike and go out on my own but given my rocky history I wouldn't mind a bit of guidance. A simple XC or gravel loop would also probably be good just to get my bearings off road and loosening up as all my cycling is on road.

My previous bike was a 100mm 26" hardtail with mechanical discs and a fork that didn't rebound properly, even getting onto a trail bike now feels odd due to the wider bars, longer travel but I know they're very capable bikes these days and would probably iron out the bumps if I take the wrong line or something.

Any opinions on how to get back into it?

Lemming

First things first, I would also say that coaching sessions are never a bad thing for anyone, regardless of their skill level. It's always good to get a critical eye on a particular facet of your riding.

As for the rest, it's all about doing things in incremental steps at your pace and your confidence level. You will only build confidence riding by riding, and over time with exprience what you are confident riding will grow as a result. If you feel confident riding something, then you'll ride well. So, ride what you can, and don't sweat the rest of it because it will come with experience. Yes, being a little outside of your comfort zone can be a good thing because it pushes you to learn, but if you are wildly outside of that comfort zone - as you said giving the bars a death grip - you are, quite possibly on a hiding to nowhere and best reigning yourself in and assessing what is going on around you. If you tense up, you stiffen up, and when you stiffen up, odds are high that you will get tossed around by the terrain and that's when otherwise avoidable mistakes and accidents often happen.

Alkers

Maybe do one lesson and if it works out buy a 1000-1500 second hand bike. You would get most of that back if it's not for you and you decided to sell again in six months.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120066852#Comment_120066852

This 100%, I just decided to get more into it after riding fully rigid for years. Picked up a bike at 50% RRP second hand. Worst case scenario I'll lose a few euro but realistically I'll either love it or lose very little.

muckwarrior

I started off on a 26" 100mm hardtail. Grand for XC trails, but on steep techy stuff it'd try to throw you over the bars if it even sniffed a root or rut. Modern slacker bikes are much more capable in this regard and should help you gain confidence.

That said, there's no replacement for skill. I've done a few lessons with varying results. Tbh, the most important thing I ever learned I discovered myself, after several years of riding. I realised that my ready/attack position wasn't good, and fixing that was the single biggest improvement I ever made to my riding. Pretty much everything you do on the bike revolves around it, but in particular it'll give you much more control on steep or techy terrain.

Here's a good video on the subject

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7u1q8E9Q0Q&t=32s

DaveyDave

Out of curiosity I was pricing up a bike, there's an Orbea that's on sale and my local bike shop would knock another few euro off that. Using the bike to work scheme it wouldn't be very expensive, a handful of lessons and bike rentals would quickly amount to the cost of the bike. I already have most of the tools and cycling kit needed so I won't need to sink a ton of money on top of the bike just some protective gear and a shock pump which aren't expensive.

One benefit of having my own bike would be not having to worry about not crashing the rental, that definitely adds to the stress as a newbie. Plus rental costs mean I'm not going out every other week to keep at it.

I might start looking into what bits and pieces I might need while I'm having a think.

Gerry

Re the bike, ok you sound sure. worth having a check of whats available 2nd hand before you take the plunge? With bike2work it probably makes sense though.

I'd echo what muckwarrior said. It's things like body position which are fundamental and worth focusing on. Above video is well worth watching.

A lesson may well emphasise this but you will need to spend the time yourself practicing. I got similar advice in a lesson and had to spend a long time unlearning the habits of a lifetime. It's taken years! But it is encouraging when solid progress is made.

I got a lot more from a 1:1 lesson than a group. but everyone is different.

I'd suggest only trying to fix one thing at a time..

I'd say my body position is still needing attention, the biggest thing I got from a lesson was probably getting more weight forwards, chest lower, over the front of the bike.

Which can feel counterintuitive, but it's really needed on modern long slack bikes.

You should pick some achievable goals. such as riding lower metro better but not faster, with no arm pump.

ram82

Absolutely get the coaching if you can, it's well worth the €60-100 you're going to spend.

I was pretty confident on the bike but couple of simple changes to my body and feet position made a night & day difference in how I perform on trails now.

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120072291#Comment_120072291

I would echo this, don't underestimate the importance of personal practice and time in the saddle. As good as lessons can be, you need to put the time in yourself.

Also, if you're fearful of damaging a rental bike, wait till you buy your own bike, that fear doesn't go away 😉

xxyyzz

Ryan Leech's coaching website is excellent too. I spend a lot of time doing courses on that over the winter when the trails are slop. The baseline balance skills course is an invaluable foundation course for trail riding in my humble opinion. It's stuff that you can practice in your driveway when you have 20 minutes to spare.

https://www.rlc-mtb.com/

DaveyDave

There's an outdoor dirt BMX track in my local park, I might try sneak in one morning. It's just a bunch of table tops, rollers and be, just to get a feel of bike handling on uneven surfaces.

Might head down early enough and just practice wheelies, manuals even to try get some control on some of the open fields there. I don't plan on riding trails where I'd need them but it would help loosen up from years of road riding and I'd need a space to do it preferably without people looking at me!

Another one of my concerns is how busy trails would be as it's free parking, free to use. Website says open 6am-10pm. I would only be riding weekdays when I'm off shift to avoid people and some people either treat trails like it's the last round of EWS or they're trying to earn that Monster sponsorship and there's me at walking pace...

Just need to loosen up and mainly commit to stuff and let the bike roll though something rather than getting scared and braking for something. You'd swear I was talking about some hardcore road gap or something, bloody blue trails here lol.

Probably overthinking everything too!

prunudo

Don't stress about the riders behind you, focus on whats in front. Easier said than done I know but its the responsibility of the rider behind to slow down and give you space. If they're on you're ass and riding like its a comp, they're a dick.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106290#Comment_120106290

This, pull in when its safe and there is space to do so but I wouldn't be fast (riding a rigid until recently) and never got hassle from anyone. A few giggles but thats about the height of it.

DaveyDave

New bike day! Was originally eyeing the 2022 Orbea Laufey H30 but the H10 upgrades the fork to a Bomber Z2 which is apparently a big upgrade, also comes with better brakes and didn't cost much more. Outside of wheels I doubt I'll upgrade anything as it's all decent spec.

It came with their own brand cranks rather than Deore, they upgraded the cassette to SLX in place of it which I don't particularly care about as it's a wear and tear part. Rotors are RT54 which are resin pad only but I'm a big guy so will likely upgrade to RT64 203mm anyway if I want metal pads. Got a set of DMR V11 pedals off CRC for €35 and they're super grippy with a good size platform for the price.

It feels lighter than my 15.2kg road ebike. Not bad for an XL frame with heavy enough 450g pedals. The massive 2.6" tyres and heavy stock wheels add up too. I'm not a weight weenie but if I can save some weight with wheel/tyre upgrades in the future I'll try.

I'll spend the next few weeks just riding around my area, canal path and parks just to get the fit dialled in and get used to that MTB riding position and loosen up from years of road cycling and also build up fitness again as I've been sitting on my arse for the last 6 months with a lower back muscle injury. First bike ride outside last week on the ebike and I was struggling haha.

easygoing39

You've picked a great time to get back into mountainbiking.Both EPIC and MAD are running intro spins for begineer's,thats how I started 13 years ago and have'nt looked back since.You learn so much from the experienced members and because youre not the only newbie you dont feel under pressure to be the next Robin Seymour from the get go.Check out their website/Facebook