2019 goals

Are you talking about the 'official' Boneshaker path, the long standing one that continues right up to the aerials, or is there one adjacent to that? If it's the same you'll also get lots of walkers and runners on it, and if someone coming downhill at speed is on the same track, it's a bit reckless. Having said that, in all my years and miles of using the Boneshaker I've never met a cyclist coming down it.

Peter T wrote: »

A meet this year could be a good idea

Well, I'll be back visiting from the UK near end of February and back in June for Metallica (with bikes in tow of course) if anyone decides to pick dates

Noticed yesterday the amount of walkers going down the boneshaker - it's not safe to cycle down. With Ticknock so busy these days it's become a popular walking trail. Best left for early morning / night spins I think.

Also found another video of someone showing how the dreamtrack should be done - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H23VSU-ACt8. I wish I could ride it like this guy.

My goals for 2019:-

Do the entire Gravity series - and podium at least once
Do the entire IDMS series - and podium at least once
Work on my technical skills and bike confidence
Get off my brakes!
Do the river gap at GAP

Good jib! wrote: »

My goals for 2019 (bearing in mind I only started MTB in Sept 2018)

Learn how to do a wheelie
Learn how to do a bunnyhop (no idea how hard these two goals are, but it'd be cool to be able to do them)
Make time to go to a bikepark, and not get caught up in "too busy" trap.
Try not to get injured.
Try to relax a bit more on the bike and not worry so much about getting injured!

Best of luck. One trick for wheelies when beginning is to remember that if you've come up too far are are going off the back of the bike - the back brake will firmly plant your front wheel - it's a useful one to give you a bit of confidence to try them more. Also - try them up slight hills first. I'd say bunnyhops are the easiest - especially if you have a full suss. All you need to practice is a kerb.

Global Mountain Bike have a ton of skills vids on youtube which could be useful - here is there one on wheelies - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih05ONF0gc8. Getting out on the bike with the specific goal of practicing these is the way to learn - in your driveway, back garden - where ever you have the space.

Being relaxed on the bike is key so that's a great goal. If I think of any of the bad crashes I've had - I was nervous right before them and therefore tense AF. Have to be loose. If it doesn't feel right - come back to it. When you're nice and relaxed you know it and it feels great to be on the bike.

El Vino wrote: »

ride 160km off road in a day

160km! That's an enormous spin. 55km is my longest (Cooley Thriller) and it was tough going. Best of luck with it.

Personal best so far was 44km on the Nire Valley Drop - hats off to you if you can manage 160km in a day!

QueenMTBee wrote: »

Surely that's a typo! Even 160km off road in a long weekend would be impressive.

I'll feel a lot better if it was meant to be 16KM..

OP - put me out of my misery - did you really mean 160KM????

El Vino wrote: »

So not a typo and not trying to brag, also not in Ireland. I know it will be bloody hard. I've entered the event below as riding the South Downs Way has been a goal of mine for about 10 years. I have had a couple of aborted attempts solo as there are two many easy bail out options so I entered the event below. Last few years I've done a lot of road riding so base fitness is good. I did the same Charity's London to Brighton offroad in September and this was pretty easy as about 40km was on a Greenway, SDW is proper off road.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/events/bike-rides/south-downs-way-off-road-bike-ride

Fair play. Let us know how you get on.

You'd probably love the Tour de Timor. My brother did it last year. 450km with 10,000 metres vertical ascending over 5 days. Some dirt roads and some "proper" mountain biking.

Peter T wrote: »

Same as the rest of ye, get fitter and bring up the skill level, improving my jumping being the main skill focus so plan on making a few trips to bike park to dial things in. Blitz Ballyhoura is definitely on the cards and might squeeze in one or two extra

So following some reading I did in the normal cycling forum with people looking back at the previous year how did the 2019 goals go ?

For me the fitness improved very well, the nire valley was a nice benchmark for myself and i was very happy with my performance on the day. My skills came along also but jumping not so much given bpi's closure and the demolition of the jumps down in tracton so still improvement needed there. Did the blitz ballyhoura also so another thing ticked off the list. Looking forward to more biking this year

What I wrote for 2019:

Lemming wrote: »

Much like yours jvan, just get out and ride more, increase the fitness & skill levels with an eye on not coming last in what will be my first 'full' enduro race in Scotland in September (PMBA Enduro round #5). Tempted to enter a few other races, but that's the only one committed to for now. Also keep threatening to bring the missus to Fort William which never happened in 2018.

What I did from the above list:

• Ride More: fail
• Increase fitness, check
• Participate in Enduro race, check
• Survive Fort William, check.

Rode less perversely enough, but increased the fitness due to weekly torture sessions with a physio/trainer at the gym; essentially circuits with bike for pre-torture warm-up and after for cardio work on top of the torture because 'why not' since I will already have picked a spot on the wall some 30 minutes prior and pretended I was already dead. Everything from battle ropes, push-ups, planks, burpies, weights, kettle bells, rope-pull, extension rows (arm or leg), etc.

Rode my first 'full' enduro (i.e. not some mini mash-up) in Scotland. Didn't come last, but I still got utterly smoked by the category leader with a good few minutes difference. Awesome weekend/race-day and for some of it I was pushed well and truly outside my comfort zone technically, not just on account of a matter of speed.

Also visited Fort William, and rode the World Cup track and "Top Chief" (black trail, also at top of the Gondola). In summary, the WC track has more 'steep' in it than a steeple and the drops are neither trivial nor inconsequential if you get them wrong. The track is also rough as fvck, and that's just the "smooth" bits (even Greg Minnaar agreed with that sentiment whilst chatting with him a month later). Top-Chief is the trail with all the board-walk off the side of the mountain for those who have seen you-tube videos. Much more ride-able than the WC track, but the board-walk sections can be a bit disconcerting to ride at times.


What I'm aiming to do for 2020:

• Ride more :pac:
• Improve the skill levels, particularly in the air.
• Visit the Dirt Factory in Manchester at least once (following on from previous point).
• Do a DH race: aiming to do a round of the GAP spring DH league since I'll be back in Ireland at the time.
• Do two enduro races: Signed up for PMBA #5 in Scotland, deciding upon which other round to do since #1 (Gisburn) is all sold out.
• Improve upon my previous enduro race result in Scotland, both time-wise and position finished.

saccades wrote: »

Bought a new bike with an emphasis on trail rather than xco, want to have a bit more fun to get me out more. Saying that, it's a steamroller of a unit with a dinner plate cassette so hopefully not too much slower.

Goals... Do a 160km spin (100 miles), if the weather holds it will be this year.

Epic club league (if it starts again).

Get down towards 90kg, have a clear plan this time and it was working until Xmas.

Do more of the old school xc spins I did 10-15 years ago whilst I can still remember them.

Oh, and stay healthy.

Managed the 160km spin.
Ace racing in the club league.
Still too heavy.
Got lost a lot of times
Not a single days illness.

Pretty good year really.

Now aiming for 180km spin with everything else the same. Oh and learning to jump.

Not a bad year at all.
New trail/enduro bike - check.
Improve skills - glad to say this is a check. Worked on cornering, mostly confidence to lean the bike. Berms way improved. Generally trying to brake less and pedal less. Jumps - not quite gotten to the widowmaker gap but have focused on building this up, getting the technique right. Can clear quite a few smaller tabletops and doubles now. More to do. Can wheelie now and small manuals.. more work needed.
Fitness.. hard to say. Marginally better overall. Power certainly better. Blitz will tell all, it's a good benchmark.
Hoping I can do better race results this year in general.