[Closed] Does anyone still ride 'Old School' XC mountain biking?

Its pretty much all I do.

never done anything else.

I still ride the same trails in the same area I did 25 years ago so yes.

Just did three days straight of 35+ miles a day in the Cairngorms. Fantastic.

Yes I do. Also ride trail centres, downhill and to the shops.

Yes, although I tend to ride the trails more on a cross bike than XC nowadays.

i use the bridleways and cyclepaths across the moors to get to the good bits.

Yep, that's all I do as well.

Yes. Often on an 'old school' geometry 29er too.

Yup, pretty much.

Waves!

Mainly on a "gravel" bike atm but if not, on my old Swift.

I thought we were a dying breed.

Being fairly new to the sport, I'm still finding my legs.

I know a lot of people hate the term "Enduro", but I suppose it serves a purpose to describe a certain type of riding these days.

I do a bit of a mix. I like trail centre blasts, Lakes/Peaks rides and doing some mileage on the Gravel Bike.

However, I really can't stand all the bullshit and nonsense that seems to come with a type of rider that can be described as "Enduro". I can never tell if they are being serious or ironic.

Yeah, so basically, anything on two wheels is interesting to me. I try not to pigeonhole myself.

ton - Member

never done anything else.

It's pretty much all I do. I maybe visit a trail centre a couple of times a year, but otherwise its out in the countryside stuff with a few bits that people have 'built' on the route.

On the internet, though, it's all shredtastic downhill with tyres barely staying on the rim around every corner.........

I use the bridleways, footpaths and cyclepaths across the valleys to get to the good bits.

It is the only way for me, just ridding trails an looking at the views. Seen it come and go, how long before we have "what happened to enduro events" a couple of years maybe?

it's all shredtastic downhill with tyres barely staying on the rim around every corner.........

I mean, I enjoy a nice view or just being out in the fresh air, but going downhill/fast [i]is[/i] more fun. Isn't it!?

Yes, I'm fortunate to live somewhere I can ride into the hills from my doorstep and have the eastern Cairngorm a half hour drive away. Last night I rode Glen Lee for the first time which was absolutely stunning with the waterfalls and purple heather.

I even ride an old school bike a 1998 Marin East Peak FRS with a 100mm stem.

Most of my riding is a mix of road/ trail/ singletrack/ bridleway/ farm track - usually about 60-80 miles on a Sunday out and about in the Surrey Hills. Walk the bits you don't like, ride the bits you do. Not much faffing. Cake and a coffee always, maybe an ice cream.
Bikes vary - 650b gravel bike, 29er drop bar, 26" hardtail or fullsus, or a 700c CX bike.

slowjo - Member

Mainly on a "gravel" bike atm but if not, on my old Swift

I probably should be in a gravel bike for 90% of what I do these days. Thing is, if I'm not on the old school 29er then I'm likely on the fat bike!

Highly inappropriate but good fun.

If you choose the right bike for the conditions everything is enjoyable.

Not sure buying these big travel bikes is that sensible as it flattens out all the normal/natural/local stuff and means finding stuff that is exhilerating to ride is less likely.

Just gone from my 120/105mm 26er turner flux to a 130/120mm 650b flux and things have suddenly become easier. And when my 140/120 650b+ sultan is ready things will be even easier.

Pretty much all I do: Dales, Lakes, Scotland, occasionally the Peak. Rarely (as in less than once a year on average) go to trail centres, genuinely trying to remember the last time I went to one.

As for not seeing anyone out on the trails: you could be following (or being followed by) someone five/ten minutes ahead and never see them. I'll meet the occasional small group out in the south Dales but it's rarely more than two or three at a time - the Kettlewell Killer loop seems popular for some reason despite it doing some trails the wrong way round.

I like a bit of everything MTB wise, pootle up the river (often with a pint or 2 half way), uplift days, exploring to find new stuff, enduros, manky nightrides alone or with mates, big days hike a bike, trail building too. In fact, A days building is often as enjoyable as a days riding, certainly rewarding, and means I'm desperate to get back out and ride the new track.

TurnerGuy - Member

If you choose the right bike for the conditions everything is enjoyable.

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type 2 fun?

Can't remember the last time I rode a UK trail centre. Some are ace (CyB, Stanes lot etc), but much prefer the natural stuff, & love it when the trails are quiet. Can't beat an epic on the moors in the rain.
Was being teased the other week as I was the only one to turn up on a 26er with a front mech & 'skinny' 2.3 tyres. WTF?? Glad I left the spandex at home for that one

It's part of the mix.

Don't profess to be a good technical rider so do lots of local miles using roads, bridleways, paths and tracks. 95% plus of my rides are from home, between 20 and 40 plus miles. Once out of town it is surprising how few people you see even on a Sunday. I ride a few trail centres a year on a weekend away but generally begrudge driving for an hour or more to ride when I can go from home.

This weekends ride consisted of canal towpath ( Colne Valley, West Yorkshire ) out then over the Pennines ( bits of Pennine Way ) back into the Calder Valley to get home.

Yep, s'all I do (off-road). Trail centres, enduro and all that guff can get in the sea as far as I'm concerned.

Often on an 'old school' geometry 29er

There's no such thing as old school 29er 😉

I was the only one to turn up on a 26er with a front mech & 'skinny' 2.3 tyres.

26", 3*9, 2.3 tyred hardtail here too. It's the future 🙂

So, what were you doing forty years ago when Elvis died?

been doing a lot of hiking* recently in the areas that i used to cycle all the time and the lack of people on bikes is very noticeable. In something like 25 weekend walks in prime Chilterns cycling areas I've probably seen less than a dozen mountain bikers. A few years back we'd often see more than that in a single day.

'skinny' 2.3 tyres.

* The hiking has temporarily taken over from the cycling because a mate wants to walk the coast to coast next year and I'm trying to prepare for it a bit and make it enjoyable rather than a lesson in punishment and humiliation.

I'm too old and slow to do anything else.

Not often, maybe 3-4 rides a year on bridleways (lakes/moors/dales).
Once a year I might try and see how fast I can do a loop of Dalby red non stop.
Most riding now is usually messing about in local(ish) woods, pootle up, chat, and go for it on the downs.

I spend most of my time doing that, I only visit trail centres when I'm in the area.

Last weekend we rode form my mates house to Macc forest, up & over Charity Lane, down Derbyshire bridge way to Buxton, over the old road, back up the Cat & Fiddle, down into the Goyt Valley, over Macc Forest again and back to his, 102km all in............. proper riding innit.

Most of my local riding is along brideways, re-purposed railway lines, natural single track in woods and along forest roads.

I just class it as "trail riding" which covers pretty much everything from old hill roads to forestry singletrack and everything in between. I do like following sheep tracks to see if they can form part of a decent route and I also like steep rocky descents. We don't have much of those here though, so I have to get my fix of those when I'm in Greece.

Give me a nice rocky gully and and some trees and I can spend a whole afternoon picking different ways through and trying to ride them clean. Not many people that I know seem to "get" this though, so I'm usually out alone...

I also like trail building/clearing, because I always like to find new, hidden ways to get to familiar places. So I probably ride where I was riding twenty five years ago but now have far more capable bikes to do it on, which means I look for more difficult details in the terrain.

I just wish I lived somewhere with big mountains that were more accessible than most are in Greece.

IHN - Member
There's no such thing as old school 29er

Fair play. Steep HA then. As in it starts with a 7 😯

Yup, but then also head to 'degla for a regular mid week ride.
Oh and bike pack.
But yeah, mainly long old hike a bike type fun.

Yep it's all I do, well 95% off time, it's a shame so few mtb'er ride natural tracks, even on strava on a busy day max you.ll see is 6 or 7 riders and it's the same names, very few youngster (under 35) around my way everyone seems to be 40-55, do the kids just do trail centres..

You mean normal riding? Meaning anything off-road? For me that defines 'mountain biking' generally. No need for sub-categories, no need for a particular 'weapon'. Ride anything on the one bike, any trail, anywhere. Moors, field edges, trail centres, woods, mountains. Uphill or down, fast or bimbling. Any combination of that in one ride. It is possible to ride on the flat quickly and smash decents, without calling it En-XC-duro, or caring what it's called.

None of it needs categorising based on perceived speed, trail difficulty, bike type, geology, clothing, whatever. Thinking too much about all this stuff is pretty joyless, and a sign of spending too long thinking about it indoors and caring what the internet says.

OK, rant over 🙂

Yep, sometimes. But in all honestly not really through choice, it's just what's local to me.

I built myself a nice XC bike thinking it'd encourage me to do more of that sort of riding but I never ride it. Actually the fatbike's made me enjoy that sort of thing more but I used to do xc blasts mostly for fitness, now I bimble.

Interesting the Strava bit - look on the heat map and places like Gisburn glare out yet a few Km away and the bridleways hardly have any usage - you have to zoom right in to see a trace. A quick check of some segments shows around 35K recorded rides on the Gisburn red and 500 or so on some of the Dales descents.

I'm aware that not everyone uses Strava but with a large user base the percentages of overall riders are likely to be similar, in fact I'd have thought that those out on the BWs would be more likely to use it.

Only if there is something worth riding to at the end...
If I want to ride at a pace and cover ground then I'll get the road bike out. After that I'm not a fan of being on the MTB when there is a chance of falling asleep due to boredom.
My memories of being out on the old HT in the 00's was at the end of some rides wondering what the point was except for covering distance, the interesting bits never arrived and then 4hrs later you were back at the start wet/muddy/knackered.

We had a [s]ride[/s] bimble up to Whitburn for something for our tea yesterday (tuna steaks, as it turns out) via NCN1 and the sea front, I was on my BFe and OH was on his Meta 4X. Neither are 'XC' bikes but we bimbled out via a bit of XC, some road and I think there was some gravel on bits of the route as well- should we start [i]another[/i] niche or can we just ride our bikes?

When I finally have the cash together to afford a new bike (something marathon XC based) its what I'll be doing, especially as I'm very much a wheels on the ground type of rider.

I live on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors and recently acquired a guidebook to go with my OS Map so have been plotting a lot of rides/adventures around the area.

Yeah..I ride everything I do..
-XC loops (recently have been really enjoying just riding 20-30 miles around the South Downs in the balmy summer evenings!)
-DH/Enduro 'trails' - as in..jsut riding several technical sections down the side of some local hills
-CX - a bit like the XC loops, but backwards (chuckle...nah, gravel bike routes round here are plenty)
-and...a bit of road..

'sjust bikes innit..

DrP

I need to stop coming on here, and reading bike media in general.

Most of my riding is general 'mountain biking' - bit of road, some bridleways, some wood singletrack, some fire road, some green lanes, some hils/moorland.

I also go to trail centres occasionally (FoD, CyB, NyA), but mostly ride in Bringewood, Mortimer, Hopton, Black Mountains, Long Mynd or similar if I'm putting the bike in the car.

I nearly always feel like I ought to be on another bike, or a better bike, or I need a new bike, it's ridiculous.

'Best' bike for what I do would be a shortish travel, carbon, full sus with two sets of wheels. What I have is a Soul, a Zesty, and far too much thinking time.

type 2 fun?

When I first took up mountain biking, after finally deciding to give up golf, I was out both days every weekend doing a loop from my house of about 35 miles around Surrey, and when winter came a lot of the bridleways were like that or worse, but my fitness was good enough to drive through the mud at a reasonable pace, so it was enjoyable.

I used to have one of those plastic comb like attachments on my rear cassette to clear the mud out (8 speed) and used to wear stuff out a lot until I upgraded to xt standard, apart from the crankshaft where I had to go to middleburn before it was robust.

Nowadays that stuff is less enjoyable, some of which is my fitness and some of which was the change from 8 speed, which I think was better in the mud.

But when I ride my tripster in stuff like that, it seems to be as fun as it used to be, so maybe it is the bike being less xc ?

https://www.singletracks.com/blog/trail-advocacy/mountain-biking-has-an-identity-crisis-and-it-affects-us-all/

Personally, I just like riding my bike(s). Most of my rides are in excess of 3 hours and I enjoy being outdoors. There's no need for a destination or a target. I don't need to be going fast, or be scared - though sometimes one or both happens.

Yeap all the time, I stopped off at the new Wind Hill site & (briefly)watched the gravity types doing their thing whist out on one of my regular XC loops around Longleat Forest & Salisbury Plain. All looked good fun & there was some nice skills from some.
However I still can't believe its as good as giving it the berries along some single track on a fast XC bike for a few hours, yes it makes you work hard but for me that's what its about.

Of course. Most people still do general riding. Silly.

We still used to race each other on downhills back in the day, we were just doing it on crap bikes. But we still did long days out and local loops and all. Surprised anyone would think that no-one did it any more.

There are in general far more miles being ridden on all kinds of bikes, if the trails are anything to go by.

Surprised anyone would think that no-one did it any more

I did a part of a figure of eight today, eastern cairngorms. Nothing technical, just a day - or part day - out in the hills. It was sobering to think that the last time I rode one part of the loop was - must have been at least 25 years ago, and we did a monster climb and descent as well on top of what I did today 🙁

At least I kept it real by doing it on a rigid bike as previously!!

I did a part of a figure of eight today, eastern cairngorms

It's pretty much all I do on a mtb

@scotroutes - in same place as mine for all your Findhorn rides. HTH.

anyway, we'd cancel out and disappear if we actually met, non?

arrange a meet-up. I'll try and turn up.

🙂

I don't like the idea that XC on natural trails is 'proper mountain biking' but dicking about in the woods or trail centres aren't.

I enjoy all 3, with the vast majority of my rides being natural XC esque ones until very recently. Each one has a different appeal so I can see why some people don't like certain types of riding.

Yep, I live in the Peak and can ride from my door, anything from and hour blast to all day. Get a good mix of riding, but I am doing it on a 'trail' hardtail, so don't know if that breaks the rules. I've nothing against trail centers, more a matter of using my scare free time riding rather than travelling to ride. It's all good.

I've mentioned before that there's a "race to, err, somewhere" when it comes to trail centres: riders complain that the trails are too tame so the next set of trails to be built are made tougher then the manufacturers add another 10mm travel to their bikes and forks and the cycle repeats.

Consequently, head out onto natural BWs on the latest bikes and the consensus is "boring". Of course it is! The riders are completely over-biked for what they are riding. Get on a HT with 80mm or 100mm forks or a rigid and they are much more involved.

Riding home tonight (on a CX/commuter), I remembered my last visit to a trail centre: Forest of Dean exactly a year ago. Edit: I'm not saying that trail centres aren't "proper" mountain biking just that I don't like riding them, there's a difference.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I know most people aren't saying that. I just noticed a few people saying it wasn't, or that having an old bike is somehow better or more genuine (it isn't, it doesn't matter).

If I lived in the peaks then I don't think I'd ever go to a trail centre again. The quality of riding there is brilliant for both XC and 'enduro'.

I don't understand why people have an axe to grind about how other people cycle. Particularly when they use the word "enduro" as if it was an insult when those enjoying enduro type riding don't even use that word nor care what it means.

It's entirely possible to do xc, dh, enduro, whatever. And sometimes on one bike on the same day.

No need for names, discrimination or s****ing.

Ridiculing over biked but yes,I ride what I consider to be xc and love it just as much as I did when I first discovered mountain bikes back in the 90's. 🙂

I meant "ridiculously over biked"! Lol 😉

riders complain that the trails are too tame so the next set of trails to be built are made tougher then the manufacturers add another 10mm travel to their bikes and forks and the cycle repeats.

This is a bit of nonsense I'm afraid. Trail centre trails are getting easier the more are built, with the focus being on the average or new rider (the ones there are more of, to pay the parking charges and eat in the cafe to cover the cost of the trails). It doesn't make sense to build technical trails 10% of visitors can ride. Laggan Black was probably the last traditional hard trail centre route to be built.

Anyway, I like to do rides of a minimum of 15 miles with as many steep and technical descents as I can. I like hard descents, but also like to cover some distance. I do it on bikes with a range of travels but consider my 160mm full sus the bike of choice. I do ride to work over 18 miles on my 29+ hardtail and the last half of that is old fashioned farm tracks, but without the main steep singletrack descent at the start I don't think it'd me my sort of fun.

Consequently, head out onto natural BWs on the latest bikes and the consensus is "boring". Of course it is!

Some of the hardest & best riding I know is on BW's.

Still regularly ride the old XC loops I used to do when I first started over 20 years ago, so yes. And I'm still exploring in the old way of following random trails in areas I know well! The FOD is brilliant for doing exactly this, do a lap of the red or blue then head over to the other side of the road and go for a wander. Have lost many, many hours doing this and never tire of it.

I just enjoy riding my bikes full stop, whether that's a trail centre blast, XC loop or an uplift day doesn't bother me in the slightest.

I don't understand why people have an axe to grind about how other people cycle. Particularly when they use the word "enduro" as if it was an insult when those enjoying enduro type riding don't even use that word nor care what it means.

Yep, using enduro as an insult or looking down your nose, just outs you as a fud.

This is a bit of nonsense I'm afraid.

Also true, there's been very little new stuff built at any trail centre up here in years, and Comrie apart, it's mainly family stuff.

As [b]an[/b] example - Gisburn red used to be a single loop with a couple of technical bits. I can't remember when the work on the new stuff like Home Baked and Hully Gully began, probably about ten years ago, but the red as it is now would have been a black fifteen years ago, almost all the new bits are harder than the old stuff. The old technical bits have been left to degrade and what was once a mildly rocky and rooty descent is now much harder. One of the old tech bits now has a diversion as I don't think it can sustain current usage levels. There's a new blue route as well. You could argue that the old red at Gisburn should have been a blue but it was equivalent to other reds, there just wasn't a lot of it. I've noticed similar "drifts" at other TCs over that period of time.

Looking at the above, maybe I should have originally written that the existing TC routes have been allowed to develop/degrade so that they are harder rather than being kept at their original level of difficulty.

I know of hard, technical sections of BW but they are the exceptions, the vast majority of BWs aren't like that: Garburn to Haweswater, Gunnerside Gill, The Ranger Path are atypical. (I'll not mention any Scottish descents since legally and sensibly you don't have the distinction between footpaths and bridleways).

Best get ready for work. Next biking is a road trip in the Lakes then a 200Km blast around the Dales - meant to be gravel bike friendly 😆

Reminds me of an old comic relief book.

"Cross country riding:
For people who rìde in the country side getting cross, the further they ride and more remote the area, the crosser they get."

Having moved back to the Chilterns old school natural xc is pretty much all that's available. I think I get enough satisfaction out of just being outdoors to enjoy it. It's different enough from road biking because of all the variety available in routes. The area is criss crossed with bridleway and byways.
It's properly soggy at the moment though so am seriously considering heading over to swinley next ride!

It does lend itself to a specific kind of bike though, hardtail and maybe gravel bike's.

It's just riding a bike innit, but riding downhill is the best part.

I use the traditional BWs to get to the good bits like others, and I'd also say that a number of BWs I've ridden are far more technical than anything I've found at a trail centre, which is after all, built to be rideable.

I've tried the odd enduro and it's not really for me, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy finishing a ride messing around on the local runs for an hour on my way back from the hills. Some beautiful views, a good climb, natural BW descents and a play on the enduro trails is the perfect ride for me.

'Enduro' the tag has definitely led to most of us being well over biked IMHO but then the industry has to flog stuff and a shot of an enduro rider hammering a trail looks far more alluring than someone bimbling along a bridleway.

And I do feel riders who purely go to trail centres and enduro runs in the woods miss out on the wider picture, but that's obviously because I'm a tree hugging great outdoors t*sspot.

Nope

I used to ride bleak moorland and miles of doubletrack in the 90s it does my head in now.

[quote=scotroutes ]
Personally, I just like riding my bike(s). Most of my rides are in excess of 3 hours and I enjoy being outdoors. There's no need for a destination or a target. I don't need to be going fast, or be scared - though sometimes one or both happens.

THis

Not overly bothered about what the latest cycling trend is for either the bike I should be using or the routes I should be riding

I still ride locally for 95% of my riding as it just seems wrong to use a car to go for a bike ride

What i ride depends on weather and what I am interested in
Winter tend to do just BW and munch miles [ or use the SS] as its a bit boggy where i am
Summer a bit more "gnar" and included Big mountain days out in the Lakes

Trail centres dont really interest me personally but I go to Degla about once every three years

TBH who cares I am on a bike whether commuting to work the route I have ridden thousands of times to the local trails to something new who cares I am on a bike so it is better than the alternative of not being able to ride

Nope, used to but these days I only ride aggressive XC 🙂

There was a local latest bike/latest bike arms race with my usual riding buddies but as we've got older we just tend to use what we've got with maybe a bit of niche thrown in on the same trails we were riding in the late 80s

Some of the hardest & best riding I know is on BW's.

'aint that the truth! Trail centre trails are designed to be rideable, BW aren't necessarily designed at all, let alone with a bike in mind. And then there's the 'not path' bits to contend with 😈

The thing that always tickles me about Trail Centre haters is that most of the trail centres appeared because [i]that's where people were riding anyway[/i], people were already there riding rough trails, and building their own, then when the TC got built you ended up with some nice all weather graded trails with the added bonus that there's normally still a lot of 'natural' stuff still there too if you want it. Win Win!

I guess a lot depends on where you live though, I, like many am lucky enough to live near some amazing natural trails on moorland, in forests and everything in between, as well as close enough to a mediocre trail centre (that also has a lot of natural/off-piste) so I can pick and choose what suits my mood.

If your only option is either to drive somewhere or ride round the edge of fields I can see why you might end up down one path or the other... (pun intended)

yes

I don't like the idea that XC on natural trails is 'proper mountain biking' but dicking about in the woods or trail centres aren't.

Me neither.

Who really cares what people ride?

I just like riding my bike and escaping from work etc a few times a week. I've ridden for a long time now and have always found myself drawn to DH / mucking about. Even now, my rides are much more fun based playing on favourite runs / jumps because that's what I've ridden since forever and enjoy. All on my hardtail because the local trails aren't that hardcore so it suits.

Basically any bike, any place, any time, preferably offroad, eg had a Dahon folder up a mountain because that's what I happened to be on when I saw the trail. So I'm an old style xc and gravel rider.

Scotroute's comment up there about the reality of what riding is done by the majority as opposed to the magazine image projection nails it.

I leave the hero riding to the future paralympians and walking stick wielders. I've been around long enough to know that the odds of consequences eventually catch up with a proportion of people, but it isn't obvious because we don't see the broken people out on the trails.

Scotroute's comment up there about the reality of what riding is done by the majority as opposed to the magazine image projection nails it.

That all depends on your locality tbh, You live in an area surrounded by coffin routes, stalkers paths etc. I live in an area surrounded by farmland and forestry, so most local riders either ride road or ride built stuff, generally short, steep nadgery stuff with drops, jumps etc.

Nobeerinthefridge - Member
That all depends on your locality ...

Fair point.

How can you bear to live in such a place though? 🙂

We have good riding locally, Not big long wilderness stuff, but that's no really my bag anyway. We also have the lakes, tweed valley, Aviemore and FW all within 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hrs drive, Arran an hour on the ferry and all our local moorland and built stuff, so enough to be going on with.

Tbh, even if I lived in the Tweed valley or somewhere else with a huge concentration of trails, I like to travel with my bike, always have done.