[Closed] If you had £2k to improve your biking...what would you spend it on?

2k I'd go on a skills course and a holiday.

liposuction

Old dog new tricks springs to mind 🙂

What is your preferred outcome? More fitness, more fun or more bling?

liposuction

..will it hurt?

 

Pay a painter/decorator, that'd get me more weekends out of the bloody house!

Jonnyboi...probably more long term enjoyment on the bike...nice hard tail might encourage some new xc routes ..road frame? .tbh it’s the engine where the work is needed..!

Day or two with Jedi, rest on a trip to the place in the world that has the best riding that you do which, if you are on a mountain bike, is Whistler/BC.

Or a month in Majorca, if you insist on road biking

Thisisnotaspoon...Good point..a gardener would free up many weekends!

Same as above a decorator, sofa is order and my living needs gutting replastering and then painting, I can see my riding over the coming weeks will be frowned upon

...maybe getting rid of the sofa might help 😉

Old dog new tricks springs to mind

Pish. You're never to old to learn stuff, get yourself booked on with a decent coach.

As poah says, a skills course or two and a decent holiday somewhere moderately challenging will push your mountain biking forward way more than any fancy kit or gym subscriptions or whatever.

How much babysitting time does that get you?

I'd probably bling out my XC race bike tbh. It's porky.

Join the club, I will be 50 in November 🙂

I'm going to fly out to Vegas, pick up an RV then do some amazing rides around Sedona and Moab. It will be awesome 😀

Don’t spend any money on the bike, find a nice 3-6 day mtb race somewhere nice, E.G Spain or totally random like Iceland

Get entered then train your tits off, endurance is the last thing you lose as you age

Would £2k get you a decent trip to Canada?

I'd do that if so.

You're never to old to learn stuff, get yourself booked on with a decent coach.

People keep saying stuff like that on here. I don't know anyone who's done a skills course, it must be an English thing 😉
But surely the best way to improve is by riding more, if you go on a course then only ride once a fortnight how will it make you a better rider ?
P.s
I'd spend the money on a good road frame.

£2000 probably wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to my riding, tbh. Although maybe I could pay Tom Oehler to teach me how to be as good at endo turns as he is - that would make a difference, if only to my self-esteem.

Thanks all..seems that one or two trips and training top of the list!

I'd spend a bit with Jedi- not that much- and see what he thought I could use as improvement, bike wise.

....an ebike the 250w will make you feel 30years younger...just don't tell anyone you have brought one they are the product of the devil

I've been on a skills course.
I'm not English.

I favour the gardener/decorator idea. More time for riding.

But surely the best way to improve is by riding more, if you go on a course then only ride once a fortnight how will it make you a better rider ?

Obviously you need to ride your bike to build any skills, that goes without saying. You progress a hell of a lot faster once someone who knows what they're doing has pointed you in the right direction and fixed any bad habits, though.

How much is eye surgery ?
If it was £3k , that! 😀

A decent coach can help you get over any mental hurdles you might have, but I totally agree it's no good if you don't keep doing it after.

If you haven't already got them, a high end turbo trainer and a power meter. And some nice wheels that have easily convertible width hubs.

Eye surgery? How about lung surgery 🙂

Just had a similar thing. The wife bought me a Reilly Gradient frame. Tis a thing of beauty - I pick it up next weekend (I saved up for the build over last 18month so I get my 40th birthday present en route to my 42nd...

Training and a holiday.

Definitely a trip rather than bike/bits. Somewhere that would normally be off the list for financial or time reasons.

US/Canada might be high up the list, though I'm partial to also seeing new cultures so one of the other big mountain ranges and some sort of bike exploration would appeal to me.

Or 1000 days parking at Swinley, of course.

2k would get you coaching for a year, a bunch of physio appointments, entry to half a dozen races, and a new purpose to life.
100+ entrants to vet50 CX races each week in the south east alone. Life's too short not to be your best.

Six months riding in Nepal or similar. Andes maybe.

It's great how we all have such different priorities. Entering 100 CX races would be pretty low down my list, but I salute those of you who do get your kicks that way.

Anyway. Re-reading the OP and realising he's got a roadie/XC focus, how about a nice used high-end road frame (assuming you want rim brakes) and a training camp trip somewhere nice in Europe?

Should have money left over for a bit of coaching or even a power meter.

2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc for £1k, Elite Direto and 4iiii power meter could just about be had for £2k total on a good day.

chakaping - As you correctly deduced I have more of a road focus theses days. Actually more accurate would be a focus on doing decent distance from the house. MTB ended up being too time consuming to get anywhere decent and have good exercise. A hard tail which would be ok for road work to, from and in between trails might do the trick.

Sounds like you need a gravel bike...!

Having just returned from a week biking in La Gomera for less than half that amount, I'd definitely say just bobbying off somewhere with the bike.

Was an amusingly titled "Enduro Week" with an even more amusing French trail guide. Even though I was on the wrong wheels (26", oh the shame) and the wrong bike (Pronghorn - "your bike is shit, maybe next time leave it at home and use one of mine": bike shop owner) I had an absolute blast, and through nothing more than following someone better than me and giving it a go I'm twice the rider I was before I went.

Bike Station Gomera if anyone's interested, with Fabian the guide. Tremendous fun.

I'd work out how far away from home I could fly to, leaving a suitable balance to support the ride back. £400-500 gets you an interestingly long way away and £1500-£1600 funds plenty of nights under the stars.

Personally, with 2k I'd get power meters for a couple of bikes (£800) then put the rest towards coaching. Depends if you have the dedication / a reason to follow what the coach says!

Ferrals. I’m a gadget guy but - no.

Buy the cube hardtail mentioned on the previous page, then take it on a nice holiday and get to know it a little better.
Or coke and hookers, obviously.

Martymac- your second suggestion is spot on!

Assuming you are more interested in MTB: (rather than road riding, which, lets face it,is rather gay...... 😉 << joke btw!)

£250 on a really good skills course
£250 on a long weekend in Wales/Scotland/The Lakes/The Peaks etc
£1000 on a really nice week in the Alps
£250 on some bling
£250 on beer (or a nice meal with the missus, if she's feeling left out!)

All on holidays abroad, the types which are mainly uplift assist downhill oriented and provide skills tuition

I take it £2k would get me two guided holidays in Spain, one week each

For bike equipment? Just maintaining the stuff I've got now rather than upgrading

2k I'd go on a skills course and a holiday

Yep, holiday would be top of my list. I remember the biking holidays I've had waaay more than the bikes I was on during the holiday.

Flights to Vancouver or Denver and a local guide.

thisisnotaspoon - Member
Pay a painter/decorator, that'd get me more weekends out of the bloody house!

2 grand won't get you far going on the last time I had a painter and decorator in to paint the front of the house.

edit: As said above, go on a skills course or two.

Here in Sweden there was an internet auction for a nationwide charity campaign to ride with Robin Wallner for a day, enduro pro who came 4th in whistler and was top 10 in the EWS. 500 quid I think it went for.

That plus a week in finale the week before the EWS , follow the pros, watch their lines, try (and fail) to keep up. You would learn so so much