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I've got a new policy, quality over quantity.
The last 12 months have left me in a right rut, I must have ridden Sherwood Pines and the surrounding area every shitting week. I could probably do it in my sleep. It's the closest "trail", and I figured that riding loads would keep me fit, but in reality it's just put me off riding in general. It was fun for a bit, trying to get sub 40 mins, but now that's done, I'm bored. It's still an hour's drive from home, so hardly close! I'm not progressing, in a time where I feel more confident and excited about riding than ever before. Things are making sense, i just need to practice.
SO, the new leaf. In an attempt to get both fitter and faster downhill, I'm going to focus on quality, rather than quantity.
When I say quality, I mean technical features, elevation and challenge. I'll save the fitness rides for the Escapade/running, using the BFe for "proper riding". In my mind, (possibly foolishly) an hour spent messing about on the short DH tracks 20 mins from my door is better than just trying to ride a dull loop faster and faster. I can then save up that travel time for the weekend, go and visit some new stuff on some actual hills. I suppose I'm chasing the gnar where you are, like that feature from a few months ago which I didn't read.
That is all.
ride to your local trails as fast you can
session 'em and ride home
2 birds with one stone
Drive to the peak? Get the guide for the dark and white?
I don't mean to be stw rude but I live near Sherwood Pines and barely ride it. There are so many great b/w between here and Sheffield/Lincoln /Nottingham etc. Just strut out of pines and follow route 6 into Old Sherwood Forest and then on to Clumber. You can also come out of Clumber westwards towards Welbeck on a b/w that is several miles long towards Derbyshire.
Breaking it up so the key. There are good drops from the top of Forest Town too.
Don't know how far you are from Pines though...
where do you live Op?
Mike's right though, the quality of the tracks in the dark peak is absolutely outstanding.
I was doing the same, even to the point where I had a bike for Sherwood! I'd use my BFe there because the FS felt overkill. I was doing an evening lap about a month ago and just not enjoying it, ended up dropping in to the shop and buying a second hand CX bike form them, have sold the BFe now and ride from my front door instead, far more enjoyable!
Likewise. I'm limited to short (90 min) XC races for the next 12 months/2017 so I recently sussed out a "training" circuit for my local XC route which also includes 2 loop options for hill repeats (descend fast singletrack, climb up 8% to the top & repeat)
I decided to do that repeatedly on my MTB's/spare weekend ride instead of longer winter road miles to replicate the races and improve my technical skills.
XC is your saviour. Ride a wide variety of trails over whatever distance, and you get downhills and technicality but also fitness, and it's enjoyable just exploring the countryside and choosing what your ride is going to be like each time.
It's natural to get bored of doing the same thing time and again, just mix it up and do a bit of everything and anything you want. Go cross country, go to the trail centre, go to a DH track...do it all and don't worry about some prescribed level of fitness, that'll follow on from plenty of enjoyable riding and you won't have to obsess over it.
Drive to the peak? Get the guide for the dark and white?
That's the plan! The worst part is that I used to live 30 mins from the dark peak and rode a couple of times a week. I drove out and rode Lady Cannings/Cut Gate on Saturday and had a blast...more of that needed.
I'm about 20mins north of Lincoln, near Caenby Corner for those who know. The trouble is, I'm sure there is stuff to ride, but the good bits are so few and far between that it's not worth it, hence the new ride from the door or drive somewhere good policy.
There are so many great b/w between here and Sheffield/Lincoln /Nottingham
I'm sure there are, I just don't know where they are. The last 2 weekends ('Ard Moors and Dark Peak) have got me pining for some actual hills.
I don't know where you are, but I find chucking the bike in the car has to be worth it. There's a lot of riding just about anywhere if you're prepared to explore enough. There are a couple of DH trails I've ridden a lot since moving a while back, and whilst it could be repetitive, they're always evolving, they ride differently in different weather etc.
When the weather's nicer, there are some bigger hills to ride, and when I have time I can either do a big local loop or chuck the bike in the car.
ride to your local trails as fast you can
session 'em and ride home2 birds with one stone
This, pretty much.
We're lucky to have a really good 5 mile loop (7 if we stick some coastal path in) on our doorstep that's DH and jumpy/droppy on the way to the coast then all climb on the way back home for a fry up! That easily beats an hour's drive to Hamsters to mince about there for a few hours before driving home again- even in towns there are steps and drops to play on. Singlespeeding or limiting the range of gears you use helps with fitness and makes the ride ever so slightly different because you tend to have to get out of the seat and stand on the pedals rather than sit and spin 😀 I try to only use the top five gears on our local loop, keeping the bottom five for when I'm particularly knackered and Cemetery Hill beats me! Getting out and doing it most mornings has definitely improved my fitness and confidence on bigger stuff to the point that at this year's Hamsters TT2 I'm hoping to match or beat last year's time (on a FS) on my hardtail.
I've only got one bike (through choice 😯 my BMXs don't count...) and I use it for all sorts of stuff, including popping to the shop and our local BMX track. It's nice to have the choice of a few bikes (been there, done that, sold them all) but it's very liberating to have to make the best use of what you've got 😀
edit- 'gnar where you are' is a good one- ride out of the door, do a wheelie, pull a skid, have a go at a rolling stoppy, ride down some steps, bunny hop over stuff. Make an arse of yourself 😆
still an hour's drive from home
So it's basically a three hour trip most of which is spent in a car, for 40 minutes of actual riding, which you are bored by...
Get an OS map scope out the local hills and woodland and spend that 3 hours exploring your local area... Bet you find something worth riding/digging nearby.
It depends what your aims are. Do you have any fitness aims / goals? Or is it simply just to get fitter?
In training terms, quality miles generally refers to intervals and structured power zones for a certain amount of time or minutes. But riding DH will definitely improve your mtb skills more than a dull 40 minute loop.
Well you haven't made things simple for yourself that's for sure, living in one of the most pan flat areas in the UK and and wanting Ard Rock and CYB Enduro style territory.
This is what I'd do, ride the Pines once a month, it's OK for fitness if you do it twice flat out, they've made the best with what they have there, I used to ride there many moons ago when I went North to Catterick on the A1. It wasn't a trail centr then 20 years ago and the forest ranger that was there was one of the grumpiest bastards I've ever met.
Another weekend drive North, do Dalby, go out across the moors. Explore
Remaining time I'd spend in the Peaks especially as you already know the area you can maximise on riding time and not finding time.
Oh and definately definately buy yourself a CX bike, I can't even begin to explain it but passing MTBers in Dalby on what is potentially a road bike doesn't half stir some emotion. I wore baggies as well so that just confused things even more.
Get an OS map scope out the local hills and woodland
There is genuinely very little around here in terms of hills or woodland. As an example, did a quick 20miles on the road bike last night, Strava said I climbed 63ft. Any trees are small copses in the middle of farmers fields and I suspect any attempt to dig would be met with hostility from the trigger happy local farmers.
I'm pretty fit, I don't have any particular goal fitness wise. I would like to work on my skills more than anything. I'm pretty average downhill, mid-pack at Ard Moors on the hardtail, so would like to gain confidence and pace downhill.
You must be bonkers doing Dalby on a CX bike xyeti! I can't even stand it on my mtb, how do you keep your eyeballs in? I've got a Cotic Escapade which I use for exploring, taken it round Pines to keep things interesting, only about 30 seconds slower than the BFe!
From Worksop we often ride to Lincoln or Doddington - which takes in the nice train track from Fledborough. There are definitely b/ws of more interest along the way. You could do this in reverse and end up at Clumber where we start. It's a big ride 50-60 miles but easy going generally. The benefit you get is connect some dots between Lincoln and this neck off the woods and stop off at Clumber where there are some decent trails.