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1) Blast up the hills, steady on the flats, recover on the downs.
2) Plod painfully up the hills (often in danger of being overtaken by a walking toddler), steady/quick on the flats, balls out on the downs.
3) Other
🙂
I'm a #2. Hills kill me lol
Walk up the hills
Tear along the flats
Scare myself sh!tless on the downs, get off and walk 😉
pant and puff on the way up ( a little faster now I have dropped 2 stone)
fastish on the flat and beginning to get more confident own the downy bits (am even tackling steps now)
4) RRRRRRRRRAD
with a capital F
Slow on the flat.
Even Slower going down.
Even Slower than that on the uphills..
One word sums up my riding skillz quite nicely.
"Crap"
attack the hills
attack the flats
attack the downs
i like to blast up the hills, slower on the flats (if its a tarmac section = zzzz on my mtb) and a mixture of fast if its a nice descent, or mince/recover if its too technical/i'm not riding well.
i loves climbing, generally the steeper, grassier and or rocky the better. 🙂
jey core mince lite 😀
I enjoy climbing.. not very quick on the downs though :o(
Used to enjoy pushing along at a fair old lick on the flats, but swapped to SS and that doesn't happen anymore 😉
Fast on the ups.
Fast on the downs.
Fast in between.
I think the word sedate sums it up.
So damn fast I am a mere blur. Huck, jump and manual everything 🙂
fast as I can up, fast as I can along, fast as I can down.
Note - fast as I can does not actually mean fast.
2) but probably nowhere near as fast on the downs as I like to think.
Same as mrsflash....
yep! mrsflash pretty much sums it up.... 🙁
Fast and buttery 🙂 oh and gnaley.........dude
Adey, that should be a 🙂 not a 🙁 it's all good!
my style varies
fast* as poss up, fast* as poss on flat, fast* as poss down
confidence rises....
fast* as poss up, fast* as poss on flat, crash
confidence falls
slow
*fast for [b]me[/b]
tarmac = ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz
Attack the interesting bits be they up, down or allong.
Depends entirely on the bike I'm on, the route I'm doing, any injuries I'm carrying, my mood and the company I'm in.
Definitely 1) for me.
Mince Xc is where all the cool dudes hang out.
Walk up then freewheel the fastest DH racer boy lines down (except I ride round puddles and rarely squash/aviod jumps)
Ambling along chatting to my son who sits in front of me - speed is overrated.
Took him through Dixon's Hollow and the bomb holes at Dalby yesterday.
'pottering along nicely at the back'
up/flat/down doesn't matter, i'm happy if it's technical or/and swoopy.
Ok, here is a genuine attempt at a actual description of my style
I ride hard tail because not being mechanically adept there seems far too much stuff to get confused with on a full suss.
My legs feel like lead weights at the start of rides, and any initial uphills are painfully slow.
At trail centres, I try and get up these step ups, but my pedals normally hit rocks and my bike jams and I have to stop.
To get over tree roots, I try and pick up just enough speed so that if I yank the front up, my momentum will somehow get me over.
On uphill siwtchbacks, I alwats seem to wobble and go way too wide and then the handlebars go like that and I'm off.
Going downhills, I am heavy on the brakes as whenever I seem to pick up speed, there never seems to be enough track to go round even modest cornners and I am worried about hitting boulders by the side of the trails, or just falling into ditches if there are no berms.
I always have to stop when appraching drop offs which I assume are jumps at trail centres, but get annoyed when a few inches further and you see that in fact it slopes and was probably rideable.
Things seem vertical to me when I am at the top of them, and I just imagine the bike hitting terminal velocity in microseconds, but then you see other rides not even flinch and ride down things like they are not even there.
I have just tried to start getting a little bit of air on those bumps at some trail centres, but anything else I roll over. I have tried doing a few more dop offs but can't get over thinking I am going to fly over the handlebars (and have done so on previous occasions).
I have tried that flat plank at Dalbetties, but can't even get on my bike without wobbling off, and have fallen off the red route northshore at Mabie on the wide corner bit.
But after saying all of that, if there is something I happen to be able to ride over it is a brill feeling, especially if you have someone to try and explain what to do.
For me it's just about getting out there in the trees and mountains and watersfalls and stuff like that, and when you do get to the top of a massive climb, and scan the view, you just think, dang, I did that!
And yeah, assuming no major crashes, pretty much always get back with a massive smile and a bit horse from shouting woa yeah a lot on the down bits 😀
Not too sure if that fits into your 1, 2 or 3 scheme of things, but there is actually no element unfortunately of false modesty!
Depends on: mood, company, wellness, conditions.
Yesterday's ride was solo chilled - everything done gently. I got slightly RAD on one downhill but a near crash (nose dropped a simple 1ft drop off) calmed me down.
Fast on the uphills (8.5 stone, and loving it..)
Too fast on the downhills (I figure best way of learning to go fast is by going too fast, and when things go wrong you get to test your reactions)
Plod along on the flat. Unless its ace singletrack begging to be thrashed, I'll take it easy.
I'm almost exactly the same on the road bike as well, except for the downhills, where I'm the slowest (8.5 stone, and hating it..)
Blast up the hills, I enjoy and am pretty good at climbing
Blast on the flats,
Blast on the downs
Recover when I get off the bike.
Often short rides (as I don't want to miss out on the kids growing up) crank up a hill, enjoy the view, not flat out on the way down but with as many pumpy, jumpy, interesting lines as I can muster. Come back happy, not exhausted, with points remaining in the bag. Repeat at least 3 times a week.
It's all about the down for me.
walk the hills
whinge if it's flat and i have to pedal
attack anything which might be fun
I corner like I'm on rails, and use a lot of thrutching and body english to get through nadgery sections.
tomato - Member
Often short rides (as I don't want to miss out on the kids growing up)
Solution - Take kids wih you
Up a bit, around a bit, down a bit, over a bit, a bit over there, a bit over here.
Steady climber (I do like the challenge though and very rarely give up)
Steady peddler on the flat, however as fast as I can usually manage.
On the downs, well, frankly I am just rad to the power of sick (although generally accepted to be rather slow) 😀
I am definatly a slow up mince down and blast the singletrack rider.
Though my new Kona Coiler does make me braver on the downs 🙂
Slow and clumsy on the flat, slightly fast and clumsy on the ups (until it gets tricky), slow and scaredy on the downs.
I'm an embarrassment whatever the terrain 🙂
8.5 stone? Are you a lady RealMan?!
No, I'm a skinny 17 year old.
steady and determined on the climbs,
pootle about on the flats,
attack the easy downhills,
extremely tentative on the difficult downhills..
What MrsFlash said with added Elite Mincing on the techy downs.
Sloooow on the ups
Slowish on the flat
Like to think I'm fast on the downs (but evidence usually proves otherwise)
Hate uphills, my rule is if I can walk fast then I am pushing.
Flats are ok if they are fun singletrack, if that then they are fast too. Boring stuff is slow.
Downhills as fast as I can possibly go, getting quicker too training at cwmcarn DH and aston hill help.
All of the above is probably why I am doing the mega in a week or so
Smiling on the climb
content expression on the flat
grinning like an idiot on the downs
If i have a style which i believe i don't, it's enjoying being on my bike whatever way it's heading.
Others may have a better idea of my style, i just ride.
I must admit I'm impressed by a lot of peoples honesty.
I like climbing (but I'm not that good at it)
Flats are well, you know, flat.
Downs are scary. I used to be able to 'attack' them but I've had too many injuries that have mucked up my life that I can't afford to do that anymore.
I do like the elite mincing people, although I'm just a plain old mincer myself. Still now I have an aspiration!