Old blokes who should know better.....

dobbyhasfriends said:
I'm back from a trip to London for a funeral.. life is short, I shall build a large ramp assuming storm Jorge allows it..
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A large ramp is a very good idea!
Many situations will demand hitting them side ways and the narrow ramp isn’t good for training this skill.
When I see this ramp you built, i picture teenagers doing backflips on 26 hardtails and it seems alright to me.
When I see you trying to gap those thin woodem ramps i picture internet trash. I love to see these movies of couples having fun in their garden, should remain forever smiling ?
 
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Enduro?

lol

Looks like a decent sized hill to build some actual enduro style descents on though
 
Gary said:
Enduro?

lol

Looks like a decent sized hill to build some actual enduro style descents on though
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its the tracks where the 2 motorcycle enduros are held every year.. well some of them anyway, if you use the ones in the trees the ruts are 3 feet deep at the end of the weekend
 
I did wonder if you were referring to Motorcycle Enduro tracks. There are a lot of them round this way too. about 30 years back we happily shared the hills in the borders with moto guys. since engines were banished a lot of the more technical/challenging steeper moto enduro tracks became mtb descents. a lot of the official Innerleithen DH tracks were originally moto climbs.
 
Gary said:
I did wonder if you were referring to Motorcycle Enduro tracks. There are a lot of them round this way too. about 30 years back we happily shared the hills in the borders with moto guys. since engines were banished a lot of the more technical/challenging steeper moto enduro tracks became mtb descents. a lot of the official Innerleithen DH tracks were originally moto climbs.
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yea its unusual to ride these without coming across bikes - I used to be one of them. its not legal to ride there but all the forestry in Wales is covered in bikes every weekend..
 
i find it pretty funny when mtb (relative) noobs (generally Enduro'd up to the nines) lose their shit over hearing a motorcycle engine in forests of the tweed valley. Very the much definition of all the gear no idea.
I kinda miss them. They were all far more normal blokes than your average cyclist ;)
 
Gary said:
i find it pretty funny when mtb (relative) noobs (generally Enduro'd up to the nines) lose their shit over hearing a motorcycle engine in forests of the tweed valley. Very the much definition of all the gear no idea.
I kinda miss them. They were all far more normal blokes than your average cyclist ;)
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they make new trails for us! share the trails, its all good. not so great when they find our crafter berms though... they can fuck them up pretty badly
 
dobbyhasfriends said:
how many of those are there on here? quite a few is the impression I get..
anyway, I am definitely an 'old bloke who should know better' and having recently got back into biking after about 15 years off with only the occasional local ride, ive found that a lot has changed.. bikeparks are a big thing now but last time I was riding a lot, aston hill was the only one I had heard of and been to.

anyway, I've never jumped or dropped off unless these were natural trail features that you could occasionally session and when I bought my e-bike I had no intention of going to a bikepark..

anyway, I went to cwm rhaedr and did a few laps which was ok but I am still more of an adventure rider and didn't really enjoy it but then @Kiwi in Wales showed me around brechfa and I had a ride in the surrey hills which were both fun so now I wanna try a bikepark! ive watched a load of videos and if you cant jump I don't reckon you'll get as much out of the day at the park then if you could..
so I thought I would try it, looked on youtube, found instructions, made a kicker ramp and tried it out..

out of interest, how many out there are like me, either older or back after a break etc.. i've seen a lot of guys on youtube that seem to have come to biking late in life, they don't have any basic skills at all and I just wonder if they are the type of kids that weren't allowed a bike as a kid (yes they exist) and are now having to learn everything from scratch...

anyway, started a separate channel from the guitars and uploaded my first vid.. take a look if you have 2 mins cos I while I didnt die or anything, I wasnt exactly smooth and all jumping help and advice is welcome...

[/QUOTE
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dobbyhasfriends said:
how many of those are there on here? quite a few is the impression I get..
anyway, I am definitely an 'old bloke who should know better' and having recently got back into biking after about 15 years off with only the occasional local ride, ive found that a lot has changed.. bikeparks are a big thing now but last time I was riding a lot, aston hill was the only one I had heard of and been to.

anyway, I've never jumped or dropped off unless these were natural trail features that you could occasionally session and when I bought my e-bike I had no intention of going to a bikepark..

anyway, I went to cwm rhaedr and did a few laps which was ok but I am still more of an adventure rider and didn't really enjoy it but then @Kiwi in Wales showed me around brechfa and I had a ride in the surrey hills which were both fun so now I wanna try a bikepark! ive watched a load of videos and if you cant jump I don't reckon you'll get as much out of the day at the park then if you could..
so I thought I would try it, looked on youtube, found instructions, made a kicker ramp and tried it out..

out of interest, how many out there are like me, either older or back after a break etc.. i've seen a lot of guys on youtube that seem to have come to biking late in life, they don't have any basic skills at all and I just wonder if they are the type of kids that weren't allowed a bike as a kid (yes they exist) and are now having to learn everything from scratch...

anyway, started a separate channel from the guitars and uploaded my first vid.. take a look if you have 2 mins cos I while I didnt die or anything, I wasnt exactly smooth and all jumping help and advice is welcome...

Click to expand...
Really enjoyed this thread and have followed it till the end. I too am a 50 year old kid and have thought about this myself. Really impressed with the land you have at your disposal, you could practically build your own little bike park in it with the room you’ve got. Have you checked out Harry Main on YT. Might be some inspiration there for you. Just a thought but keep enjoying what your doing ??
 
Neil P on an MTB said:
Really enjoyed this thread and have followed it till the end. I too am a 50 year old kid and have thought about this myself. Really impressed with the land you have at your disposal, you could practically build your own little bike park in it with the room you’ve got. Have you checked out Harry Main on YT. Might be some inspiration there for you. Just a thought but keep enjoying what your doing ??
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cheers mate, yes I have a nice hill behind the house that im planning stuff for, starting with a 'price of admission' drop in :p
I only found Harry Main the other day and ive started working my way through his videos, strikes me as an ex bmx'er
 
Mikerb said:
The physics of most mtb manoeuvres is simple......timing and implementation is often not !
So jumping off a small ramp is a matter of compressing the bike in the transition from flat to rise, then releasing that compression as the bike leaves the lip, or even boosting the release. Thereafter it is about body position on the bike which determines whether the bike nose plants, goes level, or creates an upward arc. The speed at which the bike hits the ramp is another factor.

In many ways a short ramp can be more difficult than bike park type jumps. The short ramp may have a transition less than the length of the bike's wheelbase whereas a bike park jump usually has a transition of a at least 2 bike lengths. On a short transition the faster you hit it the more critical the point of compression release becomes and the shorter the period between compression and release. On a longer transition the bike will naturally compress if you are central over the bb...the downside is that it is easier to lose speed due to the length of the ramp!

I mostly ride natural forest trails and weekend trail builders put in short steep ramps made up of a pile of logs and dirt on decent downhill runs. Often the pile of logs is only 1 metre high but the transition is also only about half a metre! Getting these right invariably means getting back on the bike as soon as I release or I get a nose plant! Pro built jumps in a bike park are much easier!!
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Sounds like Puddletown or Wareham Forest jumps to me ! :)
 
dobbyhasfriends said:
cheers mate, yes I have a nice hill behind the house that im planning stuff for, starting with a 'price of admission' drop in :p
I only found Harry Main the other day and ive started working my way through his videos, strikes me as an ex bmx'er
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Yeah... Harry was fairly big time in BMX about 6/7 years back



Now (Co?)Owner of a few clothing brands and Mafia bikes
Bit of a noob to mtb but makes plenty mtb youtube content.
'bit like your good self ;)
 
for those eagerly awaiting my latest desperate attention seeking video content... sorry but im injured from work... gutted....
 
Hope you recover quickly Dobby. Your efforts to learn to jump are a great inspiration to help my tired 65 year old legs to try and get both wheels off the ground on my newly acquired Turbo Levo.

Learning new techniques & skills are what keeps making life worth living. Especially at my age.
 
I dont know what you think is old, I'm 58 and been ebiking for 3 years after packing in the dirtbike because they are just too antisocial now and banned just about everywhere.
I probably get a foot off the ground on the red runs like Llandegla and Gisburn/Whinlatter/Grizedale, and that feels epic to me so Im happy.

More into using the bike to solo explore more obscure trails and making videos to bore my mates and family, retired now and freakin lovin it.
This is a rare duo outing with my mate on his efattie up the gorgeous high cup nick in Cumbria

 
"The nearby edge took away our confidence".

And with an adverse cambered and rough trail to ride on, I'm not at all surprised. I felt my stomach churn at one point. :eek:
 
finally, some sunshine and the place is starting to dry out a little even..
so I screwed a few pallets together to make a step up? not sure what kind of setup it is but its fun and my son helped me out AND tried it out, he has never jumped a bike before but after today he is asking me to take him to bike park wales...

im staying at home now so while i have loads to do at home, I have a few ideas on larger wooden features for the garden over the next few weeks!

 
Building jumps with your boy , doesn’t get much better ! One peace of advise .......... buy some skinny jeans ?
 
Great stuff! father son stuff! :)

He will remember this when you are an old git and he will take you biking.
Honourable payback! :love:
 
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