My progress in a year

[SuperJETT]

I bought my first mtb last year on the 9th, so almost a year. I just rode yesterday at Waverly (hilly) and did around 5 miles and was going to do more but had to get home. It hit me on the way home how far I've progressed.

When I first started riding, 2 miles would kill me, and that's with stopping to catch my breath and walking up a lot of hills. Now, I can handle 5 without stopping at all. Yes it hurts, but I can keep going. Earlier this week I cleared one section of trail at Cherokee that is steep, rooty, with tons of switchbacks without stopping or even putting a foot down.

It feels good to see progress. One thing that helped tons was getting a 400mm seatpost so I could go up another 1/2"---that made a world of difference. I knew I needed to up just a little more but couldn't because of my seatpost until I got the longer one.

Next up is hitting 10 miles in a single ride.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Good Job.

5 miles use to be about my comfortable limit. Even then I would be like "I cannot get back to the truck fast enough!". This is at my local trails. At Oak Mountain (Which recieved "EPIC Status" on Tuesday by IMBA, I could ride the 18 miles or so with no problem. Just have to pace yourself.

At my local trails now 10 miles is at my threshold. I am not wiped out when I finish. Sometimes make 12 miles and feel about the same. It took me about a year to year and a half to get to this point.

Keep it up.

 

[McDog]

Aren't you riding single speed?

 

[SuperJETT]

Nah, my first bike was single speed, then I put the rear on for 1x9, and now my full susp is 2x9. Some of the guys I ride with are on rigid 29" single speeds and amaze me. One of them just did the 75 mile route at the Brown County Breakdown last month on his.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Aren't you riding single speed?

I am running a FS 2x9 and also a 29'r single speed. The SS is fun, but it is harder to ride.

 

[Jetaddict]

the biggest key to improving constantly is to ride with people who excel beyond your abilities and force you to keep up. I stagnated for a while riding by myself, but I started picking it up when I began riding with a group for guys that have endless amounts of cardio. One of them is a road biker who does over 100 miles a week, and the guy is an animal on any trail. Since riding with him, I can easily crank out a 12 mile ride that used to kick my ass, and a 20 miler (on dirt) is just at the end of my endurance capability. I ride a lot of different trails, and most of them are fast and rooty. On those I can easily crank out 14 miles at about 11mph average moving speed. On the more technical up/down trails with some tough ascents, I can easily handle 12 miles and usually am right around 6mph avg. moving speed.
Always ride with someone-if not purely from a safety standpoint, but also from a rider improvement standpoint.

 

[Matt_E]

the biggest key to improving constantly is to ride with people who excel beyond your abilities and force you to keep up. I stagnated for a while riding by myself.....

That goes for riding standups, too.

 

[nokfir]

i also started riding recently. been hitting the trail every weekend. at first it was tough. i stopped alot, walked alot of climbs. but i noticed a big improvement. it feels good

 

[Big Kahuna]

kicked out a good 10.5 mile ride on my 29er Single Speed last night.

 

[SuperJETT]

Tuesday I did another 5 mile loop and pushed it some. It's nice to not be in survival mode, just trying to get through but being able to push harder up hills, etc. My average riding speed has gone up from ~5mph to over 7 including hills/breaks.