# 50+ and technical riding progression



## rmac (Oct 26, 2004)

Thread topic: please share your technical riding progression - goals, difficulties, descriptions, suggestions, photos, videos everything works.

Background: up until the last couple of years my MTB focus was on trying to get faster and fitter and develop greater endurance. Now at 57 (and no longer seeing much speed or fitness improvement) my focus has shifted to becoming a better technical rider and working on bike handling techniques to get through challenging terrain.

I have a 'big' technical goal that is to ride the Snotch on The Whole Enchilada in Moab. I have broken it down into smaller goals and I am currently working on being able to make the turn leading into the last roll section. While not the only way to make the turn, I have picked the hopping and twisting the bike (not sure what the correct name for this move is). I will need to be able to hop the bike a little over 180 degrees in a small fairly flat section to complete this piece. I started working (again) on the basic track stand and have been adding a hop twist to it. Last weekend I was able to use this technique to get around a 180 turn on one of my local trails that I had not completed before - picture:







I am still a long way from where I need to be for the Snotch but baby-steps!

It is super gratifying to make a section of trail you have never completed and I am sure many of you are also working on similar things - please share even if you have not yet succeeded.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

Sessioning moves is fun, but it can be hard on your body so wear armor, consider wrist braces, maybe even upgrade your bike to something more suited for doing that sort of riding.

Though I’m not one to talk, it would be worthwhile to get a trials bike and practice those moves at home, build the skill set, then applying it to your bike bike.

I keep meaning to walk this talk, but I’ve just got too many damn projects to do ... not to mention that time suck called a job 🙄

When you get the move, how about posting a video, or better yet a progression video 👍

Personally, I think the Snotch is a good place to get hurt with a very difficult med evac. I don’t mess around on the Whole Enchilada, it’s to remote. Lunch Loops is a safer place to get hurt.


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## Outhouse (Jul 26, 2019)

Going over your head is when injuries happen. But I keep trying to get through a rock garden where I live. Bunny hopping forward might be the only way for me, which means my 23lb HT instead of my FS, and lots pf practice. Twisted my back last weekend trying to get through when I fell on the downhill side and had to get a foot out quickly. I caught myself in time, and swore I would walk it through from now on. No more barreling through for me.


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## BmanInTheD (Sep 19, 2014)

Good on you and I hope you make it, but for me, at 60, I'm finding myself less and less likely to try things that might result in injury. Injuries just happen too easily and take too long to recover from when you get up there in years. I've only got so many years left to enjoy this stuff, I don't wanna waste any of it being sidelined. I can find enough fun w/o having to risk it.


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

Unless I have the time and motivation to go on a multi-day bikepacking exploration somewhere, sessioning tech trails is mostly what I do anymore.






I used to hop a lot on techy stuff until I met my wife. She's not good at hopping but *is* good at tech riding. Very quickly she showed me that hopping is often unnecessary, and usually the easy/lazy way to get through a tech section. Not always, just often.

Since then I've focused more on keeping wheels on the ground and riding as opposed to hopping. Both are fun and effective.


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## rmac (Oct 26, 2004)

mikesee said:


> Unless I have the time and motivation to go on a multi-day bikepacking exploration somewhere, seasoning tech trails is mostly what I do anymore.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That was still a very challenging move, well done. Is there anything you trying to learn new skills to make?


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## TwiceHorn (Jun 18, 2014)

I'm 53. I missed out on BMX, so never learned some of those bike handling skills, although I could wheelie pretty well on at 20" Sting Ray. 

I don't think I'm going to learn any/many new tricks. I ride for exercise and don't have all the time in the world, so I don't have the patience to session things much. It can also be hard to backtrack on local trails and hard to see other riders until they're on you.

I broke a collarbone and a finger a year ago on the runout after a short, steep descent. I haven't figured out exactly why I crashed. It didn't hurt much, but the financial cost and downtime make it not worth repeating.

I just ride and try to go fast sometimes and climb things sometimes and go a long way/time sometimes. I'm never going past blue trails and I'm ok with that.


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

rmac said:


> That was still a very challenging move, well done. Is there anything you trying to learn new skills to make?


Not sure I understand your question. If you're asking if I have a specific goal of being able to ride something technical, then no -- not really. I've lived in the heart of techy rock desert riding for 20+ years. If I wanted to ride something I either already figured it out, or hurt myself trying.

I love tech trails but they seem to be dying about 100x faster than they're being built.

One of my all time favorites, which is being sanitized (officially and unofficially) for no good reason:


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## sgltrak (Feb 19, 2005)

During the summer of 1987 I rode with a couple of guys nearly every day after work and we sessioned tech sections over and over until all three of us could clean each one. Sometimes we'd have to go back the next day if someone didn't get it the day before.

I currently have a group of friends with whom I occasionally ride who also enjoy sessioning tech sections. It is good to practice / session with other riders for the moral support, to have a spotter on exposed sections, and to open your eyes to another line or technique.

I feel like being able to track stand is one of the more important skills to have in order to clean many tech sections.


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## Nat (Dec 30, 2003)

Skinnies freak me out. There are a couple of log rides here that are about 20’ to 60’ long, ending in a 4’ drop off onto a downslope. One is a downed tree, about 2’ wide at the entry (trunk) and 6” wide at the far end, which juts out into the air. Screwing up near the end would likely mean either broken fingers or landing on my head. I’d like to be able to ride them some day. 

Higher up on my want-to-do list is jumping with mandatory air. It’s such a rush when you land it clean. I’ve been working my way up bigger and bigger.


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## bitflogger (Jan 12, 2004)

mikesee said:


> Not sure I understand your question. If you're asking if I have a specific goal of being able to ride something technical, then no -- not really. I've lived in the heart of techy rock desert riding for 20+ years. If I wanted to ride something I either already figured it out, or hurt myself trying.
> 
> I love tech trails but they seem to be dying about 100x faster than they're being built.
> 
> One of my all time favorites, which is being sanitized (officially and unofficially) for no good reason:


This might not apply to your geography but some of what people call or criticize as sanitizing is just making trail or a trail system sustainable.

Without much natural talent and little interest in racing I guess technical riding is what I've always liked. We still have that in our otherwise better overall and more sustainable trail areas.

For age and technical riding the original trail builders and make it happen people in my area are 60 - 70 years old now. We probably do all right for our age but what's kept the sport healthy here has been starting kids lessons (pre-NICA age) and mail trail corridors that are accessible for more skills. We have our old school lines within them. True expert places barely get enough riders to keep them sustainable. Our younger riders are getting so skilled I think that might turn around but they are mostly interested in hang time over trials moves.

I've had to face reality that I've lost a lot of balance, and the past year has been a super easy to get hurt year so now tech/session riding needs to be no progressive lens glasses and some body armor.


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## rod9301 (Oct 30, 2004)

mikesee said:


> Not sure I understand your question. If you're asking if I have a specific goal of being able to ride something technical, then no -- not really. I've lived in the heart of techy rock desert riding for 20+ years. If I wanted to ride something I either already figured it out, or hurt myself trying.
> 
> I love tech trails but they seem to be dying about 100x faster than they're being built.
> 
> One of my all time favorites, which is being sanitized (officially and unofficially) for no good reason:


Great riding

Sent from my Armor_3 using Tapatalk


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## rod9301 (Oct 30, 2004)

sgltrak said:


> During the summer of 1987 I rode with a couple of guys nearly every day after work and we sessioned tech sections over and over until all three of us could clean each one. Sometimes we'd have to go back the next day if someone didn't get it the day before.
> 
> I currently have a group of friends with whom I occasionally ride who also enjoy sessioning tech sections. It is good to practice / session with other riders for the moral support, to have a spotter on exposed sections, and to open your eyes to another line or technique.
> 
> I feel like being able to track stand is one of the more important skills to have in order to clean many tech sections.


Right, track stands are really good to practice

Sent from my Armor_3 using Tapatalk


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

bitflogger said:


> some of what people call or criticize as sanitizing is just making trail or a trail system sustainable.


Yes, this happens everywhere. Alas our local trail nazi's have overused that trope, attempting to make "sustainable" = "stuff we just don't like" or "stuff we can't do". In reality maybe 20% of the trail projects they've undertaken this year have had a real, demonstrable sustainability component to address.

It's a shame to see good, hard, sustainable trails brought down to the level of the least common denominator. But it's _shameful_ to see people whom can't or won't ride something challenging remove the challenge so that *no one* gets to enjoy it.

There are a lot of moves that I can't make anymore. I'm happy to walk 'em and even happier knowing that they're still there for others to enjoy.


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

sgltrak said:


> I feel like being able to track stand is one of the more important skills to have in order to clean many tech sections.


Agreed. It's sort of the most basic of all tech skills, but usable everywhere.

I'm going to sound like more of an old-school crackpot than I already do, but where 95% of new riders endeavor to learn to go faster in any given situation, what would allow them to crack the code on the sections that yet befuddle them is to learn to go slow, first -- to use the track stand to see and assess a line -- in order to ultimately go fast.


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## Velobike (Jun 23, 2007)

I won't ride anything that will break me if I get it wrong.

I'm at an age where there's not many riding years left to me, and I have no intention of sitting them out nursing an injury.

But as mikesee says, trackstand, evaluate, and then ride through.


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## RickBullottaPA (Mar 4, 2015)

rmac said:


> Thread topic: please share your technical riding progression - goals, difficulties, descriptions, suggestions, photos, videos everything works.
> 
> Background: up until the last couple of years my MTB focus was on trying to get faster and fitter and develop greater endurance. Now at 57 (and no longer seeing much speed or fitness improvement) my focus has shifted to becoming a better technical rider and working on bike handling techniques to get through challenging terrain.
> 
> ...


A few tips/thoughts here (I'm 57 and enjoy gnar/technical riding):

1) Learning to ride slow *and* fast is key to upping your technical skills. Spend a lot of time working on balance and slow speed moves/stands.

2) It may seem counterintuitive, but adding an eMTB to your quiver will help with your technical skills. Two factors come into play here: first, things just "happen faster" when in the flow on your eMTB, so it develops quicker decision making/reaction times. Second, the extra weight of the bike requires greater upper body fitness and skills/timing when riding on technical terrain, which translates to improvements on your "regular bike". An extension of this is a dirt bike, which again, helps with overall fitness and skills.

3) Time in the gym becomes increasingly important as you get older but still want to ride the tough stuff. Strength and flexibility training will help not only with performance but with injury avoidance/faster recovery. You *will* crash, so some weight training and stretching can make a difference in what the outcome will be.

4) Get some coaching. Even a 2 hour session with a professional coach can make a HUGE difference in your riding technique, particularly as you progress to drops and jumps, and also more foundational stuff like cornering and body position.


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## Sanchofula (Dec 30, 2007)

I try, I really do, but sometimes I still screw up and it hurts.

I like the tough moves that don't have consequences, so less exposure, easier to bale.

I still fall off stuff, try not to, but it's kinda how the game is played.

Truth be told, most of my injuries come from crashing at speed.

I think my fav kind of riding is technical climbing.



Velobike said:


> I won't ride anything that will break me if I get it wrong.
> 
> I'm at an age where there's not many riding years left to me, and I have no intention of sitting them out nursing an injury.
> 
> But as mikesee says, trackstand, evaluate, and then ride through.


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## 33red (Jan 5, 2016)

I started a few years back so this summer was my first in some expert trails but my safety is important to ride as often as possible. At 62 being active outdoors is nice and i do not feel a need for a 7 hours day.


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## azjonboy (Dec 21, 2006)

I have ridden a rigid SS for years. Last year stared riding the SS with a Fox 34 up front. It’s amazing how much I learned to ride techy stuff while on the rigid. It’s also taught me the benefit of line choice and riding in control. Both of those things transferred over to riding better with a suspension fork.


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## richde (Jun 8, 2004)

Velobike said:


> I won't ride anything that will break me if I get it wrong.


That would include virtually anything.

I won't ride anything I'm not confident I can ride.

One of those mountain unicyclists in one of the early-2000's mtb videos put it best when answering the question of "what if you fall?" He said "don't fall."

At some point we should all start to be able to instantly see "the way" up/down/around something and have enough awareness of our skills to know if you can do it. If you're feeling it, do it, if you're not, don't.

The big problem I see is that people try to progress too fast, which leads to stagnation. Skill is nothing more than experience, and some people like to think that since they've managed to achieve low level mastery of the basics, they should jump on up to expecting mastery of advanced moves on advanced trails...which doesn't happen. They never master the basics because "it's too easy," and never master the advanced because they don't have a good enough grasp on the basics.


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## SeaBass_ (Apr 7, 2006)

At 52 and after 32 yrs of riding (First MTB was an 87 Hardrock Comp) I still have an affinity for riding rigid as that is what I learned on, albeit my Jones Plus is the best rigid bike I've ever had and I ride it about 75% of the time. It's an SS as well. My other bike is a Stache 9.8 HT that I use on the gnar. 

I always work on being smooth, maintaining the greatest amount of momentum, and being out of the saddle as much as possible. I still like hitting jumps and have actually improved in that area to where I seek them out and will go back and hit them again sometimes if it's a good one. Skinnies still freak me out as I see the details of my pending crash in my head even before I attempt them. I've gotten better at wheelies though nowhere near competent and really don't see further improvement in the forecast. 

I've become a fan of Plus tires and slack head angles as I had a couple bad OTB's in the 90's (one requiring hospitalization). Last Thanksgiving, I took a ride with my 13 yr old on some mild trails and busted out my old 92' Cannondale M800 for a change. I was having a blast until I went over some stacked logs my Plus handles with ease and then I promptly went OTB and banged myself up, much to his amusement.

Other than that, I have to plan out my meal in advance to make sure I don't bonk and I'll always be sipping a large coffee on the way to the trail. I'm often filled with terror at the thought of not being able to ride in the future but plan on riding as many miles possible until that time.


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## Nat (Dec 30, 2003)

Velobike said:


> I won't ride anything that will break me if I get it wrong.
> 
> I'm at an age where there's not many riding years left to me, and I have no intention of sitting them out nursing an injury.


Yet you ride a touring bike with 1950's rim brakes on mountain bike trails in wet conditions and refuse to use a modern bike with discs and suspension??? That makes no sense. At all.


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## SoDakSooner (Nov 23, 2005)

52 years old. Working on wheelies, manuals, jumping techniques, balance techniques. We ride pretty technical stuff here, so that just comes during the course of the ride, but with my work schedule, about all I have time for during the week right now are things I can practice on my street or in the garage. Thus, the above list.

there was no such thing as BMX where I was at growing up, and we wouldn't have been able to afford it anyway. We rode a lot and jumped off homemade ramps a lot and even had a little trail system in the creek by our house, but I really never learned how to wheelie or manual as a kid. It's not easy over 50 either.

I tend to do really well jumping off natural trail obstacles, but tabletops and gaps kind of freak me out, so trying to learn to be more effective doing that. As we spend more time in Bentonville, those are skills that can only help.


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## mikesee (Aug 25, 2003)

A few years ago I had a cervical prosthetic disc installed. Required ~3 months of downtime.

I had an idea for a "rehab bike" to help me come back post-op, and convinced a certain renowned fabricator to make it for me.

It showed up ~a week before my surgery, so while I got out on it a few times I didn't really get it dialed in before the forced rest.

But a good friend of mine -- whom was ~59 at the time -- was interested in trying it out. The vid below shows his first 2 rides on it.


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## HawkGX (May 24, 2012)

Just got back from Sedona where my wife and I rode a couple days. Coming from the Kansas City area, that’s a whole other riding experience! 

I’m 51 now and have been riding about 7 years. It’s really only been in the last year or so where I feel my technical skills have seen noticeable gains. 

I’m still not a jumper, but getting better at wheel lifts and bunny hops. Not so much on manuals and wheelies tho. Track stands are slowly improving, probably because I can practice those pretty much anywhere. Jumps and skinnies, not so much. 

But it feels great to know my 2 rides last week in Sedona were my best technical rides ever. It’s nice to be able to raise your game to the level of really good trails! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Scott In MD (Sep 28, 2008)

Near Phoenix in the McDowell Mountain Park on the Dixie Mine Trail northbound there is a really steep 8-meter uphill section with a 90-degree left turn followed by another 8-meter rutted slab section. I call it the 'Fraidy Cat Corner. I've been walking up it for 8 years, mainly because I can't make the turn but also because the ramifications of losing momentum are pretty severe. Two years ago, at age 51, I decided to stop trying. Two months ago I started trying again, and two weeks ago at age 53, I cleaned it.

It was pretty easy, in retrospect.

But the feeling of stoke and sense of accomplishment was awesome.

FCC is at 2m30 in this video. Keep riding!


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## rmac (Oct 26, 2004)

Scott In MD said:


> Near Phoenix in the McDowell Mountain Park on the Dixie Mine Trail northbound there is a really steep 8-meter uphill section with a 90-degree left turn followed by another 8-meter rutted slab section. I call it the 'Fraidy Cat Corner. I've been walking up it for 8 years, mainly because I can't make the turn but also because the ramifications of losing momentum are pretty severe. Two years ago, at age 51, I decided to stop trying. Two months ago I started trying again, and two weeks ago at age 53, I cleaned it.
> 
> It was pretty easy, in retrospect.
> 
> ...


Well done! on to the next challenge?


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