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Used to mountain bike a bit as a kid (was 29 yesterday) and currently cycle to work (road bike) quite a few times a week so although I am a complete newbie to mountain biking I would say I feel at home on a bike.

Really hoping to get into mountain biking and done a search on Yahoo and found myself here. Just wondering what that best way to go about getting into the sport is. I was planning to go to a few of the major trails by myself, firstly to get used to the routes/trails and secondly to get comfortable on the bike. Then maybe look at meeting up as a group once I have a bit more confidence.

Any advice, tips or other newbies that have useful info are appreciated.

Also I am about to decide this weekend on what bike to get , I have narrowed it to either a Spec Rockhopper Comp 2011, Ghost SE 6000, Trek 6300 or Whyte 805. All within the 699-899 budget so any nudges in the right direction or ones to stay away from would be good too.

Cheers

Hi Scully

I am new to this forum. Just got on here a few days ago.

Are you going for a hard tail then. I have heard good things about Ghost bikes.

Im sure you will love MTBing!

Liz

Welcome Scully.

Got an 06 and 08 rockhopper, cant recommend them enough, dont know anything about the others ones you mentioned.

Welcome mate - lots of people have signed up recently who are just getting started with mtb



These days its tricky to go wrong if you buy from an established make of which all those are. Main thing is - buy from a local shop so you get some support and advice should anything go wrong.

Welcome Scully,
Epping is a great area to start riding, because everything is rideable. Its probably worth coming along to a epping ride and going from there, as the rides are very social and everyone waits for eachother

Hey scully before you take the plunge a good mate of mine owns Bike Trax in Brentwood. You should give them a try, i am sure they have some demos available too.

Cheers for all the replies, nice to see an active forum.

Living at Lakeside and looking at the riding spots i'm thinking Thorndon is going to be the easiest for me to start out at so hopefully start seeing a few of you guys down there over the next few months.

Damo the bike has to be through evans unfortunately (ride2work) so been driving them mad for a weeks test riding bikes. Their own brand Pinnacle is actually better specced than any other bike at my budget and it feels awesome to ride but there is no resale value in them so if after a year I want to sell and upgrade then I am screwed.

Going to test the Rockhopper Comp and Trek 6300 and go with one of them I reckon.

Well . . .I went for the Ghost SE5000 in the end after testing about 6-8 bikes (Evans at Lakeside will prob have a pic up of me banning me from the shop soon as I must have drove them mad...................but hey, you gotta get the right bike).

Picked it up about 2 hours ago and went for ride around Chafford. There is actually a big nature reserve and a few small (and I mean small) wooded areas so I got a half decent test ride under my belt.

I am pumped about getting out on proper trails as I had an absolute blast just riding around where I live so I will keep an eye on the meets and hopefully get to know a few of the guys on here.

Getting down Thorndon tomorrow as I am off work to get a proper feel for the bike,

Any tips on where to / where not to go etc.... Also may sound strange but are there any major do's and dont's with regards to riding trails, I like to think of myself as pretty mindful of walkers / dog walkers etc... but being new I thought I'd check

Cheers

Some tips 'n stuff that I've learnt- and I'm definitely no Steve Peat (yet).

- Always roll any new trail you go to before blasting down it.

- Gloves and a helmet are essential. Knee and shin guards really do save some pain when learning stuff. Arm guards give extra confidence.

- It don't matter how cool you think you look; how comfortable you are in your clothes and gear is more important.

- Buy the right kit or right equipment for what you need. Even if it means saving another month or two or three. If you cut corners you'll regret it and end up buying what you wanted in the first place. Price doesnt always reflect quality, but you'll know quality when you see/ use/ feel it.

- Mountain biking is about having fun. Dont take it too seriously, laugh when you f&!k it up, help your ride mate when they f&!k it up!

Once you start and you get stuck in you won't want to do anything else for a real adrenaline rush, and you're credit card will be useful!

And another thing- I'm 29 too and was thinking that maybe I was getting a bit old for the mountain bike thing after being surrounded by more younger people at chicky the other day. Then I spoke to some guy who was 46, and he also had spoke to some guy who was 64...... age don't mean toffee to what you can do.

BTW- I'm planning on riding Danbury on Tuesday.

I'd be happy to ride and practice technique over the trails as much as I would hacking around.

Looks like sound advice to me mate, thanks for the post.

Back to work Tues so no can do, but work 24hr shift pattern with weekends so I often get 3-4 days off in the week so should be good to get to some mid-week rides soon.


Mud ????? - Nobody mentioned anything about that when I looked at getting into this !

Lol- sounds like we have similar Job.

Nothing like a shift pattern to crucify your social life!

Well, just got back from 3hrs at Thorndon and even though I spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out where I was I have to admit I have not had a rush like that in a long time.

Started keeping an eye out for little trails off the main tracks and found a few wooded ares where you drop in off the main track, over gaps, footbridges etc.. and then back up the other side. Must have done one of them about ten times trying to go quicker and quicker. The rush was awesome.

One thing that surprised me though ......... When I first started looking up mountain biking I saw the term "single track" all the time and once I looked up what it was I couldn't understand why it was so popular as it didn't sound overly exciting.

Oh dear me how wrong I was, on the way back to the car I started heading down what I think was a "single track" and as I was feeling confident started trying to tear it up a bit, the adrenaline rush and was insane knowing that the error for mistake is so small. Now I am under no illusion, it probably felt I was going much faster than I actually was but man it was fun.

Anyway I will not be using this forum as a blow by blow account of every time I sit on my bike but I had to share my first proper experience,

See you all soon. I have been bitten by the bug.

Welcome to the site mate, i was at chafford gorge over the weekend with the kids, its a nice place but a bit too small to be riding about although the path down into the bowl would be a laugh to blast down
i am in south ockendon, and sometimes just go for a ride either through belhus woods up through thames chase, or just for a quiet ride over to purfleet marshes, no hills or off road there just a massive cycle path that loops round