I'm somewhat glad I learned to mountain bike somewhere with almost exclusively flat rolling xc trails. That meant that, because it was the shore type tech trails jumps and side hits riding that excited me, I had to go out and find interesting lines. Whether that be doubling up roots and slashing corners on the xc trails, finding walls stairs and landscaping boulders to ride down, jump off or hop up, or building my own back yard trail with steep tight switchbacks so I could learn endo turns. It meant that I could (or had to) go find a "feature" that was exactly what I needed to progress and learn skills. Once I moved somewhere with legit downhill trails I had all the skills I needed to navigate that, with lower crash consequences from learning. The landscaping around my college campus and local mall was my skills park (and riding away from mall cops was some cardio training lol).
March 16, 2022, 9:34 a.m. - Alex Hoinville
I'm somewhat glad I learned to mountain bike somewhere with almost exclusively flat rolling xc trails. That meant that, because it was the shore type tech trails jumps and side hits riding that excited me, I had to go out and find interesting lines. Whether that be doubling up roots and slashing corners on the xc trails, finding walls stairs and landscaping boulders to ride down, jump off or hop up, or building my own back yard trail with steep tight switchbacks so I could learn endo turns. It meant that I could (or had to) go find a "feature" that was exactly what I needed to progress and learn skills. Once I moved somewhere with legit downhill trails I had all the skills I needed to navigate that, with lower crash consequences from learning. The landscaping around my college campus and local mall was my skills park (and riding away from mall cops was some cardio training lol).