A new year of riding brings with it great optimism and expectations, but the mountain biking and gravel riding worlds – and those expectations are different to each and every one of us. That said, the mountain bike and gravel spaces are also shaping to be very different to earlier years. Escalating prices across the cost of living spectrum have forced riders to rationalise their budgets and think smarter about how much they spend on maintaining their bikes. What should your riding resolutions be for the New Year? We’ve curated a list of ten suggestions to help you be a better, more complete mountain biker or gravel rider in 2024.
Get fitter
It’s the most apparent resolution, yet very often unaddressed. Riders all fall into the fallacy of doing only what they are good at. Whether that is putting down power on a flat section of gravel road, or climbing technical sections of trail in a 52T sprocket. You should, however, endeavour outside your comfort zone to become a more complete rider. In achieving this, fitness is the key. All the skills clinics in the world aren’t going to make sense if your fitness is lacking and you cannot ride your bike for more than an hour without being breathless.
Riding your bike can easily become a little tedious if you feel like hitting that metaphorical endurance ‘wall’, beyond which no new learnings or skill sets develop and you remain in the grey area of not being totally sluggish on the bike, but not quite reaching those top numbers either.
Whether you’re aiming to complete long-distance gravel events or brush up your trail-riding skills, you want to have the confidence that fitness won’t fade after the first few technical features or the first feed stop.
Incorporate some variety into your riding, start suffering through those hill-repeat intervals and boost your fitness even more by perhaps looking at getting a training plan.
Train consistently
Most riders start the new year with a bang but often lose motivation owing to work pressure, bad weather and family commitments. The way to combat this is to set yourself small goals to ensure you keep ticking over – especially during winter, as the cold temperatures and lack of light can easily derail your progress.
2022 Garmin Edge 1040 Solar training data, by Josh Ross
If it’s wet and cold outside, try the indoor trainer. Virtual cycling is a great way of staying motivated, and there are now multiple free and paid software that allow you to do your training sessions or even race as part of a team – all from the comfort of your own home. Racing with mates can help keep the positivity up and have something to look forward to at regular intervals. These virtual rides can be swapped out for a group ride or local chain gang come spring/summer.
Another way to combat the lack of structure is goal-setting. Strava Premium has a nifty feature where you can set goals based on mileage and hours, and this holds you more accountable to your ambitions and acts as a little motivation booster when you can see the data clearly. While this can add unnecessary pressure for some, if you’re target-driven – it might be the motivation you need to push through.
Build and join the community
Every mountain biker, or any cyclist for that matter, starts as a newbie. Experienced riders know how intimidating it can be to arrive at the trailhead or bike park without a clue about what to do or where to go.
Actively embracing new riders is one of the best things you can do for off-road cycling. All those skills and learnings you take for granted concerning trail etiquette and elementary bike tech skills are unfamiliar to newbie riders.
Proactively engaging with new riders creates the best possible experience for them to progress, with the least potential risk for everyone. You are also hedging the off-road cycling community against the risk of trail access issues because of newbie riders innocently trespassing and getting lost, which can risk trail access for all.
Similarly, if you’re the new rider reading this, go out there and ask for advice. Some more experienced riders might not help you for fear of coming across too patronising, but most of them are very happy to help you if you ask. If you are not sure what is ahead on the trail, ask someone. If you are not sure how to set up your bike, again, ask. There is no harm in it and you can only learn something new!
Get involved
Posting on Strava or Instagram does not make you an involved mountain biker or gravel rider. Go beyond the virtual realm and get involved with your local off-road riding club, trail conservancy or outdoor recreational council.
Mountain bikers and gravel riders are the primary beneficiaries of trail building. Yet, very few riders ever join a dig-day or contribute to trail building.
Even the smallest efforts, a few hours a month doing rudimentary trail maintenance with a digging crew significantly contribute to trail integrity. Trail building is sacrificial and selfless, and will make you a more appreciative rider. Spending time shaping berms or trimming trails can enhance your riding skills, too, as walking trails give you a ‘different’ feel for gradient and trail texture.
Pick a race
Racing has been part of mountain biking since the very beginning. The Repack race at Mount Tamalpais near San Francisco created the first true mountain bikes in the 1970s.
Some riders are dedicated race snakes or enduro event addicts, but even if you aren’t given to racing, entering an event can be a hugely beneficial and motivation-boosting endeavour. It gives you a committed training goal. Riding among other equally matched riders in your seeding group is a great way to meet new riding buddies.
Racing also brings you wider access to some premium trails, allowing riders to enjoy trails which are inaccessible outside of events.
Similarly, gravel events are popping left right and centre both in the UK and internationally. These events are great at showing you some new routes in a very safe manner, as most events offer you ride support, feed stops, and even a signposted route to follow. Taking part in these kinds of events is a great way to ride at a new location and meet new riding pals.
Ride exotic
Gravel biking has changed the way off-road riders view adventure. With better tyre choices, dedicated wide-ratio 1x drivetrains, and an excellent array of bikepacking bags and accessories, riders can now embark on pretty much any adventure ride even off-road.
With GPS devices and activity tracking integrating better and providing more guiding, your choices for an exotic riding vacation are limitless. Routes and destinations are no longer beholden to having a local guide. That’s why gravel riders are thinking beyond the Scottish Highlands or Spain for their next exotic adventure ride.
Why not venture to South Africa for an epic week in the Karoo? Or link two or three American States within the Rocky Mountains range? Perhaps a loop of New Zealand’s South Island is what you want. Riding in an exotic destination is all about experiencing new cultures, friendly strangers, and unexpected adventure – and it can be a lot more rewarding than sitting at the hotel pool and sipping drinks.
Become a better DIY mechanic
The cost of living crisis has changed how bike owners view maintenance. The wrong approach is to defer maintenance and servicing because of the cost – this only compounds wear and creates an ever more expensive future repair or a full replacement.
2022 Uci mtb world champs – behind the scenes mechanics-18.jpg, by Chris Hinds
Use the cost of living pressure as inspiration and learn to do more to maintain your bike. With great online tutorials, riders have no excuse for skipping routine DIY maintenance on their bikes. Quality tools are a once-off investment for life; all you need to do is sacrifice the time to master them.
Ride something new (bike/discipline)
French cycling is dominant, and my advice for 2024 is to be more like French riders. If you tabulate the mountain bike World Championship podiums, the number of French riders is staggering across all categories. But not surprising.
The French cycling federation has a policy of enforcing multi-disciplinary riding for its most promising juniors. That means if you are a downhill rider, you must ride cross country too, for example.
Challenge yourself by riding a different type of bike. If you are an enduro rider, get a gravel bike and see if you can crank out those big mileages. It will benefit your future endurance when trying to link three or four double-black diamond trails on a big enduro day out.
The same principle applied to gravel and cross-country riders. Why not get a cheap, used downhill bike and get on a chairlift or shuttle run at the local bike park? You don’t need to ride the A-line, but the additional skills you’ll learn riding a long-travel bike on mildly technical trails can be beneficial.
Cross-training is a foundational principle in all sports. And for off-road cyclists, riding bikes from different categories is one of the best ways to do it.
Unlearn a bad habit
All riders are creatures of habit, and it is incredible how bad habits can become routine. Riding dirty bikes, for example, is inexcusable. Wiping and washing a bike after a ride isn’t exhausting, but it’s a crucial routine to guarantee mechanical integrity.
The other bad habit that many riders have concerns trail erosion. Locking up the rear wheel during braking, when decelerating for a switchback turn on a singletrack descent isn’t necessary. And it needlessly damages trails.
Suppose some behaviours are easy to unlearn in 2024 and will make a definite difference to your riding life. In that case, they’re about being better with post-ride drivetrain cleaning and suspension suspension stanchion wiping.
Donate and sort out your junk/upcycle the bike box
The troublesome spare bike parts box. Most riders have a potentially valuable collection of bike parts, tyres, accessories and riding gear, which is stored in a box, assuming that it will be used one day – but it never is.
Few things trigger more cycling guilt than walking past that dusty bike box in the garage and wondering, “Not if, but when, if ever?”
In an era where the value of thrifting and upcycling is real, do your bit and donate items from your bike box. Few riders ever build that ‘monster cross’ bike with old parts. Some riders on legacy bikes who are running older parts could benefit from a donation out of your bike box.