Originally Posted by Spoonrobot

Back on-topic: I did a 60 mile mountain bike event over the weekend. Ended up riding a significant amount of the time with a newer rider who'd be riding only since the late spring. He was trouncing me on the single-track but I'd catch him on the descents and we ended up riding most of the climbs together and chatting. It was interesting hearing his background, he started riding MTB after seeing the NICA team on the local singletrack and had learned most of his skills riding with others. I've been seriously mountain biking since 2015 and have learned most of my skills from youtube and watching other riders - about equally. I think it was nice for the both of us, with vastly different levels of experience and skills to be able to ride together and talk, I took away some pointers and I think he did too. Made me think of this thread.