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Rookie mistakes. Any advice to help us through the learning curve?

4K views 33 replies 18 participants last post by  Flying-Monkey 
#1 · (Edited)
So, I've been riding. I've found that if I take a corner with my inside foot low, I tend to catch more stumps, so I try to ride with that foot high.

As I slow down to enter a turn, I drop gears, because I've found it's pretty darn hard to get going again, in the gear I was riding comfortably at in that long straight section before the bend.

Soft sand is another place where it's a good idea to get in a lower gear BEFORE you enter it.

Trying to shift into a lower gear while you're climbing a steep hill, might leave you with a busted chain, and a long walk back to the trail head.

So, I ask you experienced guys, what kind of advice do you have for the new rider? What tips and techniques can you recommend to keep a newbie from having to learn these types of things the hard way?

Watch your route.

Look at where you want to go! Don't get too focused on the corner itself. I have to tell myself to do this all the time. Once you get used to letting your body follow your plane of sight, you'd be supprised some at how fast you can take corners.

Wear a helmet!
Don't look at the odometer when you're going fast. Good ones will save your max speed. You will go out of the trail if you do not heed my warning. I may or may not have done that! I'm sure this was my face when I went off the trail. :eek:
Look where you want to go, not where you're going. Similar to that, don't stare at an obstacle on the trail; you'll hit it.
Corners

When you take corners, if you keep your outside foot low, you can push down on the outside pedal and improve your traction to take the corner faster. If you have a berm or bank, you can really keep your speed up this way.
Shifting

Sand

Wide tires and keep spinning in high cadence. It will help you float over it. If you pedal hard you will sink into the sand. I learned this on a dirt bike growing up.
Tires

FWIW I enjoy a rounder profile, bigger tire in front. Feel the point of washout/no washout becomes more up to me and less for tire and gives me a better balance front to rear brake loose point..
To match tire with terrain and the way you like to ride also.
Climbing

I'm not sure how to explain it, but there are times when it is actually easier to shift into an easier gear while climbing. Like you said, you can break a chain or have your rear wheel slip, so you need to be careful. Practice is the only advice I can come up with.
Lower the pressure in your tires if you keep loosing traction while climbing. I used to always stand on my pedals for a climb, but if you shift down and keep your cadence up and ass on the seat, you'll climb better. Smoothness will help you get out of some hairy situations.
Try spinning the lowest gear you can use and still put some power into the bike. Experienced mountain bikers tend to have cadences around 80 rpm, although it can be higher and some people are shockingly happy to climb with slower pedal speed.
Yup. Where do you begin. Everyone is better at some stuff than others. Just ride more! Maybe different terrain and bikes help you figure it out faster? As in a rigid SS will force you to pick better lines than a FS 29er, and knowing the difference between the bikes reaction, and yours.
Videos

I found it useful to practice the trackstand, basically stationary balancing. Spinning the cranks in reverse seems to help. Perhaps it adds gyroscopic effect.

user 'bikeskills.com' has decent videos on youtube
Two threads to help you out.

http://forums.mtbr.com/beginners-corner/mountain-biking-skills-video-741742.html

http://forums.mtbr.com/beginners-corner/one-piece-advice-new-riders%85-731720.html

First link has a couple hours worth of riding techniques through the use of videos.

Second link is six pages of advice in text to help people out.
Books

Highly recommend the Mastering Mountain Bike Skills book by Brian Lopes and Lee McCormack.
 
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#3 ·
When you take corners, if you keep your outside foot low, you can push down on the outside pedal and improve your traction to take the corner faster. If you have a berm or bank, you can really keep your speed up this way.

I'm not sure how to explain it, but there are times when it is actually easier to shift into an easier gear while climbing. Like you said, you can break a chain or have your rear wheel slip, so you need to be careful. Practice is the only advice I can come up with.
 
#7 ·
FWIW I enjoy a rounder profile, bigger tire in front. Feel the point of washout/no washout becomes more up to me and less for tire and gives me a better balance front to rear brake loose point..
To match tire with terrain and the way you like to ride also.
 
#11 ·
Lower the pressure in your tires if you keep loosing traction while climbing. I used to always stand on my pedals for a climb, but if you shift down and keep your cadence up and ass on the seat, you'll climb better. Smoothness will help you get out of some hairy situations.
 
#22 ·
I was wondering what the heck you were talking about. I looked for a member who posted with the name rooking, I wasn't sure if you were referring to someone else who had a nickname rooking, I was completely confused.

Finally I saw the typo in the title, and it all became clear.

Then I fixed the typo.

Thanks. :D
 
#13 ·
As I slow down to enter a turn, I drop gears, because I've found it's pretty darn hard to get going again, in the gear I was riding comfortably at in that long straight section before the bend.
You're probably in too high a gear to begin with if it's hard for you to get back on top of it after cornering.

Try spinning the lowest gear you can use and still put some power into the bike. Experienced mountain bikers tend to have cadences around 80 rpm, although it can be higher and some people are shockingly happy to climb with slower pedal speed.
 
#14 ·
Yeah, I'm too used to road biking, and working to high gear and trying to stay there...

It seems a waste to have three gears in front, and only use the middle one. :D

One of the guys that took me on my first single track ride was a little surprised to see that I ran the whole way on the largest front gear. He then said something about having fast or slow twitch muscle fibers being why I seemed to like higher gears and slower cadence.

I've tried riding in lower gears, but having a hard time getting used to the faster cadence.
 
#20 ·
Nothing but mountains here and single speed works fine if you got the right gearing. Skills and fitness improve exponentially (IMO) with a ss, especially when rigid.
While its best to be in the right gear before the climb you can shift while climbing. Imagine a moment of coasting while you are spinning with little torque and your shift should be pretty smooth.
Only brake in a straight line. If you must brake in a turn use the rear only. Go tubeless with low psi for better traction.
Best advice: spend time practising tricky sections. Over and over untill you nail it. The skill will transfer to similar sections of trail.
 
#21 ·
protip from a friend: You know how when you're first starting off your worst enemy is your own fear? Its what makes you wobble on a steep hill, crash on rock gardens and thin lines. Dont pop a few xanax to try and resolve that fear, it will end badly. Also, dextrine wont help either. Basically just dont take any drugs while riding...
 
#27 ·
That's great! If someone has a book they can suggest, or the link to a video series (not the individual videos, that would take too much space for each...) I'd love to have those to quote back in the original post.
 
#29 ·
To add to the good advice above: you're already doing a lot right just by paying attention to technique and asking questions about how to improve. I think that 90% of getting better involves paying attention to what works and doesn't work for your body, your bike, and your trails.

Here is one drill that I did that helped me improve my handling skills on technical climbs, which I sucked at for a good long time: find a good, tough climb with lots of roots and rocks, put your bike into the lowest possible gear, and ride up it as slowly as possible.

The low, easy gearing means that you can't rely on momentum or muscles to blast up and over technical bits. The only way to clear the climb is to get good at moving the bike underneath you and adjusting our weight so that both wheels keep traction. Of course, you'd rarely want to ride like this in "real life," but as a drill I found I learned a lot from it.

One other thing: I found it useful to focus on one skill at a time. There is so much to learn at first that you just can't work on every skill on every ride without becoming frustrated or burnt out. What worked for me was to pick one skill to work on when I was out riding, like cornering, say - sometimes I'd focus on practicing cornering and would try to let all my other skills just be "good enough" for the time being. I'd do that for a while, and then pick another technique to improve. Repeat the cycle (heh) a few times and eventually the skills start to add up and build on each other.

Cheers.
 
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