Okay - so I'm looking for help with mountain biking.
I'm aware it's a skill, and I'm wondering how I get better at this skill. At my advanced age and with my lack of free time I'm not going to go practice certain skills. What I do have time for is going out and riding around for exercise and with that I can log some hours which equates to practice.
1. I can't climb some steep hills. I see other bike tracks and assume people go up these? Obviously there's some that people have only gone down, hence the tracks. But I'm certain some of these people go up. I stall out and fall to the side and have to walk/push.
a) this happens because I lose traction
b) I lose speed
c) I feel like I'm going to flip over backwards
I've tried experimenting with body position lean forward to keep weight ahead and low. Sometimes it helps, other times I damned no matter what I do.
2. Going down some embankments. This I think might be 50% skill 50% fear. But part of me wonders if I suck it up and go (like a drop I saw the other day, mini cliff, then steep run to flat. Kinda like dropping off the ski jumps onto the out run (obviously way smaller). Now I could just slowly go off, but assume my undercarriage is just going to hit the dirt before my front wheel hits the ground and the rest of me. At which point I'll likely bail and slide down the embankment in a sad mess.
3. Roots. Do you try to maneuver them? Or just bump along over them?
4. Traffic, I'm going pretty slowly, but what about the other people I've seen flying through these trails. What happens when we encounter each other head on?
5. Clips. I have shoes and clips, I love them and couldn't imagine not being clipped in. That said, when I reach a point that I stall out, climbing, steering, etc and I stop. Trying to get back into them on a hill, narrow path, turn, etc screws me royally.
6. Seat to high? My seat is in a great position for riding. However not for running into all the above problems. It's a huge height to get my leg back over if I've had to stop or climb off for the above. Not to mention this always transpires where it's tough to do anything, throw in the clip issue above.
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