Quote:
Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling
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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I would say for the first while use full gear so that you can ride more aggressively and confidently. If you hit a root on a hill you can end up doing a backwards somersault on your bike which usually puts you in a bad situation as the landing is just the start of the rest of the roll down the hill
. If you are clipped in this can be even worse.....think major knee injury and lots of lacerations....
In the more technical areas lower your seat and learn to use your brakes properly not just to slow you down but to gain your balance. Also you will realize that a lot of climbing is upper body and you need to use your upper body to pull you up the hills as much as your legs will push you up. On the steep climbs stay low and use your momentum to propel you up the hill. Being in the right gear also helps. Go out to a grass field sometime and just play around with your brakes and balancing on your bike. Once you can master this you realize how much of mountain biking is dependent on balance and momentum and you really do use your entire body. Until you have this you ride in fear of falling and it throws everything "off balance
".....If you can feel that you have lost momentum on a hill bail to the side quickly as the worst falls are when you are in slow/no motion. As for roots they can cause these falls especially after rain or if frosted in the fall or early spring. I like to stear around then when climbing and when going down hills you can use them to catch air or also go around them as it is a smoother ride when you can avoid them.