Mountain Biking Trail Tip Tuesday – wheelies

Mountain Biking Trail Tip Tuesday – wheelies

TRAIL TIP TUESDAY – WHEELIES WITH BEN MATTHEWS

Watch this awesome video by our friend Ben Matthews on Wheelies.


Each week we will bring you a new trail tip that you can put into practise in your own time when out riding your mountain bike. We hope you find these coaching tips helpful. Get in touch if you have a specific skill you would like to improve on.

 

Mountain Biking Trail Tip Tuesday – steep descents

Mountain Biking Trail Tip Tuesday – steep descents

TRAIL TIP TUESDAY – STEEP DESCENTS⁠

Whether you’re doing casual trail riding or racing, you’re bound to encounter some steep descents. Being able to not only ride but enjoy your ride on steeper terrain is a real game changer!⁠ ⁠

How to:⁠
1. First things first pick a day when you’re feeling good, have a nice warm up and then head to somewhere steep, ideally with friends so you can spot each other.⁠
2. Start in your ‘attack or ready’ position.⁠
3. Remain relaxed and roll into the descent looking where you want to go, not at the scary root/rock or drop!⁠
4. A roiling wheel is more stable so don’t grab your brakes instead sponge them lightly to maintain a speed you feel comfortable with.⁠
5. Keep yourself pointing down the trail – On bumpy terrain the bike will move around, keep your body pointing down and in the middle of the bike, let the bike float underneath you.⁠ ⁠ Start on smaller slopes and work up to steeper terrain.

Each week we will bring you a new trail tip that you can put into practise in your own time when out riding your mountain bike. We hope you find these coaching tips helpful. Get in touch if you have a specific skill you would like to improve on.

 

Mountain Biking Trail Tip Tuesday – rock gardens

Mountain Biking Trail Tip Tuesday – rock gardens

TRAIL TIP TUESDAY – ROCK GARDENS⁠

Rock gardens may seem scary at first, but get them right and they can be a whole lot of fun.⁠ ⁠

How to:⁠

1. Approach at a brisk walk/jogging pace, in the ready or attache position.⁠

2. Look for the smoothest line through the rocks.⁠

3. Keep your upper body loose, avoid ‘death grip’ and let your forks pump through the rocks with bent elbows.⁠ Bend your knees and bring your centre of gravity lower over the centre of the bike.⁠

4. Spot your exit and keep your momentum , this helps the bike glide over the rocks.⁠ ⁠

Watch a short video on one of our clients taking on a rock garden.

Each week we will bring you a new trail tip that you can put into practise in your own time when out riding your mountain bike. We hope you find these coaching tips helpful. Get in touch if you have a specific skill you would like to improve on.

 

Mountain Bike Coaching Tip – Heavy Feet, Light Hands

Mountain Bike Coaching Tip – Heavy Feet, Light Hands

You may think the best way to improve your riding is a lighter bike… more travel or other fancy up grades. Yes, these may make your bike lighter, more able to soak up bigger impacts etc but they don’t make YOU a better rider.

A simple way to improve your riding is to start looking at your mountain bike technique. Today I wanted to talk to you about your feet and hands. You ride your bike mainly with your feet, standing up on the pedals in the ‘ready’ position, pushing your weight into them during cornering and driving the pedals forward as you pop off a drop off. Making your feet heavy allows you to control the bike and makes the bike work for you.

The other thing to mention is your hands, when we first start out on a bike, if things get a little hairy we tend to over grip clinging on to the handle bars for dear life… this doesn’t help you with your balance and control on the bike. Imagine you have your favourite chocolate bars in your hands if you over grip you will turn them to mush, so be light on those handlebars.

Mountain bikes are very capable, the best way to allow your bike to work is relax, bring your weight down into your heels, keep the ball of your foot on the pedal to create a stable platform and think about pushing yourself forward with your heels. Breathe out when you get to trail sections that worry you or find a good song to sing so your brain goes into autopilot.

It’s a great feeling once you flow effortlessly down the trails, but it takes practise keep at it and let us know how you get on by commenting below.