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.