Breaking

It really is impossible to go fast without being able to stop on demand. Braking is an essential skill for a mountain biker. By being conscious of how we are using our brakes we will be able to get the most out of our brakes! 

Cover your brakes with one finger only and we are aiming to brake purposefully by doing the following:

Braking gradually – not just full on or full off but easing on with the pressure * Braking consistently. Finding the consistent spot that your wheels don’t lock up. * Modulating the pressure on the lever with your finger to maintain traction of tires with dirt. * Being dynamic with your body position to maintain maximum traction and keep both tires on the ground.

Find a different trail surfaces and practice coming to a stop as quickly as you can (an emergency stop) by following the above principles (steps in the video). 

Key Points for Braking

Identify braking zones – before features like drops, corners, roots on a nice trail surface. * Be dynamic with your body position keeping weight low and braced against braking forces. * Front brake is best for stopping you and the rear brake is great for maintaining speed. Combining the two is generally the most effective way to slow down! 

Follow these key principles above to prevent OTB’s!

Cadence

We want to be efficient and feel stable on our bikes. Being in the right gear means that you will be efficient and always be able to put pressure through the pedals.

Mountain bikes have a big range of gears from easy to hard. Use them all! 

Be in control of your cadence by following these tips.

Finding the ‘perfect gear’ (60-90 revolutions per minute no matter your speed) “Doesn’t feel too easy, Not too hard”  *  Identify your gear levers as ‘easier’ and ‘harder’ levers.  *  You should always be in a gear that you are able to accelerate in. 

Activity To Get the Feeling of Your Gears

The perfect gear exists!

Ride in a large circle in your easiest gear. Feels ridiculous!  *  Ride in a large circle in your hardest gear. Feels way too hard!  *  Ride in a large circle in your perfect gear. Feels comfortable.

Once you have found your perfect gear.. 

Count your right knee as it rises to the top of each stroke over 15 seconds. The perfect RPM will be somewhere between 15-22 RPM.

Main points of Cadence

Change gears often so that you can always accelerate.  *  Look well ahead to anticipate gear changes.  *  Must be pedaling to change gear (unless you ride a Zerode). *  Be in that range of 60-90 RPM no matter your speed.

Front wheel lift

The front wheel lift is the first step towards getting your wheels off of the ground. It’s as simple as pressure and release. The key to this one is set up, and trusting that your bike will do the work. You can use this on the trail to get your front wheel over things like roots or poodles, and off of things like small lips (jumps & drops).

The best way to practice this is on a big flat area and concentrate on the following:

Set your bike up for DH – Seat down, suspension unlocked.  *  Roll in “Neutral Position” and compress straight down into the bike (deep deep “Ready Position”).  *  Explode straight up as if you are being pulled up to the sky by your helmet  *  As you explode up, let your arms stay relaxed and your bike/ front wheel will pop up off the ground.  *  Practice this over a stick or line on the ground at different speeds to practice your timing.

*if you pull up with your arms, you are now bringing your weight forward which is counter productive!

Takeaways

To guarantee your success, fully compress! No compression = No explosion. From there, let the bike do the work and your wheel will come up.

Riding Drops – Be a chicken

Being confident on drops is easy with a bit of practice. Take this technique, the rollover, and add speed and you can achieve small to medium sized drops with stability and confidence. Once again, a good set up will mean that you can be confident!

Try this at home..

Find something about a foot high that you have a good lead into and run out of and practice these things

Bike set up for DH – Seat down, suspension unlocked  *  Get your set up right on your approach – level pedals, good speed, stable, Ready Position  *  Decide where the point of commitment is on your drop and be comfortable by this point!   *   Get your timing right, and push your bike off the drop extending your arms  *   Be ready to catch yourself as your bike lands at the bottom of the drop/ rollover  *  Recenter your body on the bike and lift your eyes so that you can start scanning for what is coming up next!  *  Try this at different speeds/ drop heights to practice your timing and to feel what speed works best for you.

Takeaways

Remember that point of commitment, if you are not ready, just stop, and go at it again.

If you are unsure how fast you need to go, check if your bike clears the lip of the drop by rolling it over, if it clears, you can go as slow or as fast as you want. If it doesn’t clear, you need to have a little speed. Push the bike at the drop so that you have good extension and can catch yourself on landing.