Islands of Safety

Ruben from Endless Biking via Fred tip:

Recognize islands of safety as you ride. On such safe stretch of the trail you can:

• Safely brake
• Abort the maneuver
• Get low and push on the pedals for emergency stop

Hard obstacle- straight line pls!

Met an experienced biker today he told me this:

Try to cross an obstacle (up or down) in a straight line. Build a line in advance, turn and maneuver in advance so when it is crunch time (something hard to go over), you are traveling straight as an arrow! Build your lines so that you travel in straight lines as much as possible in general!

Riding acronyms: "BLT Day" and "LLR". What are you talking about?

As I sat at home after a tooth extraction (unrelated to biking) I came up with two fundamental acronyms about MTB riding:

BLT
B
Balance your weight on the pedals going down (this allows to keep the handlebar light among other things. Very good tip for steep descending terrain

L
Light hands heavy feet. This is the main riding tip, the holy grail (helps with weight distribution, floating over obstacles, not loading too much the front end, etc)

T
Three D riding- this is about putting more or less weight on the bike using the feet: (at any moment being either light or heavy, like a wave). Light- offloading on difficult terrain floating over obstacles (two ways of doing it: lifting the weight up on elbows and pedals or quickly dropping down with elbows and feet). Heavy- pushing on the pedals down on easy safe terrain. Remember keeping light hands no matter what. This tip is from Brian Lopez's book.

Day
Dynamic pedal as per Fluid ride video (pushing on outside pedal while cornering). Inside knee out.
http://vimeo.com/41742406


The second acronym is linked to "Day" and deals with cornering.

L
Look at the exit of a turn

L
Lean the bike into the turn without leaning your body

R
Rotate hips (turn with your belly button)

Here you go: BLT Day LLR!

What is "BRAVE" when facing an obstacle?

My definition of being "BRAVE" when facing an obstacle is very specific:

1. You must allow the bike to roll.
2. Be brave by approaching an obstacle in neutral position (no matter how scary that might be) and then let the bike dictate how much back you will move as the bike TRAVELS OVER THE OBSTACLE

As to item one, let it roll, don't touch the brakes, the bike can roll some really steep terrain if you LET IT ROLL and DON'T INTERFERE with its TRAVEL.

As to item two, don't move back before the obstacle because it sounds safer to do so. Assume neutral LOW LOW LOW position as you approach an obstacle and AS YOU TRAVEL over the obstacle, let the bike DICTATE how much back IT WANTS YOU TO MOVE

How to acqure correct elbows position

Hand position determines correct elbow position while descending. Draw an imaginary straight line from index finger to the lower and opposite corner of your palm. Place this line on the handlebar.

Incorrect position:

Correct position (pay attention to the arrow and how it "sits" on the handlebar):

Such hand placement will also assure correct elbow position (as if doing a pushup or holding a basketball somewhere between the chest and belly button. Don't overdo it and don't protrude elbows too much forward. They will not be 90 degrees to the handlebar sticking out straight up. It would be too much). Do the same with the left hand.

Upper Body

When descending I need to remember to keep upper body calm. Legs and arms should move, absorb the shock but upper body should not feel any storm. It should rest calmly balanced on four shock absorbers that humans have.

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

Technique points I keep in my mind when riding these days

The key word on my mind on a downhill turn is ROTATE, just one word but occasionally also.....

1. Rotate the belly button and looking with "three eyes" when on downhill turn
2. Leaning the bike into the turn
3. Counterbalancing the leaning with the rear part as a result of belly button turn and resulting weight shift on the seat.
3. Having the outside turn elbow bent and high
4. Looking past the turn
5. Dynamic Pedal

Going downhill and in trouble

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

What if I am going downhill and sense possible trouble. What is the first thing to do?

GET AS LOW OVER BB AS I CAN:

-getting low over the central balancing point of the bike (over the seat area and BB). If I get low the rear will move back AS A RESULT OF GETTING LOW
-elbows a bit forward as if doing regular (not military style) pushups.Or as if you were holding a basketball at chest level.

This will not work is the seat is high (impossible to get low in this case). So people move behind the seat as a compromise. This is not ideal as:
-the bike is not centrally and evenly balanced
-arms are already extended and can't be used pushing the bike forward if needed
-front wheel is unweighted and is ready to slip sideways which means imminent fall

Telescopic seat post may be an answer to the above dilemma. One word of caution. Sometimes the telescopic seat may still be too high even if completely retracted. This may give a false sense of security as I endoed once thinking that I was low because I retracted the seat but I was still overall high.
The picture provided helps understand this point. The seat is clamped in such a way that it will be still way too high for OVERALL (albeit fully retracted) downhill height for me.

Vertical Manual Drops

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

Manual is done by me without pedaling and in two steps:
 1. Staying low preloading down suspension the last moment before the drop pushing down on the pedals
 2. Pushing with the front foot towards the hub of the front wheel (such motion will MOVE THE BIKE FORWARD UNDER YOU and as a consequence will shift your body  back extending forward arms and legs. Do not pull up on the handlebars, the leg force towards the front hub in this step will prevent the front part of the bike from dipping). KEEP THE FRONT HEEL BENT DOWN in this step!

 Start returning to the ready position while in the air so when landed you landed low in ready position and not shifted back.

Match the bike traveling in the air with the angle of the landing area (angled the same way to match)

Pedal several bike lengths before the manual maneuver area. COAST before, during and after doing the manual.
Speed will help doing the manual and will prevent dipping of the front wheel.

PRACTICE UNTIL YOU CAN DO IT AT A VERY LOW SPEED


Manual summary: don't pedal when you are about to manual, preload suspension pushing down, push with the front foot with the dropped heel towards the front hub of the bike. This will move the bike forward and you will naturally extend arms and legs and the rear part of the body will be moved back. Don't move your body back, let it happen as a result of pushing the pedals towards the hub of the front wheel.

Cornering- my formula

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Video-of-the-Year-Winner-is-2012.html
In the picture above one can see correct body position while cornering (hips are rotated and offset to the side, shoulders and belly button turned into the corner, high outside elbow, bike is leaning into the corner.

I noticed it is hard for me to remember and cycle in my brain through BRAKE-ROTATE-LOOK-LEAN mantra.
So here is my simplified one and it is all about STEERING WITH BELLY BUTTON:

Belly Button- High outside elbow

You look with all "three eyes" (belly button being one, then you think about high outside elbow (e.g if you turn left, I should have right elbow bent and high.

Rationale:
When you turn with the belly button, this move rotates your hips, shoulders and offsets the rear part of the body. This also forces me to look in the right direction.
High  outside elbow will force me to lean the bike.
I will not forget to adjust the speed before I do all of the above because...I really don't want to fall!

So new mantra is again

Belly Button- High outside elbow- and as of May 11, 2012  Dynamic pedals

Cornering- lean the bike into the corner- NOT your body

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

When cornering I try to do this:
Lean the bike into the corner
but DO NOT lean your body into the corner, keep it VERTICAL
Keep your body straight up.
What helps in achieving it:
PUT MOST WEIGHT on the OUTSIDE pedal and keep that OUTSIDE heal DOWN (lowered outside heal lowers your center of gravity and applies max pressure on the outer knobs of the tires)
Put OUTSIDE knee against the frame if needed
Keep OUTSIDE ELBOW HIGH (VERY IMPORTANT it helps keeping your body vertical, it is a good thing to use as a conscious mental check
LOOK to the corner exit point
USE Dynamic pedal idea

Elbow position on steep climbs

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

When I have to muscle up a very steep section this is what works well for me:

Imagine someone attached ropes to your elbows and pulling on them up so they are parallel to the chest line (or armpit to armpit line). Elbows are bent and are pointing up.

This prevents the front wheel from going up in the air and puts more weight slightly forward.

May 12, 2012 update:
Do NOT keep elbows in this extreme forward position when descending.
Correct descending  elbow position is as if doing a pushup or holding a basketball at chest level

Granny ring vs Middle ring

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!


By trial and error I came up with the following:

Granny chain ring- good for climbing steep terrain where one is likely to sit all the time. This gear does not provide "torque on demand" if you stand up and it is ideal for obstacles of the type "if you stand you rear wheel will spin".

Great to use on a very steep terrain with the SECOND biggest ring in the back! You would likely to sit or hover over your seat.

Middle chain ring- good with tall obstacles where one will coordinate pedal push with a partial or full standing up motion. Also ideal for moment where short "torque on demand" burst is needed (e.g. to roll over a tall rock or root on otherwise relatively flat terrain).

Great with the BIGGEST or SECOND BIGGEST ring in the back.

WET CONDITIONS:

If the obstacle is not super steep and it is WET, I use the middle ring up front and SECOND BIGGEST in the back to avoid back wheel spinning. (during dry conditions, the BIGGEST ring in the back can be used).

For greater cardio-use middle ring up front (except for very steep terrain) and the BIGGEST or SECOND BIGGEST ring in the back.

For smooth (no bursts of energy) riding and a bit less cardio- use the granny ring up front and the BIGGEST or SECOND BIGGEST ring in the back.

Welcome to IgorBikingTheMountain blog!

Disclaimer: These tips are for the blog author, pls seek professional instruction as this sport may be dangerous!

Hello,

I am a MTB novice. Just like many of us out there and who are a bit shy to ask experienced people for some advice....
It is great that there is such opportunity as learning XC Mountain biking on North Shore, probably the best place on earth to do it.


Why create this blog? I have felt intimidated for a while by seeing all those expert bikers who look like gatekeepers of very useful insider information about this sport.

In this blog I will try to share bit by bit what I learned about riding, bike setup, obstacles, etc, providing some information that may be interesting for other beginners (and myself too!)
The information (often anecdotal in nature) is gathered from conversation in bike stores, my own trial and error experiments and from often serendipitous conversations on the trail with other bikers.

Take it with the grain of salt and seek professional advice as what works for me may not work for you! This sport can be dangerous so always use professional help!
All information is based on the author's personal experience and therefore is subjective in nature!