5 Basic Skills Every Mountain Biker Should Know

This is our top five basic skills that every mountain biker should know number one a good stance on the bike Stand nice and tall it should feel like most your weight is your feet and not through your arms onto the bars Make sure your feet are in the right position on the pedals So the ball of your foot is just in front of the axle of the pedal I want to drop into the trail your arms and legs [buy] the best suspension possible if you're already crashed You're going to lose half of that suspension Having to keep your head [up] and chest open Number two learning the limits of how much you can move around on the bike It's what I call the aRc of movement in the ready position in the middle of the bike your hips will be above the saddle You can move them all the way down to the back wheel and up and forward towards the bars This is much easier with your satellite the way, so if you've got a drop post get it down there This is a really big one for beginners often they feel like they're moving a lot around the bike But actually their hips are never really getting very close to that rear tire So find yourself a nice open piece of travel car park Get a feel for this so when you do it on the trail. It doesn't feel unnatural Using your brakes effectively they can be your best friends, but also the worst enemies they often cause crashes Steep sections when you're on the brakes heavily you get out of control often it's actually best to get back off them Get back in control and then brake again Take some time to practice modulating your brakes So you're not just using them a hundred [percent] all of the time you're just feathering them slightly in some occasions Especially when cornering when you want to try and come off the brakes totally Especially the front brakes get that front tire gripping the next thing to practice actually uses to those skills I've just talked about the ARc of Movement and effective break-in so when it comes to emergency Stopping really stopping as fast as possible you know want to drop your weight to the back of the bike just by dropping your heels And getting your hips back Otherwise when you hit the brakes all your weights and your ons the bars and potentially over so gets the back of the bike On the brakes nice and strong, and you should stop really quickly. [oh], I was close. [I] only sit that feather Number [four] work on trying to find your natural pedaling speed otherwise known as cadence Good riders will change gear really often try and stay in that cadence for most efficient power Try monitor your power through the pedals when changing gear as not to crunch through the gears and wrist snapping the chain Try and preamp the trail as well, so you change gear early? but most efficient riding Number five training yourself where to look on the trail when you're driving your car down a motorway, you'd never look at the Bonnet So same thing cancer on the bike. He's been looking way down the trail Yes, when it gets very technical you might want to pick a line closer to your front wheel But more often than that you need to be looking very far ahead here I can see our right and burn in the corner of my vision I can see a [left-hand] one at the bottom for me personally I have to keep reminding myself all the time to look a [bit] further So now I'm actually going to use a point of view camera to talk you through where I'm actually looking So this section is actually got some ruts in it. It's really important to [ruts] to keep your head up So you don't slide off the edge of one? I'm just about to turn into a much more technical [dial] section. I'm looking at the way in now. I'm looking down to that berm Now to the exit of the corner. [it's] really important the Corners spot the exit early our rock section I'm starting to look much closer to my front tire right in a corner back further ahead a faster section I'm looking really far down the trail to that far right boom left and burn Straight right and boom you see a bag Left now, I'm looking about 50 meters ahead really fast section up and over up over, right? I'm going coming up left, right? Roll it left, right? Rollers [jump] second jump and boom Rijkaard So there you go There's our top five basic mountain bike skills that everyone should know if you knew these already Then maybe you should click up there and check out our top five Essential trial skills every Mountain Bikers should know and click down there for top [ten] set up mistakes Click on the Jam Band logo to subscribe and give [a] thumbs up if you enjoyed this video

Channel: Global Mountain Bike Network

Views: 1,042,731

Keywords: GMBN, Global Mountain Bike Network, mountain biking, mountain bike, MTB, essential skills, braking, trail scaning, where to look, bike skills, body weight, body position, ridng position, trail scanning, get better at mountain biking, basic skills, basic mtb skills, basic mountain bike skills, downhill MTB, Enduro MTB, XC MTB, mtb skills, mountain bike skills, Bicycle (Product Category), bike, gmvn, gmbn tips, au16, sec-top-10, plmb101, gm06s, gm09s, 1a

Id: Zo49Gd0NgeQ

Length: 4min 56sec (296 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 16 2016