Ride

It has been a great few months for me and my mountain biking. With 16 km of single track on my doorstep I've been able to ride the mountain bike more than ever before. With this, I've begun to learn more techniques as I go and in doing so, am getting smoother and quicker on the technical stuff. So, here are ten ideas/thoughts/tips I have picked up lately...

1. Go ride. If you are in two minds, ride. If the weather looks iffy, ride. If you are tired from work, ride. When I do, it is always worth it.
2. If the choice is mountain or road, choose mountain. It is more of a whole body workout, it gets you closer to nature and it's just more fun! I can say this now that I don't have to drive 50 minutes to the closest trails!! (I do like a long road ride though :))
3. Look where you want to go. And don't look at that rock that you don't want to hit.
4. Ride at night (with lights). It's like playing a video game, it allows you to fit more into your day and it makes you realise that, with a lot of the obstacles you worry about during a day ride, you don't need to, because at night, you simply don't see them.
5. Pedal when you don't think you can. Going uphill I use to stop pedalling around every corner, and over every rock or roll over. Now I try to just keep on pedalling and it makes a use difference to speed and momentum. If you really want to know how much you can keep pedalling, just follow a good single speed rider- they pedal through EVERYTHING.
6. Which leads nicely to momentum. I used to be a brake pad abuser- go as fast as you can and then slam on the anchors at every corner, then try to get back up to full speed. Now I just think of maintaining momentum and staying off the brakes as much as possible. If I feel I'm entering a corner with a little too much speed then I feather the rear brake and lean- seems to be working well so far! Try to complete a section where your maximum and minimum speeds are pretty close.
7. If needing to drive to the trail head, check, check and check again that you have your helmet and shoes in the car!
8. You can go faster than you think you can. Unless you ride on pea gravel, in which case you can skate more than you think.
9. It may be a pain to play around with shock settings, but the plush ride is worth it.
10. You have a machine under you that can go most places. So go explore. Even if it is just up that fire road you always pass. You never know what you might find...

So, these are the ten I have been thinking about. If you have any other thoughts or tips on the wonderful world of MTB, feel free to leave a comment.