Mountain Bike Maintenance Technique
Driving Force
Even with the best technique in the world, if your bike lets you down you are going to lose speed and there is a danger it will have a knock on effect on your riding ability. The power transfer between you and the bike is perhaps the most important one when looking to tackle steep climbs. Skipping gears and a...
Trail Fix
We have looked, over the last 12 issues, at many aspects of skills development and how to get more from your riding. These articles have focused heavily on elements that make up the physical and psychological tier of a skills development model that we have identified. Each element of each tier plays a part in reaching your full riding potential....
Featured
Speed Control Part 3 - To Haul Or To Stall
From shifting to slowing we now continue to roll through our trail craft technique and delve into the world of all that will stall. Welcome folks to another in’stall’ment of finding your flow, we’ve been getting down with some basics in the previous editions, and we continue the theme of maintaining speed by looking at trail elements that want to...
The Weighting Game
Pump up your riding This issue it’s about time we delve deeper into the subject of pumping, pressure, and unweighting the bike. When it comes to putting words into action then this is a topic fraught with controversy and confusion. Thanks to the various lingo used to describe a sensation and a technique, the outcome on the trail can be...
Climbing
Uppers Will Improve your Downers Having been around the scene for over three decades I'm well aware that climbing is not everyone's cuppa tea, but when push comes to shove, we have to face the reality that in order to go down first we must go up. All too often the topic is taboo for the recreational rider, and it...
Speed Control Part 1 - Shifting Gears
Finding flow on a trail or maintaining a rhythm is down to a combination of things, speed control plays a major factor in descents, in climbs and on all the bits in between. This time we look at shifting and the impact of cadence on your ride. Often overlooked in skills instruction, and something we should never let slip, is...
Speed Control Part 2 - Braking
The trick with all technique and skills is to start slow, low and small and build up; repetition is everything and habits you have in slow speed situations are amplified as speed, gradient and scale of terrain increase. Welcome to another instalment of Finding Your Flow, in this three part series we shift away (couldn’t resist a terrible pun) from...
The Art of Fast
You're fit (or fit-ish), your bike is the same calibre as your buddy's, but you just can’t seem to carry the same speed that they do. How is it that some riders seem to accelerate away from you with comparative ease, all with seemingly less effort? This issue we look at some key pointers as to how to carry more...