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
Winter Riding
Ask any rider about their favourite mountain biking memory of that year and very few will recall a ride though sloppy conditions in driving rain with a cold wind biting, quads burning, crotch sodden and trails livelier than a bucket full of eels. Despite this the vast majority of us have experienced a ride like that and still we go...
Crags and Slabs
Bedrock, boulders, and slick slabs of stone are some of the key elements that make up the quintessential mountain bike experience. For those of you who are lucky enough to live in such areas, these staple trail elements are less demanding. But as many riders live miles away from the mountains, some of you may find yourself getting in above...
Manual Labour
Lifting Without Shifting Manuals and ‘proper’ manual bunny hops are closely knit companions in your skill arsenal, alongside dropping and jumping they are often considered as the ‘holy grail’ skills. When we look at them performed effortlessly by the likes of Danny (that guy that hops around Edinburgh and Glasgow) MacAskill and other notable mountain bike celebrities it can become...
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...
All The Necessary Skills
It is true that I questioned to a reasonable degree what I was doing heading North at the crack of dawn, from my house in the Surrey Hills, home of some truly fantastic trails. After a month of 60+ hour weeks, averaging 5 hours sleep a night, the prospect of the two and a half hour drive ahead of me...
The Learning Curve
Discover Victory in Failure We've all done it and in all walks of life, yup… we have gone and fudged up! This is just a fact of life and one of the hardest learning curves to conquer, the process of not making mistakes and the art of recovering from them. Whether you are bouncing back from broken bones or merely...