I had such a good time this weekend in Cape Town dong irresponsible things on bikes with friends on my old home trails and the EWC Enduro at Hoogekraal. Made me all emotional and stuff. Here are the fruits of my happy musings on the long trip home. The importance of being silly. Training. How many of you are guilty of using this term when going for a ride? Breaking news: Goofing off and being silly on a bike teaches you more than a month of miles. What percentage of mountain bikers in South Africa would “waste” even a portion of a ride sessioning* a corner? .00004% would be my guess. Houston, I see the problem. We’ve all heard of muscle memory, the 10 000 hour club, TITS etc. The vast majority spend their TITS reinforcing bad habits. If you just rush (figure of speech) though all the pesky “technical”** bits same as you always have before, you will not learn anything new. Within reason and skill level, any rider can set aside riding time to spend purely on learning new things. You can do this in your street clothes, in your back yard or driveway. For those of you that have never tried it, it is extremely liberating to get on a bike without putting on your special outfit 1st. That alone makes it worth trying. Now, to business. If you have no idea where to start, youtube is your friend. Any basic search will get you hundreds of instructional videos, stick to one series though, because different instructors approach the same thing from different angles sometimes. I taught myself to ride using the internet. Not videos, (there weren’t any available yet and only two people had even heard of youtube) but a book I ordered online. All aspects of riding set out one after the other with pictures in sequence showing each step, from good pedaling technique to jumping. I recommend this over endless videos as reading book just feels more like learning than entertainment. It’s still availble, go on, order it! http://www.leelikesbikes.com/books-by-lee . I did watch riding movies as well, but again, I had to order the DVD's and wait for them to arrive. The Dirt Magazine Earthed series by Alex Rankin along with their How To, Fundamentals, had me riveted. Back then, you see, we had to wait a whole year to see all the action from the DH races. You guys have it so easy with everything available instantly. Stop spending your internet time ogling new bike bits that are outdated a week after you bought them and watch riding in stead. Proper riding, even if the riders wear funny clothes and big helmets. They know a thing or two about bike handling and that is universal – it applies to all bikes at all times. While you wait for the book to arrive, here are a few basic drills and concepts: 1. The saddle is only to be sat upon while pedaling on a reasonable smooth trail or during straight forward climbing. Cornering, no. Technical (the correct use of the term) climbing involving rock steps or logs, no. Down hill single track, no. Undulating or climbling single track, maybe. Staying seated on the saddle at all times turns you and the bike into a rigid, unyielding wheeled conveyance with a high centre of gravity. That’s bad. While goofing off, either remove the seatpost or drop it as low in the frame as you can. Don’t roll your eyes or look confused, just do it. 2. Turning the handle bar does not turn the bike. Leaning the bike turns the bike. At anything but walking pace speed, and sometimes even then, leaning the bike is safer and more effective. The corner knobs – even puny racing snake tyres have at least a suggestion of corner knobs – can only do their job if you allow them to contact the dirt. Please note, lean the bike, not your body. Weight the outside pedal and once you’re comfortable with that, the inside of the handle bar. Weight in the feet. All the weight. Set out two markers and ride a figure of eight, getting used to the feeling of changing direction by leaning the bike and weighting opposite feet. See point 1. 3. YOU are the largest suspension component on the bike. Use those arms and legs to move your weight and the combined centre of gravity of you and the bike. Up, down, forwards, backwards as the situation calls for. See point 1. 4. A curb. Ride down it, ride up it. See point 1. Riding down is easier, start with that. Approach the curb at medium speed, equivalent to a fast jog. Pedals level, weight in the feet (see point 1) Legs relaxed, almost straight, knees not locked, heels down. If you notice your knees are angled inwards, it means you’re not engaging your core. Do it now. Knees should point forwards, you don’t want to impersonate an orangutan. Torso bent forward at the hips, not the belly button. There is a big difference. Fore arms perpendicular to the grips (vertical). Arms half bent, elbows out. Just before the curb, straighten your arms and pull back (back, not up) on the handle bar lightly. I said lightly. Arms should be straight and rear end slightly behind the saddle at the end of the manoeuvre. See point 1. The aim is to land both wheels together or slightly back wheel 1st. Bend arms and legs to absorb the impact, like you would bend your knees when landing a jump off a step without a bike. See point 1. Quite a lot of instruction for a relatively simple action. Before you give up though, think of the instruction needed for walking if you had to explain the concept from scratch. I’ll leave you with this thought: Whatever you’re doing when riding single track or cornering, it’s problably wrong. If you feel tense and stiff and don’t know what’s going to happen next, you’re definitely doing it wrong. If this was a Bicycling magazine headline, it would read: Effortless Cornering! Flow down the trail! While getting a six pack! Stay tuned. *teaching a corner who’s boss ** how do I hate that term when applied to a perfectly ordinary trail, let me count the ways….
