Struggling At High Speed

[Tiny K]

Stand up , look up and open up !

 

Sounds a lot like 'look in, look up, let go...' - Skydiving

[Robrider]

... place your weight slightly towards the back and stand up to absorb bumps in your legs more, lighten the front wheel, also assists with riding fast downhill and braking.

 

I disagree with this. I think it is one thing taught to beginners that is not correct. If you do a steep drop-off you should move the weight back so that your weight is centred between the wheels. If you are cruising down a hill, generally you don't need to put your weight back much to be centred on your bike. If you put your weight further back, you take weight off your front wheel, and there fore reduce the traction. This causes the steering to feel washy and unresponsive and reduces the control. At the end of the day your control is all in your front wheel.

[Gregory1986]

Thank you guys!

[deanbean]

From Brian Lopes' book; Mastering mountainbike skills- an essential read for MTB

 

Downhill

The steeper it gets, the farther back you need to be. But don’t overdo it: Volumes

of magazine articles have convinced people to get behind their saddles whenever

they descend. This not only is unnecessary, but also makes your bike handle poorly.

Your front wheel gets too light, and it dances randomly instead of tracking precisely.

When riding up an incline, shift your weight forward

to keep your weight over your bottom bracket.

While climbing a steep incline in the saddle, pull

your torso down and forward to bring your center of

mass closer to your bottom bracket. (On a decently

steep incline, the front of the bike will still be light).

 

When you coast down a trail, you should be balanced—

guess where—on your pedals. If the grade

is 10 percent, you only need to lean back about 10

degrees. Any farther than that and your front wheel is

too light for effective braking and cornering.

On steep descents, shift your hips back until—you

guessed it—all your weight is on the pedals.

••If you’re too far forward, you’ll feel pressure on your

hands. Your front wheel will catch, your rear wheel

will bounce, and an over-the-bars experience is

just a matter of when.

••If you’re too far back, you’ll feel pulling on your

hands. Your front wheel will wash, your rear wheel

will buck, and you’ll feel like you’re getting pulled

down into every drop.

To get a feel for balancing on your pedals, coast

down a slight grade and stand on your bike with some

weight on your hands. Move your body backward until

your hands hover lightly on the bars. This is perfect.

If you lean so far back that you have to pull with your

hands, you went too far. This light-handed place makes

a good base of operations. For cornering, you want

more handlebar pressure; for rough terrain, you want

less handlebar pressure.

When riding down a decline, shift your weight

backward to keep your weight over your bottom

bracket. (If your hands are weightless, as Lee’s

are here, you are golden.)

Although there are situations in which you want to push and pull

on the bars—manuals, hops, pumping, jumping, advanced cornering,

and so on—your default setting should be (you guessed it) . . .

heavy feet, light hands.

[Gregory1986]

Wow, thank you DeanBean, that is some really great advice!

I must admit when i was crusing down i was aware of making sure the pressure was on my pedals and not on my bars, NOW i know WHY! and the angles that make so much sense now.

 

thanks.