Riding Buddy Ramblings

[Trillian]

 

For your reading pleasure, the 1st of my ramblings on bicycle handling. Also appears on my new web page: http://www.earthfire.co.za/rentaridingbuddy/

 

The Great Divide

Some time ago I read an article written by Gene Hamilton from Better Ride that really made me think: “No such thing as advanced skills, only the basics done really well.” Take a moment to consider that seriously. I did. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Good technique doesn’t care if you’re on a road bike or DH bike, a corner is a corner. Done well, you conserve momentum, save energy and gain on your competitors/friends/some faceless guy on Strava. Winning, right?

 

Sadly, a vast majority of mountain bikers the world over concentrate only on one aspect of cycling – mashing away at the pedals. A core aspect sure, but used in isolation, not an optimum use of energy. This fact is masked by these cyclists spending most, if not all, of their riding hours in the company of other people doing exactly the same thing. Everyone’s doing it, it must be OK.

 

Exotic bike bits, bike fits, even paying a coach – all done for marginal gains – are seen as almost essential these days. These marginal gains are thrown away on every poorly executed corner, like some gangster lighting his cigar with a $100 bill. Even worse is when hundreds of thousands spent on preparation, equipment and entry fees are squandered by crashing out on the 1^st day of a certain famous stage race.

 

On the other side of the Great Divide, some of us in knee pads and baggies don’t mash the pedals enough. Both sides scoff at the core aspect of the other side – like that guy we all know that makes a virtue of “not doing math” or bothering to spell.

 

In ramblings to follow, I will try my best to explain what I consider “the basics done really well” to mean. Bike handling skill isn’t some esoteric thing only attainable by Swiss precision athletes and goggle wearing beserkers. Everyone can do it.

 

I would love if you all took an honest look at your current level and style of riding. Much like the AA, the 1^st step is to admit that there is room for improvement. The air may very well be rent with the seven stages of denial. I’m prepared, I’ve heard it all before.

 

We live in a world of finite resources, wasting energy is bad. We all have to do our bit to resist entropy, dammit! Baggy dudes, work on your fitness. Lycra dudes, come over to the darkside. It’s nice over here.

 

[Trillian]

Next installment of Ramblings coming on Monday. Driving to Cape Town today for the Hoogekraal EWC Enduro, lots of time to think enlightened thoughts.

[lechatnoir]

Thanks for sharing. Well-written and a fun read.

 

One thing though... bike fit... not a marginal gain IMO. Was the difference between me riding and not riding.

 

Look forward to Monday...

[Trillian]

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 1^st. 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….

 

[Trillian]

Thanks for sharing. Well-written and a fun read.

 

One thing though... bike fit... not a marginal gain IMO. Was the difference between me riding and not riding.

 

Look forward to Monday...

Fair point. What you have to take into account is that you're talking to someone who had neck pain for almost two years from riding two too small bikes in a row. Cause they were a good deal and one of them was my dream machine.... 

[Trillian]

Busy time with Riding Buddy as well as my real job. Lots of disjointed ramblings floating around inside my skull, but no clear thread. Let’s see what we end up with. After all, the benefit of talking to yourself is that you know what you're going to say next at least half the time.

 

I moved for Single Track

 

Lately I've noticed I'm becoming even more of a Luddite than usual, with hillbilly tendencies (always latent) creeping up. Al and I decided more than a year ago to look for a little place of our own somewhere outside Cape Town. After scouring the property ads and going to see numerous places from north of Clanwilliam, to the Koue Bokkeveld,  Montagu and Ladismith, I realised that what we (well, I) thought we wanted and what we actually want is not the same thing.

 

What was lacking in all the amazing out in the boonies farms* was reliable, good riding. Snaking ribbons of singletrack entirely failed to span as far as the eye could see. Since our budget didn’t stretch to me acquiring a bobcat to remedy the situation, I changed the focus of my search. Singletrack was now top of the list. With Al’s requirement for relatively easy access back to the White Tablecloth also factored in – we still have a business to run there, you see. So. Singletrack. Closish to Cape Town. Garden Route Trail Park! Witfontein! Lots and lots of other good riding!

 

We’ve been here six months now and I don’t miss Cape Town at all. I do miss all my riding friends, but having great stuff up here means that there are almost always some of them up here for a weekend or longer. And yet. There are still those that have not heard. Or have heard, but do not listen. Every holiday period I still see riders in their hordes riding on the N2. On mountainbikes nogal. Please, good people, desist! Google and the Trailforks app are your friends. Nothing around here is super difficult and if you keep your eyes ahead on the trail instead of on your front wheel, there is ample time to stop if you see something coming up you may not want to ride. Proper indigenous forest trails, pine plantation trails, swimming holes, the amazingly picturesque George Dam, FRIENDLY dog walkers – this is indeed Eden. Also two pumptrack venues with refreshment for mom and dad less than a 100m away.

 

There is life outside the city, hard as it may be to believe. I’m not talking Country Life picture perfect with vegetable patches, soulful dogs and non-sticky toddlers, real life with busted water pumps on occasion and wresting paradise from the clutches of weeds and mole hills. And riding. **Pod racer style, dodging branches or flowing along on a ribbon of narrow singletrack directly above clear water, rocks if you’re in the mood, loam, pine needles.

 

Do that fancy bike of yours justice. Take it on the trail where it was meant to be. If you’re scared, give yourself a stern talking too. Get that book I was banging on about last time, watch some instructional videos. Wear some kneepads if they’ll make you feel safer. Get some advice and instruction from those that know what to tell you. “Just hit it” is not good advice. “Drop your heels, relax your grip, weight in the feet, lean the bike not your body” is good advice. I recently had a client on a skills session that had never ridden single track before. He LOVED it. So will you. Then there was the lady on her 1^st mountain bike, dragged in to a ride that was a bit over her head by two boisterous friends. We all gave her some basic pointers and corrected one or two serious technique issues. She did have a rather shocked expression on her face at the end of every run, but she LOVED it.

 

Don’t spend your next bit of money on that shiny new whatever it is (#sorrybikeindustry). Contrary to popular belief, it will not make you faster. Skilling up will. Search out the coaches in your area. If you don’t believe me, consider this: MTB is the new golf, right? Nobody plays golf seriously without instruction. If you want to feel sixteen again and go to sleep grinning, get yourself some instruction.

 

Don’t be shy, ask questions. What makes you uncomfortable? What would you like to do better? Do you need wardrobe advice? I’m looking at you here, Mr baggy lycra pant with sleeveless white top, white arm warmers and secret socks. I bet none of you even tried riding your bike without putting your special outfit on….

 

Happy Trails

 

 

*not to mention that “Lifestyle Farm” is code for the farmer selling off a piece of land he has absolutely no use for. And for good reason too.

** it’s Star Wars month on Netflix…..

[Trillian]

This is the 3rd installment of the Tread MTB Crash Survey. All good stuff, but this paragraph in particular:

 

"So 63.14% haven’t done a skills clinic in a sport/activity that involves speed, stability (physics) and unpredictable terrain and gradients. Why? They’re happy to spend thousands or even tens of thousands of Rand on a bike, gear, entry fees and event travel, but don’t see the huge benefit of investing a few hundred bucks in know how to ride with more confidence. This remains a mystery… It’s good to see that almost half of those that haven’t done a skills clinic think they probably should.

We didn’t ask whether those that have done a skills clinic did it before or after their most serious crash. Remember, even if you have done a skills clinic, there’s still a chance you can crash, but the risk becomes much lower."

 

Exactly what I've been saying! It's official. Skills training is a good idea. Find a skills coach in your area and sign up. Even better, come to the Garden Route on holiday and give me a call 

 

 

http://www.treadmtb.co.za/sa-mtb-crash-survey-the-results-part-3/