Skills and Tips

Welcome to the skills tips portion of our website. This area will be used to help pass along skills tips that will hopefully make you a better rider. There are thousands of skills tips out there that can help everyone become a better rider when learned and applied.

Some Tips for an Aspiring Athlete

 

 

Mountain Bike Skills Tip #1

Riding your mountain bike down a long loamy technical single track is always a thrill! The faster you go the more fun you have! You get in a zone and every ounce of effort and concentration is dialed into the ride you are experiencing at that very moment. You feel like you are going fast and really ripping it up. Then you get passed and the rider passing you throws down a huge gap and looks to be going an impossible speed! How did that happen?

There are many skills that may have helped you keep up with the rider that passed you or even prevented them from passing you. One such skill would be the ability to see the trail. What I mean by this is your ability to go faster because you have already picked a line way in advance of getting to it. It’s human nature to try and watch where your front wheel is going rather than where you want it to go. When this happens, you become a reactionary rider rather than a prepared rider. What’s does all this mean?

When you are riding single track on your mountain bike, you should be looking down the trail instead of at your front wheel. You should be planning ahead instead of reacting. You should already have your line picked way before you get there and be choosing your next line in the section coming up. Your eyes should be moving quickly from your front wheel to the trail ahead. When you do this and train yourself to pick a line 10 to 15 feet up the trail, your speed will increase because you will already be flying through the line you picked and choosing your next line instead of reacting to the rock that just showed up 6 inches in front of your wheel.

It takes practice to build this skill. You have to remind yourself to look ahead and not below. The more you practice this skill the faster you will get. Fast mountain bike riders know how to look ahead and pick a good line before ever getting to it. Good luck and work those skills!