stuggling to get better on my mountain bike.

[vash]

i can pedal great..short super steep climbs..no problemo. i descend fine..as fast i am comfy with..

what i suck at are the little tricks that help.. tricks the trials guy do.

i just learned what a "manual" is..this trick is crucial because it is the first half of a bunny hop..which is the second move i suck at.

lifting my back tire and and stopping..okay..maybe. but doing a stoppie and letting the front wheel roll..super cool move on downhill switchbacks too tight to turn into. i followed a high school kid and he smoked me and made it look effort-less in the process..

(i did find comfort that i was going to drink a beer afterwards and he was probably drinking milk..that his mom was buying him )

but i need to figure out some of this stuff. youtube makes it look to easy.

seriously..google mtn bike "manual" super cool!!! why didnt i figure this out when i was younger??!!

and how the eff do you do a track-stand?

[aigel]

Dude, you are not in high school. The goal is not to face plant. I always get smoked down hill by young guys that are on fire. I just look at the trees zipping by and wonder - what if they lose it? Oh - yes, that's when you see the helicopter and S&R! I have no shame walking my bike - I have only fallen twice in the last 2 years, every time was because I was going to slow down an embankment and went head first as a result ... no injuries ...

G

[look 171]

Originally Posted by vash

i can pedal great..short super steep climbs..no problemo. i descend fine..as fast i am comfy with..

what i suck at are the little tricks that help.. tricks the trials guy do.

i just learned what a "manual" is..this trick is crucial because it is the first half of a bunny hop..which is the second move i suck at.

lifting my back tire and and stopping..okay..maybe. but doing a stoppie and letting the front wheel roll..super cool move on downhill switchbacks too tight to turn into. i followed a high school kid and he smoked me and made it look effort-less in the process..

(i did find comfort that i was going to drink a beer afterwards and he was probably drinking milk..that his mom was buying him )

but i need to figure out some of this stuff. youtube makes it look to easy.

seriously..google mtn bike "manual" super cool!!! why didnt i figure this out when i was younger??!!

and how the eff do you do a track-stand?

Vash, I don't kno w what half that stuff is on the mtb

To do a successful track stand, you need an incline. Point your wheel toward the uphill. Let say you point the front wheel turned left toward the uphill, and the rest of your bike is pointing straight. have your left foot on the pedal at 10 o'clock. stop the bike and allow it to gently roll backward and control that roll with your left foot by putting pressure on that pedal. Your hands should be on the bars controlling keeping the bike from falling over to the left or right. Sometimes if there isn't enough slope, you just might need to pull the bike back with your arms and strike that fine balance with just enough power to more it slightly forward (2-4") so you can balance it upright.

[look 171]

why do you need to do a track stand on the trail.

George is right, high school kids have no fear. when I racing back in high school all the way into my late 20s, if there was a gap for one person and the finish was on the other side, I was willing to crash but it was going to be me that was going through that hole first. There was no question about that. Usually I tried to burn them out before the hole, often I burn myself out. I am still fearless going downhill on my road bike, Only because I have been doing it for years. On the MTB, I am just out of control and was never comfortable on the dirt. I gave up mtb because of a couple of major crashes coming down a fire road. I like speed and I was getting carried away. The crashing and the lack of speed was no fun.

[porsche4life]

Quit stopping to buy pots and pans and just ride the damn thing?

[ZAMIRZ]

Where are you riding that you need to do these tricks? I've been mountain biking for 20 years and haven't come across any obstacle where I needed to trackstand or manual like a trials rider. If you want to do it just for fun, you can practice doing a manual in a grass field and fall on your ass a bunch until you get it. Trackstanding is also easy to learn without hurting yourself, do it in the same grassy field or just hop off if you're about to tip over onto asphalt.

If you want to descend quicker and more smoothly, there are a couple things you can do. Break the descent down into sections and focus on taking better lines, looking farther downhill helps. Start shifting your weight around more, fore/aft movement makes a huge difference. Finally, you're probably not carrying enough front brake. Keep your weight back and low and try hitting that front brake harder and later. If you're losing control, experiment with shifting your weight by extending your arms or bending more at the elbow.

[VincentVega]

Dont overthink it. Work up to a pace where you can trust the bike and its suspension to get over the obstacle. I had a hard time working up enough speed to get over some of the tough stuff. With your balance right and enough speed I bet your bike will get over most mid level stuff before you can think about it. For the really big stuff you need huge balls or a little brain, I must not have either.

[billybek]

When I was younger I would just ride the section over and over until I got it right.
Spent a lot of time balancing the bike and low speed sections of some of the courses we rode and raced on.
At this point in time, I wouldn't worry about looking like the old guy on the hot bike, just ride.
Fitness, time on the bike and knowing the trail will make some of your bike handling issues go away.
My friend is just about to pick up a '16 Bronson CC in a week or two. Apparently the stays have been shortened up a bit and a few other angle changes.

[javadog]

You want to do those things? Practice them. Spend a few hours each day this winter practicing what you want to learn. That's how the other guys learned it. Try, fail, repeat... a couple thousand times.

JR

[Otter74]

Stop and check in with yourself - are you having fun? If so, don't worry about these things any more and continue having fun. If learning these skills seems fun to you, then continue with that. They way you asked about it makes me unsure whether it is, so I thought worth putting it that way.

You will never compare to high school kids, so don't worry about that.

I've been mountain biking since the late 80s. I've been riding the same mountain bike (fully rigid, NORBA geometry, top-mount thumbies) since the early 90s. So I am not exactly de moda. But at least in the midwest, where I live, I have just as much fun as I always did. (If I lived in the west I'd have something modern) So I don't care whether I can do X or Y tricks (though having to pick your line instead of crush everything does help you build skills) as long as I'm having fun.

[wswartzwel]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

quit stopping to buy pots and pans and just ride the damn thing?

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Quit stopping to buy pots and pans and just ride the damn thing?

This is the quote of the day for me. Thanks for that p4l.

I agree with the above just ride and have fun. What do you have to prove doing tricks on your bike and risking injury? I enjoy just riding and not going too fast anymore. Too many close calls. Now the biggest risk is being hit by a car. Drivers just don't see bikes but I do enjoy just normal cycling....

[vash]

ooohhh..

i might have pulled a muscle in my abdomen trying yesterday..haha.

okay. trackstand. when you hit that one point in the trail where you have to pause..be it a tight turn, rock..whatever. it is nice not to put your feet down right away. or if the group bunches up and you have to wait a tiny bit..kudos to the guy trackstanding.

bunny hop. nice to glide over logs, rocks..go UP short stairs.

manual. 1. first step to a bunny hop, 2. and it is the ONLY way to go off a small ledge without nose diving to certain death. there is on cliff on my trail, i do it like a tard. serious potential yard sale carnage. small 1.5 foot drop off.

brake stand. there are switchbacks that are too tight to make going down. the idea is to lift the back wheel, pivot and have the bike pointing in the right direction. like throttle steering a 911, but scarier.

i just want to ride better..more graceful. really take advantage of riding.

it's like heel-toe driving..double shifting..throttle steering, etc.. tricks of the trade. you wouldnt tell a guy trying to drive better and learn to heel/toe..just drive. right?

today, i am lowering my saddle.

[look 171]

I know where Cliff is coming from. He wants to new able to hang with those faster riders. That's where the fun is for him, not just to go out and pedal. Once upon a time, I was having lots of fun racing and was in great shape on the bike. Now, 50's around the corner, so keeping up with the younger guy who ride daily is almost out of the question with riding only once or two days weekly. I just can't hang with the big dogs(I finish the ride with them but I am unable to stay out front) and want to so baldly. When I do go out, I kill myself and have the discipline to over power my brain and tell my legs to not give up. I am not sure if its all that fun? By doing that, I still go to my training ride on Saturdays. That's where the young guys who train for races are. That's where the fun is.

Yep, breaking something is no fun. I broke my collarbone and three ribs early this year riding in the rain. Put me out for a almost two weeks.

Vash, you follow those guys and keep doing it. One day, you will get it.

[wswartzwel]

This site has lots of good "How Too's " with video demonstrations and tips.

https://www.youtube.com/user/globalmtb

[wswartzwel]

here is the bunny hop vid.

[creaturecat]

having broken many bones. mountain biking. it is all about the (efficient) spin, for me. at age 61.

[1990C4S]

A more powerful light and a bigger flashlight will fix that for you.

[HardDrive]

What's the worst that could happen?

[gtc]

If I had to distill it all down into one skill, it would be balance.
Without knowing your actual skill level, I would start with three/four excercises: (on pavement)
1. Teach yourself to wheelie, and be able to ride a wheelie at a constant speed.
2. Practice riding a narrow line, ie road stripe, curb.
3. Practice riding slower and slower. Eventually you'll figure out the track stand.
4. Practice front wheel stands. See how long you can stay on