The best riding advice?

Be Prepared!

Be prepared for the worst!

• Carry good quality tools, tubes, patch kits, pumps, chain pins, ect..

• Bring extra food & water for your buddy that didn't come prepared. If your riding partner bonks when you're out in the wilderness and you both run out of food & water, you could find yourself in a dangerous and scary situation.

• When on a long ride, don't pass an opportunity to refill your water. Encourage your riding partner to do so as well.

• Post #47 is awesome!

 

a tip that has been posted but im going to post again to re enforce it...

Ride with people faster than you but at the same time, dont get in over your head

 

Final words for Fox 40 owners

Fox 40s are so beautiful that you'll find yourself staring at them as you're descending the trail. Avoid doing this at all costs, but don't get rid of your 40s.

(I'm kinda serious.)

 

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I love my Fox 40 RC2. So stiff where it need to be yet it mellows out all the big hits. I also have a world cup Boxer its way light and way smooth but I wouldn't use it for free ride. It's more of a race fork.

 

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You are so right! The BMX track will kick your butt if you're not in shape! We used to ride it on our big bikes after the races were over...talk about red-lining it! Then, there was that time that a triple suddenly grew unexpectedly and bucked me off the bike. How rude! Got sent supermanning it over the bars. I sucked it up and rode around the track a couple more times but haven't been back since.

 

Climbing; from above, I find if I keep my head down means my posture is bad, my breathing is bad and I am only concentrating on the next couple feet. I climb better looking up, relaxing, calming my breathing, spinning circles with my feet and loosening my grip.

When I really got started mtb'ing last year I read Lopes' book and found one of the best pieces of advice was letting my front wheel roll, it will roll over rocks and stuff, don't worry about it too much, and let it do it's job. That was pretty good advice, I initially had trouble getting over rocks and now I'm powering over them and cruising!

Downhill: again, relax, let your bike (I've got a full squish) do it's job, carry some speed. Don't worry too much about lines, I find I get into trouble in the middle of rattlesnake/lynx/rock-it when I try to correct my lines mid-flow when I'm doing just fine bombing down the middle over whatever is coming up. Yeah, keep your weight back, especially hitting ruts/dips (let that front tire roll!)

I took the beginner bikeskills.com course last year and I can't wait to get into the intermediate and learn more, better cornering, better lines. I'd like to get into some more drops/jumps as well.

Awesome thread, this will be a keeper and one I will refer back to because there is a lot of good advice that everyone can pick up on!

 

"when you crash, don't blame the equipment!" ..

 

Roller Derby Photos

Case in point!!

 

Ha Ha

I just picked up the Fox Talas 32 RLC for Willie that is where that came from.

I have the van RC2 on my EVO and the 40 RC2 on the F4 . Both work great. A little heavy though.
I deal with so many bike parts daily it gets confusing.

 

Done!

 

Best advise........

Say no if Fo Shiz wants you to go on a M-Bike camping trip.

 

im afraid to ask

 

Good stuff so far.

I'm a beginner, so the best so far for me is simple:
1. Momentum is your friend.
2. Commit and trust your bike (and yourself).

 

I always compare picking a line to white water rafting.... you make an effort to enter the rapids on a good line, but once in the middle of it you don't change lines, just deal with it.

 

When Man blong Gaua (Dan) worked on a fire crew in Wyoming, they had a rule about driving the fire truck down the washboarded dirt roads:

"keep it a 4 or 40"...meaning either drive really slow or really fast.

I think this is really applicable to riding. There are many obstacles you can probably pick your way over by going very slow, or you can go fast and let things flow.




We were riding at Florida Canyon and I got in the middle of a rut going down a steep hill...I stuck my wheel in the rut and just rode it out. Most of the people I was riding with thought I was going to eat it, but I didn't. Had I tried to get out of the rut, the outcome would've been different.

 

Yup, Newton's First Law of Motion applies big time with Mtn Biking

and it's so true, because there are times where i get going at a speed that i'm not comfortable with and know that if i slow down in the middle of this section i will for sure eat it. I let go of the brakes and roll right on through and not mess with my momentum.

 

Right you are Foo - your upper torso/body mass will determine most of whats gonna happen thru certain sections - but you gotta learn how to 'float' thru them. The band .38 special (remember them?) has some lyrics that perfectly describes this: 'hold on loosely, but don't let go. If you cling too tightly, you're gonna lose control'. Which is also helpful for many other areas of our lives....

 

I have been working on getting faster downhill...I can usually stay with pretty fast riders but I always loose distance in the turns and I cannot regain it.

Here is advice that I have gather that I am working on and seems to help...

1 - brake before the turn not in it...tires will stick better when they are allowed to freely roll...its really about one directional force rather than multi-directional force

2 - Keep you outside peddle down...also been told to keep it forward...it pushes you front tire into the turn. Down is easier for me.

3 - lean your bike not your body. You butt should be over your tire (where your tire is making contact with the ground to be exact).

4 - aggressively peddle out of turns to get back to top speed rather than coasting back to speed.

For me these were all easy to apply with the exception of #3...it feels a bit weird to get used to but after working on it a while it works...If I do all these things I amazed how fast I can take turn and still feel in control.