High speeds and dizzying inclines make mountain biking a sport beginners want to get into, and one seasoned bikers never want to leave. If you are a mountain biker, you probably remember your first time very clearly and the thrills that came with it as you cruised through wicked terrain. And competitions like BMX with their cool fits and amazing tricks makes it an even more tantalizing to get into. It must have been both scary and exhilarating.
For a beginner, mountain biking is not as easy as it looks. You need to make sure safety is first and ride carefully to avoid getting into an accident. Although it gets easier, in the beginning, there are some basic instructions you must stick to and keep them in mind as you get going. And remember a helmet is always a mountain biker’s best friend.
In this review, we share some basics of mountain biking for anyone who wants to get into the sport. So, keep reading to learn some of the most important information, such as how to sit on the bike, how to ride over rough terrains and how to just keep your cool, even when it seems dangerous. Let’s begin.
Always Stay Loose
The work of the mountain bike is to roll over all sorts of terrain, so let your bike do its job without worrying. Which means keeping yourself loose to allow it to move under you. Let your buttocks hover lightly off the saddle while you are riding the bike over obstacles like rocks and roots. The harder the terrain, the more room the bike needs to keep moving, so just relax, and calm down.
Maintain A Steady Momentum
You may start to feel counterintuitive when you are holding speed and speeding up. When the terrain becomes challenging and makes some sections tough to clear, and you start feeling the resistance, what your bike needs is to move forward, so let momentum become your best friend, and maintain it no matter what.
Take It Easy On The Brakes
You will constantly be tempted to grab both brakes and just pull them up to the bars with everything you’ve got in you. Resist this as much as you can. The mountain bike brakes are extremely powerful and you just need one or two fingers on them to modulate the speed of the bike. Adjust this speed before any tricky stuff comes up such as sharp corners and rocky gardens.
Maintain your speed through this and if you find yourself going into a tough turn, stay off the front brakes. If you stop your front tires, you shall end up sending them into a slide that can send you over the bars and on the ground. Hit the rear instead of the front brakes, so you just end up skidding and staying upright.
Use All Of The Gears
The profiles for mountain bikes sometimes look like jaws that are opening wide for the next snack. In other words, they can cover an undulating terrain that is capable of shooting up and down frequently.
Keep anticipating these changes as you ride and shift the gears as needed. This shall also help in keeping your momentum and as you already know, from our point above, it is your best friend while mountain biking.
Set Up Your Suspension
Most of the mountain bikes available today have at least one front fork suspension and a shock absorber in the rear. These are magical inventions that make big bumps disappear as you are rolling over them. However, they only work if they have been set to the active positions.
You can take some time and learn how to fine-tune them and set them up and how to rebound them. Take a moment and learn how to lockout and how to open up the suspension, so you do not end up rolling them out accidentally in a terrain.
Always Look Toward Where You Want The Bike To Go
Staring directly on the ground at rocks that you want to avoid hitting shall almost ensure that you hit them right on. This is what is known as “target fixation.” What you need to do is look beyond the obstacles and direct the bike to where you want it to go. Keep your chin level to the ground and your eyes forward.
Try to look as far down the trail as you possibly can, so you can avoid the obstacles and negotiate them easily. Use a trail-specific helmet that will protect your head from any sort of obstacle you encounter as you ride.
Mountain Biking For Beginners Conclusion
Taking the necessary precautions before riding is the most important thing. As a beginner, you might fantasize about the BMX stage, but starting out with some introductory courses to get there is a better idea.
Once you start to get the hang of things, mountain biking can be quite an addictive sport What’s not to love about soaring up into the clouds on your bike and landing with pizazz. Keep that safety equipment on and your dreams flying high.
