roadie trying mountainbiking

[nosherduke996]

O.K i have been road riding over six months now and for 54 years old i would consider myself pretty fit as i live in the surrey hills and do about 100 to 150 miles a week and use a cross trainer also.
I have just started mountainbiking and i am really struggling to keep up with my mates who have been doing this for over twenty years.I am as good as them on the uphill sections, but as soon as it gets tricky, like roots or a fast rocky descent i cant get anwhere near them.
Also there isn,t a week that goes past without me going over the bars.
How long before i get as good as them or am i going to kill myself trying ?

 

[bonj2]

generally, keep your weight over the back of the bike when descending. putting your saddle down helps to move around while doing this. don't descend sitting down. Make sure your forks are at max travel/aren't locked out. Always look for the best line, and always look where you want to go, not at your drivetrain/at your mates/down into the valley/up at the sky.
Maybe your bike is a more upright geometry/less travel, i.e. more of an XC race type bike and theirs are slacker longer travel bikes?
also ask anything mroe specific on singletrackworld.com, there aren't many MTBers on here.

 

[Waspie]

I would imagine it might take a wee while to get up to speed with guys who have been mountain biking for 20 years, especially if you've just been road riding for six months.

It won't take long for you to improve though but you'll need to do it at your own pace, sounds like you're going too fast/trying stuff you're not ready for if you are over the bars every week.

Remember to get your weight over the back of the bike on the steep descents. But not too far back that you lose control of the front. Also, it's amazing what sort of terrain a mountain bike will take you over if you let it. Helps if you relax to an extent, easier said than done sometimes.

Can you get out on your own and practise without the pressure of keeping up with your mates?

 

[RedBike]

I'm always last down the hills too. I can tell you how to go down hills quickly but it's one of those things thats easier said than done. (Which is why I can't do it myself!).

If you stand beside your bike and hold the front brake on then push the bike forward via the handlebars you'll notice the back wheel lifting. An over the bar moment.

Now try holding the front brake on and pushing the bike forward via the pedals. There's nothing you can do that causes the back wheel to want to lift.

The 'secret' to not going over the bars is where your weight acts on the bike. When going downhill you need to have the pedals level, your heels dropped and make sure your supporting yourself via the pedals not the handlebars.

Then relax. Let the bike flow instead of fighting it. As I said, easier said than done.

 

[lukesdad]

I agree with whats been said allready another part of technique is to keep the bike "light" or "unloaded" this means learning to asorb the contours of the trail through your legs and arms rather than through the bike. You should be looking to guide the bike rather than steering it like a road bike adjustment of body weight is important in both descending and cornering you will corner quicker by making the back wheel light to do this shift your body weight foward and into the corner and apply the power.Ride through the corner, your exit speed should be faster than your entry speed.

And watch out for that front brake, braking balance is another important factor try using just two fingers on the brake levers.

 

[marzjennings]

You may need to drop your saddle height a bit. You'll sacrifice some pedaling efficiency for the sack of greater control over the bike. I see a lot of roadies keep their saddles at the same height on their mountain bikes as their road bikes and end up being too 'perched' above the bars. Measuring from pedal to saddle my mountain bike is 2" shorter than my road bike. Always for the most part on technical down hill sections, never sit always stand up and absorb the trail through your knees.

 

[Cubist]

A lot of good sense already, but another thing on technical stuff is to give the bike its head, in other words let the bike do the work. Relax and pick the lines, but don't spend all the time fighting it. You'll need to keep looking out for braking areas, in other words places on the track where you can safely scrub off speed if you need to, rather than spending the whole descent either feathering or hanging onto both brakes for dear life. Learn to trust your back wheel as it's skidding or locked, as drifting and sliding the back can help speed on steep corners.

 

[mr Mag00]

all excellent, cannot add much except, something i was told years ago. do not look at the obstacles like stones, logs etc as invariably you will hit them spend more time looking at a good route. again all good advice but difficult to get into the habit of.
good luck and welcome to mtb

 

[Jonathan M]

Number one, ride within your skills & confidence on a downhill, don't be forced into riding beyond your abilities - nasty things will happen. Your mates might want you to ride faster, but they may not be around to help you if you have to take a few weeks off work because you've broken your collarbone or some similar nasty.

It can be a case of reviewing your rides, and trying to reflect on what parts of the downhills you find the hardest. For me it was/is drop-offs, that feeling of never being able to get enough weight far enough back to avoid going over the bars. So with just a couple of mates rather than the rest of the club it was a case of doing some local rides with known drop-offs, usually where they are isolated, not part of a significant downhill. It was then a case of building upwards in terms of the size of the drop-off, and then transferring the newly learnt skills to bigger off road routes. Almost a form of cognitive behavioural therapy, mond over matter, whatever you want to call it, on harder routes I'd come across a drop-off and then relate to what I'd riden locally - then just convince myself that I'd ridden worse, and look for the best line.

Getting the best line is also important, do you ride full sus or hardtail MTB? It can be useful to identify a smooth rider (not neccessarily a fast rider) and at a safe distance track their lines over the rough stuff. Smooth lines are less important on full-sus, can be more important on a hardtail, so if possible follow a smooth rider on the same type of bike as you ride.

Bike set up has already been mentioned, but also experiemnt with tyre pressures. It can be very difficult to get this right to begin with, too low means too many punctures, too higher pressure can mean less grip and a more skittish ride. Tyre pressure can be affected by rider weight, size of tyre, type of terrain ridden, type of tyre (tubeless can be run at lower pressures), I'd suggest starting around the 40psi mark and adjust from there.

 

[lanternerouge]

ignorance time.... what is a drop off?

 

[bonj2]

I agree with whats been said allready another part of technique is to keep the bike "light" or "unloaded" this means learning to asorb the contours of the trail through your legs and arms rather than through the bike. You should be looking to guide the bike rather than steering it like a road bike adjustment of body weight is important in both descending and cornering you will corner quicker by making the back wheel light to do this shift your body weight foward and into the corner and apply the power.Ride through the corner, your exit speed should be faster than your entry speed.

And watch out for that front brake, braking balance is another important factor try using just two fingers on the brake levers.

well, or one...

 

[bonj2]

ignorance time.... what is a drop off?

like a little step down.
you can 'roll' off it by shifting your weight back and letting your arms extend as your front wheel rolls down it, or if you're going fast enough and the terrain's amenable to it, you can fly off it by just going straight at it, holding your weight central and slightly back, cranks horizontal, and just pulling up on the bars a bit as you go off it and your back wheel will land first, very satisfying when you do that.

 

[RedBike]

ignorance time.... what is a drop off?

A sort of step down in level.

I suppose a kerb would be a very little drop off.

 

[lanternerouge]

Ta RB, thought so!

 

[Mr Pig]

I'm 42 and I hate to tell you but balance does not improve with age! I'm not saying that you can't get better but I doubt you'll catch up with younger riders. Year after year I'm less able to do tricky stuff I used to do with ease. When I was in my teens I could turn a bike in its own length and jump about ten-feet, we used to build ramps and fly over them 'till the bikes broke. These days I can hardly get the bike off the ground and panic at the sight of small rocks! ;0)

Another thing to look at is bike set-up. The trend on today's MTBs seems to be fairly long stems. I hate them! I recently put a really short stem on my bike and it's great. The bike feels far more stable yet direct.

I also feel that having your weight further back is generally better, not just for going down hill. These are personal things I guess but try different bike set-up if you can, you might hit on something that makes a difference.