Basic Tips for Mountain Biking

Mountain biking is a thoroughly exciting sport that can be taken up by anyone who has the ability to ride a bike. Almost all individuals who know how to ride a bike would definitely want the excitement that mountain biking can bring. This is very different from the ordinary biking since it involves tough challenges and some biking skills that may not be utilized with biking on ordinary places. Mastering the basic skills in mountain biking before going on into the hills is very important so as your biking will be more enjoyable, safe, and confident.

Some of the essential basic mountain bike skills on the trail are briefly outlined below:

• Get Good Breaks: It may seem obvious, but just as a sports car needs a great breaking system to handle well at high speeds, if you intend to ride your mountain bike fast or down any hills you better go for a high-end breaking system. This break system will not only allow you to ride faster, but to have more control over your bike.

• Understand Gears: Just as low gears on cars require more energy to run at a given speed and provide more power, they do the same on mountain bikes. You will have to pedal much more to move a short distance in a low gear, but you can travel against a great amount of resistance. The higher gears allow you to use a few hard pedal pushes to go a long ways, but it may be impossible for you to go up a steep hill in one of these gears. So high gears are primarily for flat lands, while low gears are primarily for tough terrain and hills.

• Always commit to a track or line: You need to plan a few steps ahead and choose the line that you want to ride. Once you have chosen your line, be sure to follow it. If you hesitate because of fear of the obstacles ahead of you, frequently things will go wrong. If you hesitate halfway through a complex section, you will surely fall off; this goes double when heading downhill.

• Think 2 to 3 moves ahead: Don't focus on a single obstacle for too long. Always be aware of the next obstacle. Don't just focus on the rider in front of you. You might end up hitting something that the rider in front of you had managed to avoid. Look 5 to 10 feet ahead of you. Don't focus on your front wheel or the rear wheel of the rider in front of you.

• Choose Your Speed Well: A person new to mountain biking should not be riding fast. It is that simple. When you ride fast, you have less time to react and your reactions have not yet been trained to be limbic functions. If you find yourself in a situation where you must stop quickly, shift your weight toward the back but with your body as low as possible while pressing evenly on the front and rear breaks. If you press hard too suddenly on either or both of your breaks, you may actually lose control of your bike.

• Pedal while standing: You should get as comfortable as you can with pedaling while standing on your bike. Try lifting yourself off the seat while standing on the pedals and then crank them around. You should try this in higher gears on flat ground then again in lower gears while on a hill.

• Slide back on the saddle on steep descents: This will allow for more time to react to unforeseen obstacles. Besides, it doesn't hurt as much if you fall off the back of a bike than flying over the handlebars.

• Don't grip the handlebars too tight: This will only make your upper body tense and you will tire out faster. Loosen up but not too loose.

• Do not put your thumb over the handle bar: This will make it easier for you to loose grip if you hit something unexpectedly.

• Bend your elbows and loosen your shoulders: This will help to absorb the shocks that you will experience on the trail.

• Dealing With obstacles: Build up your beginner mountain bike skills by first learning to roll right over small obstacles. If you haven't done this before, you'll be surprised at how your mountain bike likes to glide over objects. The only way you'll fall or crash is if you freak out and don't let the mountain bike do what it's designed to do. For larger obstacles, you'll want to use your limbs as springs or shock absorbers while standing up on your bike. Ride over bigger objects with level pedals (parallel to the ground) unless you decide to pedal over an obstacle. Make sure you keep your speed up, and whatever you do, don't suddenly slow up before you get to the obstacle. That can cause a bad accident, and so will suddenly grabbing your front brakes.

• Dealing with falling down: Falling off a mountain bike is just a part of riding one. It may sound silly, but there is a technique for dealing with this. The last thing you want is a hard wipeout. When you sense a fall coming, and you often will sense it in advance, it is important to know how to respond. You want to slow down immediately to lesson the impact of the fall, but you don't want to break so hard that you go over the front of the bike or start the bike in a back over front roll. If you must go down, resist the urge to stick your hand out, and instead plan to tuck your body and do a relaxed roll off the bike. Of course, this is one maneuver you don't want to practice.

Once you practice these techniques and get the hang of them, you'll be able to hit the trails feeling comfortable on your mountain bike. Even though it may take some getting used to, it'll become second nature before you know it.