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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 13:01:49 GMT
Post by ady on Aug 29, 2008 13:01:49 GMT
I don't know about the rest of you but I am constantly beating myself up about my ability on the bike, I seem to lack speed and confidence and often get left behind along steeper mor knarly sections and don,t seem to be able to whip the bike in and out of tight twisty turns. It would be nice to have a shills day with riders who are more able and willing to pass on their knowhow and give pointers to where your going wrong.
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 13:06:06 GMT
Post by ftasb on Aug 29, 2008 13:06:06 GMT
Don't know if you want to spend money on this but Oneplanetadventure run skills courses at Llandegla, have a look on their website - www.oneplanetadventure.com
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 13:16:04 GMT
Post by ady on Aug 29, 2008 13:16:04 GMT
I went on their core skills course when I bought my bike from them, it was ok gave me techniques like bunny hopping, braking, approaching a jump i.e loading the fork and positioning, I would just like to have more speed and control out on the trail, my usual riding buddies tell me I've come on loads since having the new bike but I still hesitate on very steep rocky & rooty sections after a few offs, I do get down them but it takes some messing about to get my flow and line right.
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 13:16:38 GMT
Post by martinw on Aug 29, 2008 13:16:38 GMT
Most of my skills Ive learned myself, either through trail and error or watching other people.
A lot of it is your balance and position on the bike when attacking certain obstacles. When it comes to whipping the bike through twists and turns, again all that is about your position on the bike. you cant stay rigid and expect the bike to act like you want it when you turn the bars, you have to throw your body around into bends and around obstacles to coincide with the direction you want the bike to go.
When I'm riding down some fast sections, I'm out of the saddle, my weight slightly back of the saddle and lean into the bends, one good thing to do on any rough section or going over roots quickly is to do a small bunny-hop type lift to coast over it. You don't leave the ground, just enough to coast over without having all your weight hit it. I read that in one of the mags and I use it regularly.
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 13:28:04 GMT
Post by ady on Aug 29, 2008 13:28:04 GMT
I think it must be my balance and position on the bike thats the main problem as I find I tend to lose traction on sections that the guys in front seem to whip through with plenty of grip, I may not be ajusting my body weight around on the bike and perhaps my braking is done at the wrong times. I,m not last anymore when we go out on rides in say 5 or 6 of us but if a more techy section comes up I usually get passed by the others and I loose momentum and confidence. Thanks for the heads up tho.
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 13:32:32 GMT
Post by Doug on Aug 29, 2008 13:32:32 GMT
When are you free?
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 13:36:56 GMT
Post by martinw on Aug 29, 2008 13:36:56 GMT
It all comes with time, and if you have had a crash at some point it knocks your confidence a little and it takes time to come back.
I know my limits when it comes to riding and I wont intentionaly overstep them. I will give most things a go but i dont want to be sat in the house with broken bones.
It will just be a case of not going out for a ride but getting out to practice what skills you think you lack in. For example, park in the Marin carpark and just do the last section a few times, try and figure out what it is where you go wrong. Try relaxing more on the bike, let the bike do what it wants to do underneath you wile still being in control. You dont have to tear ass down the section, take it easy and work on picking your lines better. A lot of people ride looking no further that their front wheel, I tent to look about a lot further ahead to try and plan my route through whatever obsticle, doesnt always work but most of the time it does.
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 17:30:33 GMT
Post by dyls on Aug 29, 2008 17:30:33 GMT
Before you descent a technical piece, lower your seat by about 3/4 inches. I found that helped me a lot when I was learning and it still does now in some places - say the very last descent a CYB!
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 18:40:41 GMT
Post by Rob on Aug 29, 2008 18:40:41 GMT
I know my limits when it comes to riding and I wont intentionaly overstep them. I will give most things a go but i dont want to be sat in the house with broken bones. Or broken ribs Ady, Have a Look here learnmountainbiking.com/index.php
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pikey
Rookie
pikey by name BIKEY by nature!!
Posts: 72
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 18:57:16 GMT
Post by pikey on Aug 29, 2008 18:57:16 GMT
Ady, I find biking techy descents all about having ur centre of gravity in the right place, also when ur picking ur line try to pick out shapes in the ground which ur front tyre will go thru easy. (if that makes any sense??) And when im on techy sections like the dragons tail on the marin, my line of sight alternates from around 3 or 4 feet ahead and directly in front. (again, if that makes sense??)
hope thats helped u out a bit!
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 19:11:02 GMT
Post by Laurence-CE on Aug 29, 2008 19:11:02 GMT
Ride with people better than yourself. It helps soo much, you gain advice and experience, but you will also find your self pushing your self more and more if you have someone telling you how to do things and just telling you to do it. On trails you just either let them go infront and follow them, using there lines, and then you will develop the skill of finding lines, or have them behind you pushing you to go faster and get away from them. I find that you cant do thing and set up your bike differently (not ragging on anyones advice) the way people tell you to do because at the end of the day its your riding style and your bike not theres so its completely up to you, with comfort and stability ect ect. What you want to do is get your self to a trail with either a skills park or a very quite trail, and just session bits untill you get them dialled. And eventually you will learn the KEY SKILLS what everything is based on, if you can do a 1 foot drop say then technically you can do a 20 foot drop, the principals are all the same. So get the KEY Skills nailed and then develop them into more by doing full runs of trails, interlinking all the skills you have learnt. Another brilliant place to learn (is if you can get there) is a few of the 7 stanes in scotland, there is soo much variation in ther trails that you can develop so much with a few runs down the hill. Sorry to babble on a bit.
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 19:40:35 GMT
Post by xybadog on Aug 29, 2008 19:40:35 GMT
Oggy found a perfect line at the Marin...straight into a stream ;D
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Skills
Aug 29, 2008 20:42:50 GMT
Post by Oggy on Aug 29, 2008 20:42:50 GMT
Oggy found a perfect line at the Marin...straight into a stream ;D Thats a lie Becoming good on downhills takes years of practice and years of going wrong and falling off ;D. A good idea may be to go to a section of trail eg the last section of the marin and practise the same run over and over for a few hours, each time you ride it you will find new lines and automatically pick up ways of making the run faster, if ya fancy going out for some skill practise one night give me a shout. There are loads of skills that you can use on the trail but its all about putting them together, ive seen videos and stuff on different skills for but i think most of it is pretty hard to follow and theres no subsitute for heading out and practiseing certain things eg berms or a rocky section over and over again until you have it dialed.
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Skills
Aug 30, 2008 13:53:06 GMT
Post by martinw on Aug 30, 2008 13:53:06 GMT
On trails you just either let them go infront and follow them, using there lines, and then you will develop the skill of finding lines, or have them behind you pushing you to go faster and get away from them. I will never follow someone elses Lines, Ive been behind experienced riders and watched them get it wrong, Ive followed others who got it wrong ans caved in with them. I always choose my own lines, look ahead of the rider infront and pick out your own.
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Skills
Aug 30, 2008 15:32:11 GMT
Post by ady on Aug 30, 2008 15:32:11 GMT
There's some very good advice there fella's and I already try and put most of it into practice but probably not in the correct way.
Doug we shall have to fix up a day, the last pointers you gave me helped loads!
Oggy thats a good idea, will hope to get a session in soon whilst there is still light in the evenings. Some days I seem to ride well and crack really techy steep sections without any problems, but more often than not, (even with my a\rse right over my back wheel I struggle, same with whipping along sections I know like the back of my hand, so more practice is the key...with someone to give me some pointers. The post ride grub & drinks will be on me.
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