7 Tips For Beginner Mountain Bikers

You might know how to ride a bike, but there are more things involved when you have to ride on trails, and you need to be aware of these things. You need to be fit but also good at handling your bike. You will end up losing a lot of your energy on steep climbs because that is part of mountain biking, but you can remedy this by saving as much energy as possible in other situations when there is no ascent. If you wish to be a better bike rider, then it is important to have good strength, endurance, and technical skills because that can save you more energy.

Build a base –

Before you start to go on mountains, it is very important that you develop fitness and endurance as this will ensure that you can then process and get faster. You cannot increase your intensity if you lack general fitness. If you are starting to bike after a long time and you have not exercised for a very long time, then building up some genera; fitness might be a good idea before you dive headfirst into it. Initially, you can start off by riding a few times a week and take breaks on days in between.

After that, you can move towards increasing the distance or intensity. Gradually you can add more days till you become fit again. Make sure that you eat good and healthy foods. Foods will replenish your energy and make sure that you have the energy to repair your body after the hard workout that you had. You can also carry some water to drink during the ride. If you do this, you might be able to ride a lot better.

Start adding intervals –

You can build up your base for about four weeks. After this, you can have a recovery week, and when this is done, then go for intervals once or twice a week. You can work hard for 5 seconds then take ten to twenty seconds of break. You can do repetitions like this. As weeks go by, you can increase the time you work hard. Go for twenty seconds intensely and then follow it with 10 to 20 seconds of rest. You can use certain places to bike up to and then keep working until you reach that place, making you better over time. After that, you can work to increase your lactose threshold. Keep cycling at a fast pace and keep pushing till you reach 20 minutes. This can ensure that you become much faster.

Practice your turns –

When you go on the bike, you can always work towards improving your cornering skills. The corners are places where many riders lose speed, and if you are good at corners, you will be able to improve a lot, and your speeds might get a lot better simply because of how you tackle the corners. One thing that you need to mind is that you should lean the bike into corners. Do not lean your body. The side knobs on your tires will grip the ground, which can help you maintain traction.

If you break too suddenly, then that can cause you to slide. It is better to break before you reach the corner and gradually let the brakes go as you keep moving in the corner. Look at the exit and turn your body to face it, and you will be able to get through it.

Float over the roots and rocks –

There might be a lot of obstacles in the road, like rocks and roots. When you reach places like this, go on your pedals. Do not lean too much onto your handlebars. Keep your feet steady but keep your pedals tight. You can use your arms and legs as shock absorbers and move through the rough patch.

Master the front wheel lift –

For those obstacles that are a little harder to get over, you can use the front wheel life. This is a three-part motion. First, you have to load, explode and lift. When you are reaching the obstacle, then get ready to go over it.

Load – Compress the front shock as much as you can, load up the handlebars with the upper body, and bend the elbows.

Explode – When the shock rebounds, you pull up and try and get as much force from that rebound as you can.

Lift – Pull up the handlebars so that the wheel goes even higher than the front. It is very important that you time this perfectly. The speed will matter a lot because your jump timing will be based on that. If the front wheel goes over the obstacle, then the other wheel will go over with ease. You can start to work on this by using the curbs on footpaths in parking lots, and once you get better at it, move to more difficult and harder places.

Crush your uphill obstacles –

One of the most difficult things to do is going uphill because it can be really hard to maintain going up. As you keep doing it, you will get better, but there are things that you can do. Start with your dominant foot and try and move from that. You can do this in moderate to easy gear. You cannot really get too many tips in terms of uphill riding because you will just have to power through and keep learning, and over time, you keep on doing it. Your body will get stronger, and you will be able to do it more easily.

Rest –

Rest is very important after you do any physical activity. This is because if you want to improve over time, it is very important that you rest the right way, and you will be able to improve a lot more. You might be working out, but the recovery process is what ensures that you improve and get better. If you are going to go for a long ride, then you can use nutrition along the way to improve and get better.

This nutrition will help you perform better as well, and it will aid in your recovery. Getting enough sleep is very important, and you should also take days off when you have to. If you overwork yourself and you do not give yourself time to recover, then you will not be able to get better at biking at all.