Go forth and ride, then bring back pics

[basinbeater]

Couple more from sun valley.

[LightRanger]

The usual scenic-ey stuff from the Tahoe area in the last few days. Sorry about the lack of bike action. Forgot to bring the good camera one day (and the GoPro footage I've yet to look at is probably boring), and was solo the rest of the time.

[mcski]

Pics not showing up

[alias_rice]

Nice afternoon on the crest.

[Bronic]

[klar]

I bought a new to me bike yesterday and just took it for a first ride. I've never had a mountain bike before. I got this one because people who know more about bikes than I do said I should. I haven't been this level of gaper at anything for a long time. How are you supposed to deal with knowing that if (when) you crash you wont be landing in snow?




not sure why picture is sideways.

[gravitylover]

I bought a new to me bike yesterday and just took it for a first ride. I've never had a mountain bike before. I got this one because people who know more about bikes than I do said I should. I haven't been this level of gaper at anything for a long time. How are you supposed to deal with knowing that if (when) you crash you wont be landing in snow?




not sure why picture is sideways.

Part of riding a mt bike is falling off a mt bike so since you can't do anything about it anyway just accept it and don't think about it. :banguch:shrug:keep going

Picture is sideways because the camera is practicing, it knows you are going to fall off the bike.

[BaNosser]

[mtngirl79]

not super rad or anything, but last night the pahoehoe went on its inaugural ride.

Its awesome when your super awesome MTB friend rides a steel single speed to help level the playing field...

[east or bust]

^nice mtngirl!

re: falling off the bike… I try not to think about, ever, even after it happens.
luckily I haven't hurt myself badly yet

[jono]

^^This. Never ever look at--or think about!--the thing right next to where you want to go. You're not going there anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Mtngrl, is Murphy good with bikes? He belongs in some bike pics.

[mtngirl79]

once I get a little more stable we will try Murph with the bikes. I am a little worried because he will run as hard as he can until he cant and also he doesn't have a good understanding of objects moving faster than him...

I really haven't ridden a bike much since I was like 16 and even as a kid I didn't ride bikes much because I had a pony...

[mtngirl79]

my friend also gave me this old, old pack that has been passed down through lots of super awesome hawaiian mtbers and some tools and taught me how to fix a flat tire!

[Danno]

[mcski]

[powdork]

How are you supposed to deal with knowing that if (when) you crash you wont be landing in snow?

By doing it. Just like in skiing, falling is learning.

[adrenalated]

How are you supposed to deal with knowing that if (when) you crash you wont be landing in snow?

Pads.

And an understanding that you'll be missing some skin on some extremity for most of the summer.

[Danno]

How are you supposed to deal with knowing that if (when) you crash you wont be landing in snow?

For me, I needed to crash a couple of times, to realize that ok, yeah, it hurts but also ok, yeah, I'm still alive and functioning. The fear of crashing on a mountain bike (for most people new to a mt bike) far outstrips the actual consequences of crashing on a mt bike. Once you crash, you realize that your fears were overblown.

Oh, and going faster actually reduces the chances of crashing.

[grskier]

Where is this bronic?

[grskier]

TOM BLAKE on Snowmass

[babybear]

Is that a new steed for you too?

[Dantheman]

How are you supposed to deal with knowing that if (when) you crash you wont be landing in snow?

1. x2 on pads. Get some lightweight ones like GForm that are easy to carry in your pack on the way up.
2. When you do wreck, tuck and roll when possible.
3. Spend some time riding lifts so you can get in lots of descending. Like skiing, most people who are skilled descenders have spent a lot of time on the chairlift or shuttling.
4. Realize that riding a mountain bike downhill on dirt is a lot more like skiing than riding downhill on pavement. A lot the same principles apply; angulation (upright chest, angled bike/lower body), counter-rotation (chest stays more in line with the fall line while the bike moves back and forth across it), initiating turns early with the front wheel (ski tips) then driving the rear wheel (tails) through the finish, quiet upper body/active lower body, etc.
5. Descend out of the saddle. Your mechanical suspension works much better in conjunction with your biological suspension. The compression stroke of your suspension is damped heavily to absorb impacts, but the rebound dampening is necessarily fast so that it can recover between successive hits without packing up. In practice, this means that your suspension can buck you right off the bike if you're sitting on the seat through bumps. If you're standing, you can soak up that rebound force with your arms and legs.
6. Looks like you have a dropper on that thing, use it. Lower seat = more ROM = the bike can move around under you more. Comes back to that quiet upper body/active lower body thing.
7. As much as possible, steer with your body instead of the front wheel.

[Danno]

3. Spend some time riding lifts so you can get in lots of descending. Like skiing, most people who are skilled descenders have spent a lot of time on the chairlift or shuttling.
4. Realize that riding a mountain bike downhill on dirt is a lot more like skiing than riding downhill on pavement. A lot the same principles apply; angulation (upright chest, angled bike/lower body), counter-rotation (chest stays more in line with the fall line while the bike moves back and forth across it), initiating turns early with the front wheel (ski tips) then driving the rear wheel (tails) through the finish, quiet upper body/active lower body, etc.

Good list, but want to make a comment. I think I'm a pretty good descender (I'm always back of the pack on the up, and middle to front on the down), and I rode lifts just once in my life, with disastrous results. Not saying that you're wrong, as all the people faster than me on the down are lift riders, just pointing out for klar that if she has neither the ability nor desire to ride lifts, she can still learn how to descend just fine.

As to #4, I agree and would add that mentally it's quite similar too, in that you need to always be looking ahead and not down, and let your subconscious brain lead you to flow down the trail. Just like tree skiing where you don't look at the trees but look at the openings, if you look at objects on the trail you will hit them. But if you look ahead and just let the non-conscious mind do the "work", you will do far better.

[Dantheman]

Had a blast at the Nordic Valley Super D on Saturday. Tons of kids there racing, there must have been close to 20 kids in the <13 group. Little man was the youngest competitor and took 4th out of five in the <9 category. He was only five seconds off third place and even beat one or two kids in the 9-12 group (who I suspect crashed, but hey, that's racing!). His friend River was the second youngest and won the <9. Huge props to the Go-Ride Gravity Series for holding a great event and being so supportive of getting kids into racing. They had so much fun, it's too bad this was the last kid-friendly event of the year.

[Dantheman]

Good list, but want to make a comment. I think I'm a pretty good descender (I'm always back of the pack on the up, and middle to front on the down), and I rode lifts just once in my life, with disastrous results. Not saying that you're wrong, as all the people faster than me on the down are lift riders, just pointing out for klar that if she has neither the ability nor desire to ride lifts, she can still learn how to descend just fine.

Well, certainly don't jump right into gnarly DH type stuff. So many parks have good beginner/intermediate level options now though.


ETA: Great to see this thread blowing up!