Top 5 Things To Do While You Are On Wreck Leave

1. Running – As much as I hate to admit it…running is one of the best ways to keep in peak shape if you can’t ride but you can run (typically upper body injuries). Running will keep your endurance up while giving you the same outside experience that you get while riding. You can even mix in some trail running to try to keep the boredom at a minimum.
2. Spin Classes – If you are able to ride a spin bike (again…upper body injuries), spin classes at your local gym are a great way to keep the legs and lungs in shape while off the bike.
3. Working Out With Weights – Depending on the injury, you might be able to hit the gym and workout those parts of your body that aren’t wrapped up, stitched or in a cast. If you are looking for more endurance training, running low weight and faster/higher quantity reps can keep the heart rate up as well.
4. Riding A Road Bike – There will be times during your recovery where your body might be able to handle some road miles before hitting the vibration and impact of the trail. By getting on the road bike, you can keep impact at a minimum while increasing your riding endurance rapidly. Just watch out for other riders and drivers, you could end up hitting asphalt and making things worse.
5. 12oz Curls – Lower body injury or both upper and lower? Grab a beer and a remote…at least 12oz curls are good for the mind.

The temptation is to give into impatience and push things too early after a wreck that takes you off the bike for a period of time. Just remember, even if you have taken some steps to keep your endurance up, your technical riding muscles might to be completely ready to jump back into the saddle with the same speed and intensity as when you went down. It is always better to ease back in and test out your body than being impatient and wrecking.

The above picture was taken by Keith Pytlinski. Check out his 3 part series on taking better mountain biking pictures below.

• How To Shoot Mountain Bike Photography – Part 1
• How To Shoot Mountain Bike Photography – Part 2
• How To Shoot Mountain Bike Photography – Part 3

Racers Are Not The Only Ones That Can Over-Train

While we typically think of racers as the ones that are training and the rest of us are just riding, the same pitfalls that racers can run into affect us as recreational riders as well. In the above short story, I basically over-trained my legs to the point they were deteriorating instead of building. The result…legs that don’t want to do anything and a period of time that you have to build back fitness that you have now lost all because you (or I in this case) didn’t do a couple of things to insure that you did not over-train your body.

So…what can you do to insure that you are not working backwards when you want to hit the extra miles or elevation during a given week?

Tips To Prevent Dead Legs

Here are some tips to get you rolling and keep you pedaling after a weekend of hard riding.

• Take A Break! – Far too often, I see riders try to burn the midnight oil and not give their legs and body adequate time to recover. Without days of rest in-between hard riding, the body can not repair torn tissue and it starts to attack itself. While I am not a biologist and there is a lot of science around this theory, this is proved to yourself through muscle pains and the situation I explained above. Make sure you are giving your body enough time to get ready for the next round of abuse. By riding 7 days a week, you can actually work away from your goal instead of towards it.
• Fluids and Nutrition – During times of recovery and over exertion, it is increasingly important to flood your body with nutrition and water to aid in the healing process. Without the necessary fuel, your body does not have the energy to recover quickly. While you are on the trail and off, make sure you are giving your body the quality nutrients that it needs to get the job done. Sorry…beer calories don’t count…
• Train Off The Bike – If you really want to bring your riding to another level and prevent a lot of this recovery madness, train off the bike as well. By doing programs like The Ultimate MTB Workout, you can strengthen riding muscles properly to be a healthier rider on the trail.
• Carefully Plan Trips – When you are looking to do a destination weekend or week on the bike, carefully plan your rides. Typically, I like to put the hardest ride dead in the middle of the trip and then work down from there putting the easier rides at the beginning and end (kind of like a bell curve of hardness). It allows my body to warm up to the area and then cool back down. Sometimes it can be hard to get a read on new areas, so check out local forums and talk to local bike shops as you plan out your rides.
• Work Slowly Back Up – If you do happen to lose the power in your legs, do not push it. Work slowly back up and try not to make matters worse by pushing yourself harder than you should.

Any of us that have been riding for a period of time have experienced over-training. By taking several tips into consideration, we can drastically cut down on the damage done to our legs and keep the stoke going after hard rides. The trick is careful planning and not getting in over our heads.

Boxer image by IntangibleArts

How To Mountain Bike In The Summer Heat

Here are some tips and tricks to get through the summer months and still get in the ride time that keeps your sanity.

• Change Your Ride Times – Look…we all like to sleep in every now and then, but when you hit the trail between 10-12, you are setting yourself up to ride during the hottest part of the day. By getting up earlier and hitting the trail early in the morning, you can take advantage of the coolest part of the day and get your ride in. The flip side to this is riding during the later hours of the day, but you will not have as much time and it will not be as cool as the morning.
• Be Prepared To Be Slow – When you hit the trail during the high heat, be prepared to be off your regular pace by at least 15%. When the air is cool, your body gets in more oxygen through denser, cleaner air. It is also not working as hard to keep cool, so that energy goes to your legs. During the summer months, your body has to work harder to keep the correct temperature and do that with less fuel (oxygen). So…as you hit the trail…realize you are not going to be at your spring prime and take more time to warm up. You will also not be blasting through singletrack like a sunny and 65 degree day.
• Bring Extra Nutrition and Water – You are going to consume much more water and nutrition on hotter days. Be sure to bring extra of each of these as you hit the trail. Also, plan out your route and if there is a water stop…try to have it close to the 1/2 way point of the ride for a refuel.
• Bring the Lighter Bike - For those of us that have different horses for different courses, it might be a good idea to bring the lighter rig for hotter days on trails where it doesn’t really matter. While weight isn’t everything, bring your less slack, more xc oriented bike will allow you to use more energy for the ride and less energy pedaling up the hill.
• Wear Breathable Riding Clothes and Equipment – Your body is going to be much cooler if it can expel the heat. By wearing light jerseys with front zippers and lighter, more vented helmets, we can get rid of the power robbing heat by letting it get out and away from our bodies quicker. Naturally, the body wants to expel heat from the top of your head, so anything you can do on the top half of your body is going to achieve the best results (ex. sleeveless jersey, removing the visor from your helmet, etc.). It is also a good idea to make sure these items are a neutral, light color so they are not attracting heat.

The summer months are not a time to hang up the mountain bike and wait for fall. By taking some precautions and adjusting your riding slightly, you can get in as many miles during the heat as you do during the prime riding season.

Image by Asiful Haque

Then it hit me…there is one tip for riding your mountain bike that every rider needs to do and it is one of the most abused mistakes in riding. If every mountain biker on the trail would take this one tip to heart, their riding would improve drastically.

Loosen Your Grip and Prevent White Knuckling

The natural tendency within every mountain biker is to tighten up their grip when things start to get rough on the trail or they start to climb. I am pretty sure it all stems back to the brain wanting to protect the body by making sure your hands don’t come loose from the bars. However, when you do this, you create problems for yourself on the trail that not only keep you from riding at your best, but also create dangerous situations on the trail.

What Goes Wrong When You White Knuckle

So what exactly does keeping too tight of a grip do to your riding on the trail?

1 – You Are Exerting More Energy

When you grip the bars too hard, you are exerting much needed energy on the top half of your body that could be used later down the trail. Think about it…when you grip your fist, your arms tension, your shoulders get tighter and everything else in your upper body starts to use energy just because you don’t want to loosen that grip. If you start adding this up over the course of your entire ride, that is a lot of wasted energy that could have been used somewhere else.

2 – Your Body Tenses and Locks Up

Just as you observed the energy being wasted in your upper body when you made a fist, your upper body also tenses up and prevents fluid movement when you put the white knuckle, death grip on your bars. This creates a dangerous situation on the trail as your biggest suspension component (your arms) and your ability to move the bike up and around obstacles is basically gone. As you navigate rocks, roots and other trail features, you are not going to be able to make the necessary adjustments as your upper body has minimal movement available.

Fight The Urge…Loosen Your Grip

The trick…you have to consciously remind yourself while you are riding to loosen your grip during climbs and downhills. After awhile, you will start to do it naturally and it will become less of a forced action and more second nature. So what happens when you loosen the grip on your bars while you are riding?

1 – You Save That Energy

All of that energy you were wasting previously on removing all of the blood from your hands by gripping the bars too hard is now preserved for other riding activities…like getting over that stupid steep climb. I like to think of my body much like the gas tank in my truck. I start each ride with a set amount of fitness in the tank, and once it is gone…bonk. So anything I can do to use that fitness efficiently…the better I perform on the trail.

2 – You Open Up Your Entire Upper Body

When you loosen your grip, you open up your largest amount of suspension travel and the ability to move the bike fluidly under your body. Your arms are the #1 most important riding tool outside of your legs. It is not about the equipment…it is all about how you move that equipment on the trail and your ability to adapt the bike to changing trail conditions. The bike is not meant to stay perfectly in line with your body while you ride. It needs to move left, right, forward and backwards in relation to your body in order to function correctly and safely. Loosening up your grip enables you and the bike to accomplish this.

There are times that I keep an extremely loose grip on the bars where it feels like they are floating around the grips to keep the bike completely fluid underneath my body. There are also times…on climbs…where I physically take my hands off the grips and rest them on the sides of the bars to make sure I do not tighten up from being tired. You have to find what works for you, but…in the end…if you loosen up your grip on the bars…you will ride a hell of a lot better on the trail and have more energy to finish out the ride strong.

How To Get Fast By Watching Steve Peat

I think there is a common misconception out there that suspension is on your bike to soak up all of the hits and that makes you faster. In reality, that is not true as you pedal through the rough stuff on your local trail. If you watch Steve Peat, Sam Hill or any other pro (this includes the XC racers), the fastest line and technique is up and over the rough sections of trail instead of plowing through it. This is independent of how much travel your mountain bike has.

The trick is to use your suspension to gain necessary grip and pop to create flow on the trail. If you watch the video below from Seasons, you can see that Steve Peat is looking for the fastest line up and over obstacles instead of plowing his 10″ travel V10 through them.

By pumping your bike and unweighting through sections, you can increase speed and exert less abuse on your body. I see a lot of riders take the technique of plowing when compressing the suspension before the rough section, unweighting the bike and gliding over the rough sections would be faster, safer and conserve more energy for the rest of the trail.

Some Personal Experience To Illustrate The Point

Over this past weekend, a group of us hit up an old trail in north Georgia that is one of my favorites. Bull Mountain is mountain biking how I remember it 12 years ago…not groomed and machine cut…but hand cut, rutted out, technical mess that begs you to hit it harder with each pedal stroke. I grabbed the Specialized Enduro review bike anticipating a great, technical downhill run.

As we hit the run, my complete focus was on my line and weighting and unweighting the bike to skip over roots, rocks and other trail features that want to bounce me off my line and slow the bike down. I just kept repeating…”keep that rear tire up” in my head and the result was the fastest I have ever run that section in all of my years in mountain biking. Everything flowed perfectly. Well…almost. Mis timed a gap and hit the ground pretty hard half way through but I was running on the edge so it was almost expected at some point.

The point…the lighter I kept my bike on the trail, the faster and more controlled the ride was. It was not until I made a mental mistake that there was any loss of control or speed.

As you ride that favorite section of DH that you dream about at night, focus on keeping the bike lighter on the trail and press it into smoother sections for grip and speed. The more you focus on that element of your riding, the more controlled and faster you will end up being. You won’t be Steve Peat, but you might light up your buddy when he wasn’t expecting it.

Conquering the Climb Even When It Hurts

These kind of climbs serve two distint purposes.

1. You are on a mission to get to a killer downhill.
2. You are trying to get into better shape.
3. You are a freak and love climbing.?

Ok…I know…that was actually 3 reasons but I don’t consider the 3rd one to be real…or human for that matter…so it doesn’t really count in my book.

When I hit the trailhead on Saturday, I didn’t have much left in the tank. Being a rider of heavier, longer travel rigs, there is an amount of power you need to have to get through the longer rides with mountain bikers on light bikes. To get this power back (or get in better climbing/overall shape), you have to start to push your limits and extend your fitness. What this creates is a painful experience that pays off huge dividends in the long run.

When you go to start one of these climbs, mind and body management is key. Most of the time, it will be the concentration on the task at hand and managing what power you have left that will get you over the hill. With cramps and mental breakdown looming on the horizon, what can you do to insure that you will get to the other side without falling on the side of the trail gripping your CamelBak crying for your mommy?

Tackle Your Climb 50 Feet At A Time

If I look all the way forward to see how much I really have left to muscle through, my mind will want to quit. Part of the trick I play on myself is tackling the climb in sections instead of worrying about the entire process.

“Just get over that next steep pitch.”

“You can make it that next 50 feet.”

By sectioning off the climb and mentally preparing myself for each section, the climb seems to go by quicker and it keeps me on the bike not thinking about the miles ahead.

Stay On The Bike and Smooth

One of the biggest mistakes riders make when trying to make it through a grueling climb is getting off the bike. 99 times out of a 100, you are better off gearing down, slowing down, focusing on smooth pedal strokes and lowering your heart rate. When you get off the bike, you are making your legs cool down again causing lactic acid build up and the need to warm back up again. Unless your completely locked up with cramps, do everything you can to stay on the bike and moving forward.

Think About Anything Other Than Your Burning Legs

While I am tackling these climbs on my mountain bike, I do everything in my power to try to block out that insane burning sensation that is coming from the muscles in my legs. I’ll put on music, count the rocks I am passing, argue with myself, sing an annoying song…anything other than think about that pain. If you focus on how much it hurts, you will just end up giving in and giving up (unless you are the freak that applies to #3 in the list above).

You Can Do It…You Just Have To Try

While it absolutely sucks while you are in the process, it is very satisfying to finish a painful climb victorious. On top of that, the next time around will be easier because you bit the bullet and made it happen. If you are wanting to become a faster and stronger rider, you can only achieve that through extending what you consider normal riding. If you plan on doing the same thing day in and day out…you are just going to get the same results.

If you are ready to push your mind and body even just a little bit, the results will be mind blowing. You just have to mentally prepare yourself and apply a little bit of riding technique. The rest will be just dirt under rubber.

While I was enjoying a weekend away in New York City, my fellow riding friends back in Atlanta were getting a taste of prime riding weather…sunny and 70. With this winter being one of the worst ones in recent memory, mountain bikers have had to get really creative to get in any spin time, so the tacky trails on perfect riding weather is a welcome change from the cold, wet mess that has plagued most areas over the past couple of months. With a small taste of what is on the horizon, we need to get our legs and equipment ready for the greatness that is spring mountain biking.

Preparing For The Prime Mountain Bike Riding Season

So what can we do as mountain bikers to explode out of the gate without exploding our legs or our mountain bikes?

Preventative Maintenance and Preparation

One of the best things you can start doing is getting that cobweb filled mountain bike ready for trail duty. It has been sitting there all winter long, or…if you were lucky…you got the rig out for a couple of rides in the mess. Either way…it needs some love if you want your mountain bike to perform properly once the sky opens up. Here are a couple of items that are a must do as you look forward to endless sun filled spring rides. (preferably not the morning before your ride)

Drivetrain Check – Check out your drivetrain to make sure everything is lubed and in working order. Clean all parts and re-lube before riding and take a test ride to make sure your bike is shifting properly under load. Nothing is worse than getting out on the trail and having shifting issues or a chain snap because you didn’t take the time before the ride. Replace and chains, cassettes or chain rings as needed. It is typically recommend that you change these parts as a group as they tend to wear into each other making these components a matched set over time. Also check your shifting cables and all exposed areas to make sure everything is ok and functioning properly.

Seal Check – The seals on your frame and suspension tend to self lubricate with use. If your mountain bike has been sitting for an extended period of time, it is always a good idea to check all seals, bearings, bushings and any other moving parts to make sure they are not cracked or dried out. Replace any of these seals as necessary before you get out and ride.

Torque/Bolt Check – Make sure to check all bolts and related torque specs before hitting the trail. Do you really want to be that rider that goes OTB because their handlebars spun around? No sense in getting injured on the first ride out.

Getting Your Body Ready

If you have been off the bike for awhile, that first ride out is going to be a shock to the system. That trail that you used to blast around with energy to spare at the end of last season is going to be a brutal reminder that you are not in that same shape. Here are some tips to get over that hurdle and get your riding up to par in time for the peak season.

Off-Season Training – Whether you are on a trainer or doing a specific program like I am with The Ultimate MTB Workout Program, any off-season training you do will pay off in a huge way during the beginning of the season. Now is the time to ramp up your workouts or start them if you haven’t already. Specific programs like The Ultimate MTB Workout program can work wonders in getting your riding to that next level as well…

Watch Your Ass – Sounds funny…but it is true. That first ride out with any kind of mileage is going to remind you quickly that you haven’t been on a saddle in awhile and the next day is going to leave you wondering why your ass hurts. It might be a good idea to invest in something like Anti Monkey Butt powder or some extra padded riding shorts to get you over the hump at the beginning of the riding season. Believe or not…you condition your ass to put up with more abuse with more miles (that sentence sounded bad in more ways than one…).

Stretch It Out – At the end of the ride…stretch out your muscles and ligaments to prevent damage and injuries. You are going to be tighter at the beginning of the season than you are towards the end as your body gets used to the routine again. It is also a good idea to start regular stretching now to prevent injuries when you start riding.

Watch Your Diet – I don’t know about you guys…but when it is cold and rainy…bad food just seems to find me automatically. My winter diet is much different than my summer one as I start packing on the pounds for warmth. Several weeks before you get into your riding season, it would be a good idea to start watching your diet to eat a little bit more healthy. All of these little changes in getting your body ready for the riding season pay off huge down the road.

Final Preparation For That First Ride Out

That first ride out can get the heart racing for mountain bikers of all skill levels. The ground like velcro, the air is clean and you are ready to rip the trail to pieces with all of that pent up biking frustration. Just remember…hit the trail slow, get in a proper warm-up and ease back into full swing so that you don’t blow up on mile 2 wondering what the hell happened. By incorporating the tips above and keeping that in mind…you are going to be leaving your riding buddies in the dust stoked as hell that you are out on the bike.

Image by Bob Jagendorf

For me, there is nothing quite like blasting through a rock garden and then looking back at what your bike just ate up on the trail. Technical riding has huge payoffs and the same skills you use for riding rock gardens are the same skills you use for other fast, technical, rough sections of mountain bike trail. The sound of the suspension soaking up the hits, the tires gripping hard rock, the rhythmic chorus of your bike navigating trail that others won’t even walk…it all plays into everything that is great about mountain biking.

How To Rip Through Rock Gardens and Technical Trail

9 times out of 10, rock gardens and technical sections of mountain bike trail look much harder than they really are. I can’t tell you how many times I have blown through something and thought, “that was it?”. The biggest and hardest step is committing and trusting your bike. After that, with a little planning, the rest is a walk in the park.

• Momentum Is Your Friend – Without momentum, your bike is going to get hung on rocks and roots. As you go through a rock garden or technical section of trail, make sure you start off with enough speed that you can carry through that section of trail without losing so much momentum that you eventually stop mid process. You don’t have to be doing mach 5, but if you plan to get through with a snails pace, you are going to have a rougher ride and probably get stuck. Speed and momentum will be your best friend as you navigate these sections of trail.
• Keep Your Head Up – As with most riding, keeping your head up and looking out instead of looking in front of your tire is the key to riding these sections of trail successfully. When you look right in front of your tire, you end up trying to make small changes in your line that are unnecessary and will hurt you in the long run. By looking forward, you can plan the section much easier and keep your weight where it is supposed to be.
• Weight Slightly Back From Center - Keep your arms and legs bent (no matter how much suspension travel you have…they are still your best suspension) and your weight slightly back from center. You still want front end grip, but you do not want unexpected bumps or sharp hits to throw you over the bars. By having your weight slightly back, you can adjust for any unexpected hits and add traction with the rear suspension.
• Pick A Line And Commit – One of the biggest mistakes I see when riders are trying to conquer technical sections is trying to change their line mid stream. Once you pick a line, stick with it. Your bike has a lot more skills than you could ever imagine and it will pull you through. By changing your line in the middle of the section, you are robbing yourself of much needed momentum and speed. Most times, you are better off just ripping through it as straight as you can.

As you head out on your next ride, try out a section of trail that you might have ridden around before. By stepping it up with your technical riding ability, you will become faster in all aspects of your riding.

Here are some rock garden mountain biking tips from Bike Skills.

Tips For Mountain Biking Downhill

• The #1 mistake most riders make when experimenting with more technical downhill trails is looking directly in front of their tire. It is essential that you look down the trail, and the faster you are riding…the farther down the trail you should be looking.
• Positioning your weight is your key to stability. By moving your weight lower and more rearward, you can traction on the rear end of the bike and increase your on trail stability. By keeping your legs and arms bent, you can soak up unexpected trail features by using the most travel you have on your bike…your body.
• Try to stay off the brakes as much as possible. Knee jerk reactions with your brakes can blow you offline or even worse. Controlled smooth braking while keeping your speed at a level you are comfortable with will prevent most of your wrecks.
• Pad up if you need to. A lot of downhilling is confidence. If it helps you out to protect your body in case the worst happens, then do it. You can never have too much on and you can always have too little. Wear whatever makes you comfortable on the trail as you try new ways to increase your speed and control on technical downhills.

In this video from Bike Skills, Greg Minnaar takes you through the downhilling basics.

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Controlled pumping is a necessary skill for conquering technical trail. As you pump the suspension with your arms and body weight, you keep traction through technical mountain bike trail terrain preventing bouncing off and around obstacles on the trail. By making your movements on the bike more fluid, you increase both speed and control on your mountain bike.

The absolute best place to practice pumping is on a local pump track like you see in the video below. If you do not have a pump track local to your area, you can practice on sections of local trail that you know really well by focusing on looking ahead, pumping into the terrain with your arms and shifting body weight back in forth and sessioning that section feeling for the differences in speed and control.

Now that you have the right mindset, check out this video on how to pump effectively from Mark Weir and the crew over at Bike Skills (bikeskills.com).

Image by DoolJ from the Bike198.com Flickr Pool