For those lucky riders in mountainous areas like Colorado, North Carolina, Sections of California, Canada, sections of Europe and other places that are graced with big mountain riding, you guys are used to taking in the tips I am about to lay out on your regular weekday rides. And don’t worry…the rest of us are incredibly jealous… But for those mountain bikers that find most of our riding with short climbs to short descents, we handle water consumption and ride [...]
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Returning To The Scene Of The Crime: Wreck Recovery
My wrecks come in series. I’ll go months without hitting the ground and then…like it came out of the sky…I will hit the ground several time within a several week period with the scrapes, bruises and other miscellaneous damage to show for it. Typically, none of these wrecks are season ending, just annoying enough to get under my skin and shake confidence which ends up breeding more wrecks. The vicious cycle continues until I get my head wrapped around it [...]
Discount Bike Parts: Where To Find and What To Trust
Finding the best discount bike parts and mountain bikes is going to become even more crucial as years roll on. It is painfully obvious that the prices of new mountain bike frames and components are not decreasing anytime soon (seems like the price of mountain bikes and components keep going up! Check out the new SRAM and Shimano components), so by keeping an eye out and looking in the right places, you can find the best mountain bike deals and [...]
Mountain Bike Maps, Routes and Courses – Plan Your Next Trip
When you set out to find a new trail, having the map, specific route or an actual course map before the race can help drastically as you prepare to navigate terrain that you have never been on before. In the old days, this was reserved to paper maps that may or may not disintegrate with moisture as you ride miles away from your starting point. With the widespread adoption of GPS devices and mapping technology (Garmin Connect) spreading on the [...]
Down But Not Out: Top 5 Things To Do When On Wreck Leave
It happens. As much as we all do not want to think or talk about it, part of the sport of mountain biking (or cycling in general) is not if you are going to wreck…it is when. We take as many precautions as possible with helmets, protective gear and trying not to ride over our heads, but…at the end of the day…sometimes s@*t just happens no matter how careful (or lucky) we are. With wrecking, downtime off the bike inevitably [...]
The Overworked Leg Trap: Preventing Dead Legs
Last year, I headed up to Pisgah Forest, North Carolina for a 3 day weekend to get in some much needed, big mountain riding in. Like most vacation ride spots, I slammed in as much singletrack as I possibly could so there wasn’t one spec of dirt against rubber that was wasted. Prior to the trip, I got in a couple of extra rides and hit the road bike a couple of times to make sure my legs were ready [...]
Borrowing Or Renting A Bike: Making Small Adjustments To Get The Right Fit
Yesterday, I jumped on a friend of mine’s mountain bike to take it out for some singletrack intake. He is going to be out of town for a couple of weeks, so it was an opportunity for me to get on a new rig and try it out which is something I am obsessed with doing as you can probably imagine. The problem with borrowing, renting or buying a bike is that the bike is never setup to your specific [...]
Surviving The Summer Months: Hot Weather Mountain Biking Tips
The summer heat is settling in for a couple of months of pure hell as we attempt to keep the stoke alive and continue to put rubber against dirt. Throughout different parts of the world, the blistering heat keeps its ugly face around for days or months. Sometimes this comes coupled with extreme humidity like we get in the southeast, or dry desert like our friends on the west coast. Where ever you may live, there are some adjustments you [...]
The New Bike Break-In Ride: What Should I Bring?
Nothing beats a break-in ride. You have either picked up your new mountain bike from a local bike shop or you built it up yourself in your garage and it is time to get it out on the trail. Those shinny new components and frames can only stay tied up for so long before we start to go insane! Now…there is nothing that kills a break-in ride worse than something going wrong out on a trail without the proper tools [...]
Why Total Bike Weight Should Be Discounted In Purchasing Decisions
Back in the day, when basic geometry was pretty much set and 3″ of front suspension travel was considered DH (hard to believe it wasn’t that long ago), the race for the lightest bike meant you were also riding the fastest rig on the market. With little to really distinguish the differences between brands outside of paint, the weight wars begun and everyone was on track to find the lightest bike that would still stay together on the trail. Fast [...]
One Must Do Riding Tip For Every Mountain Biker
A group of us were sitting around eating tacos after a humid ride the other day and we got to talking about riding tips. The conversation really started to center around tips and tricks that apply to 99.9% of the riders out there as we had several different riding styles at the table. 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 [...]
Bad Rides Are Overshadowed By Great Moments
One of the worst, unexpected moments hit over the weekend. Everything was planned, the bike was set, the riders were ready and we headed up 2 hours away from home to hit up a trail that we do not get to ride very often. Everything seemed perfect. The weather was warm with a cool breeze and the trail was in perfect condition. About 10 minutes into the ride, a part on my bike failed. This was not one of those [...]
Get Crazy Fast By Watching Steve Peat
We aren’t pros, so thinking that we are going to pick up World Cup speed by watching the pros is an unrealistic goal. But…by watching the best of the best closely, we can pick up on small changes to make in our riding that will drastically change how we ride the trails we love. The reason that most pros are so fast (outside of natural ability and fitness) is because their skill level and pin point accuracy is spot on. [...]
One Day I’ll Be As Fast As The Guys In The Parking Lot
Look…I have some friends that can light the trail on fire. I swear there are fire tracks like the ones in Back To The Future sometimes when they drop the hammer and put power to the trail. It is insanity that I can only try to keep up with until my legs load up and explode. Not only is it fun to watch…but it makes you want to become faster and better with the ease these guys pull off trail [...]
Where 99.9% Of Mountain Bike Wrecks Happen
Your local trail that you have ridden more times than you can count. Yes…that trail where you know the placement of every rock, every root, every tree and every single spec of dirt is the place where you are going to have the big one. I have been in the midst of technical riding heaven with more super chunk than you can possibly imagine, and I will have my worst wrecks on stupid parts of local trails. It is a [...]
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