This is our top five basic skills that every mountain biker should know
number one a good stance on the bike
Stand nice and tall it should feel like most your weight is your feet and not through your arms onto the bars
Make sure your feet are in the right position on the pedals
So the ball of your foot is just in front of the axle of the pedal
I want to drop into the trail your arms and legs [buy] the best suspension possible if you're already crashed
You're going to lose half of that suspension
Having to keep your head [up] and chest open
Number two learning the limits of how much you can move around on the bike
It's what I call the aRc of movement in the ready position in the middle of the bike your hips will be above the saddle
You can move them all the way down to the back wheel and up and forward towards the bars
This is much easier with your satellite the way, so if you've got a drop post get it down there
This is a really big one for beginners often they feel like they're moving a lot around the bike
But actually their hips are never really getting very close to that rear tire
So find yourself a nice open piece of travel car park
Get a feel for this so when you do it on the trail. It doesn't feel unnatural
Using your brakes effectively they can be your best friends, but also the worst enemies they often cause crashes
Steep sections when you're on the brakes heavily you get out of control often it's actually best to get back off them
Get back in control and then brake again
Take some time to practice modulating your brakes
So you're not just using them a hundred [percent] all of the time you're just feathering them slightly in some occasions
Especially when cornering when you want to try and come off the brakes totally
Especially the front brakes get that front tire gripping the next thing to practice actually uses to those skills
I've just talked about the ARc of Movement and
effective break-in so when it comes to emergency
Stopping really stopping as fast as possible you know want to drop your weight to the back of the bike just by dropping your heels
And getting your hips back
Otherwise when you hit the brakes all your weights and your ons the bars and potentially over so gets the back of the bike
On the brakes nice and strong, and you should stop really quickly. [oh], I was close. [I] only sit that feather
Number [four] work on trying to find your natural pedaling speed otherwise known as cadence
Good riders will change gear really often try and stay in that cadence for most efficient power
Try monitor your power through the pedals when changing gear as not to crunch through the gears and wrist snapping the chain
Try and preamp the trail as well, so you change gear early?
but most efficient riding
Number five training yourself where to look on the trail when you're driving your car down a motorway, you'd never look at the Bonnet
So same thing cancer on the bike. He's been looking way down the trail
Yes, when it gets very technical you might want to pick a line closer to your front wheel
But more often than that you need to be looking very far ahead here
I can see our right and burn in the corner of my vision
I can see a [left-hand] one at the bottom for me personally
I have to keep reminding myself all the time to look a [bit] further
So now I'm actually going to use a point of view camera to talk you through where I'm actually looking
So this section is actually got some ruts in it. It's really important to [ruts] to keep your head up
So you don't slide off the edge of one?
I'm just about to turn into a much more technical [dial] section. I'm looking at the way in now. I'm looking down to that berm
Now to the exit of the corner. [it's] really important the Corners spot the exit early our rock section
I'm starting to look much closer to my front tire right in a corner back further ahead a faster section
I'm looking really far down the trail to that far right boom left and burn
Straight right and boom you see a bag
Left now, I'm looking about 50 meters ahead really fast section up and over up over, right?
I'm going coming up left, right?
Roll it left, right?
Rollers [jump] second jump and boom
Rijkaard
So there you go
There's our top five basic mountain bike skills that everyone should know if you knew these already
Then maybe you should click up there and check out our top five
Essential trial skills every Mountain Bikers should know and click down there for top [ten] set up mistakes
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