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- As you can see, we're here at the local pump track today,
'cause I'm bringing my riding skills way back to the basics.
It's something a lot of riders do,
top-level riders spend a lot of time here,
practicing their skills and perfecting those movements
because everybody knows, practice makes progress.
Pump tracks are an awesome way to take the sensory overload
from mountain biking out of the equation.
You get to focus on this one little track here,
and believe it or not,
you make a ton of gains in your riding and your style.
And, you probably gonna get a little sweaty as well.
That's why I've decided to come out here today,
cause i know that these couple of skills
we're gonna work on,
are gonna be huge improvements
in the mountain biking, out on the trails.
We're gonna do some pumping,
some cornering, and some doubling,
amongst some other things.
Lucky for me, we've got
local shredder here, Jackson Goldstone,
- So guys, Jackson Goldstone here from Squamish
and, it's been really fun this quarantine
riding this pump track,
i live just over the hill
so I've been coming down here quite a bit.
They just put it in this year,
so it's still pretty recent,
and, so in finding new lines everyday i come here.
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- First up, you guessed it.
We're gonna practice pumping around the track.
It looks super easy at first glance,
but the motion of pumping rollers,
is actually super helpful when it comes
to managing the terrain,
and staying in control later on in the trail.
It's also a great way to generate some speed,
on an otherwise undulating trail.
Practice pumping around the track without pedaling.
Now this is gonna quickly show
you where you're losing speed,
it's gonna keep you honest,
and it's gonna make sure,
that you're pumping your little heart out.
Alright, so some tips on pumping,
unweighting your legs and your arms going
up the lever the roller,
pushing down hard with the arms and the legs on the backside
of the roller to create more speed.
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Now when it comes to cornering,
most of us really prefer just going left, or going right.
But now's a great time to just throw that
out the window, challenge yourself cornering both ways,
because the cool thing is, pump tracks are pretty small,
and compact, it's really easy to do a lap one way,
switch it up and go the other way.
When talking about berms, it's a handy tip
to enter high, and exit low.
That way you're lined up for
the next straight section.
Big bermed corners like these require
less bike body separation than
flat corners out on the trails.
Always look around the corner where you're going
and allow the hips and elbows to follow.
Unlike with trail riding,
there aren't as many obvious line choices
here at the pump track, but you can still be creative
in how you link up the different rhythm sections.
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Similar to corners, but much more fixated
a lot of riders only ride with either their left,
or their right foot forward.
Now it might feel really natural to
have that dominant foot out forward all the time,
but it's a super important skill,
to be able to ride both directions.
Start simple and slow, to let your body adapt.
Focus on foot placement and pushing down evenly.
Just because you can smash corners
and berms the other way, doesn't
mean this will come naturally.
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And now for the fun stuff, jumping.
Good way to not get hung up
on those rollers, just jump them.
It's a really good precursor to hitting
bigger jumps later on,
and it's a nice, less intimidating atmosphere,
'cause you've got these sweet little rollers here,
a lot less sharp than those transitions and landings.
Relax off the lip,
don't be too forceful.
Just let the bike coast off, in the trajectory of the lip.
Nose in with the front wheel,
and scoop the pedals to clear the rear wheel of the landing.
Just like jumping the knees come up
into the body, and act as suspension.
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Oh manualing, it's one of those skills,
that we can easily overthink,
and make it really complicated,
but if you break it down,
it's really just unweighting the front wheel,
as you're going up a roller,
pushing down with your feet
so that only your rear wheel is touching the ground.
Tip number one, start doing some manuals
on the flat ground, and then take it
to a nice shallow roller.
Keeping your eyes up,
and looking beyond the second roller's going
to help to keep the front end lifted.
Start on a straight section of track,
so that you can focus on the rollers,
and not turning into or out of the line.
Don't forget to cover the rear brake.
This is gonna really help in a pinch.
Touching the rear brake will bring
down the front wheel and keep you from looping out.
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One of the best workouts has got to be pumped tracking.
It is a full body workout,
you get heated, you're tired
and you never even have to lift a dumbbell.
So a good way to make it a little more fun,
less intimidating for you,
invite some pals out to the track
and just see how many laps you can do.
This is awesome practice for building up
endurance on the bike, which will definitely translate
to longer rides, and more focus and commitment.
It's a really good practice to control your breathing
and exertion, so that you can last longer,
and not burn out.
Always a good time, when you get to play some bikes,
especially with rippers like Jackson here,
make sure you guys mix it
up from time to time,
challenge yourself, get out of your comfort zone,
pump track is a great place to do that,
and improve your skills,
and I guarantee you, your style's going
to thank you as well.
As for me, pump tracks are an awesome reminder that
i should probably spend some more time here.
So if you guys have any questions,
or some topics that you want to see covered,
let us know in the comments,
we'll definitely do our best to hit those,
and Jackson, thanks so much for joining man.
- Yeah
- That was fun.
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