Newbie needs help with singletrack!!!

I agree - lots of great advice here!

I ride where there are roots, roots on roots, roots with roots....and have learned one really great lesson: You want to ride in one of two places - either close to the tree, or in off-camber sections, ride as far down the root as you can. That way, if you slide, you basically slide back onto the trail.

This is year 2 of mountain biking, after many years of saying "ARE THEY NUTS??" Now, I LOVE singletrack and it doesn't hurt that I have access to some of the best singletrack anywhere, right out of my back door. Just keep plugging along - as hubby says, you never know how fast you can go or how technical you can do till you fall down.....

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Originally Posted by littlegrasshopp

Kitsune06 - I keep an aflac policy just for bike riding. ha!

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I have a friend who makes money on Aflac every time she gets stitches (which seems to be often)! They pay her to get hurt;)

So far I haven't used the policy - but it's in the back of my mind when I try new stuff. :D

Embrace it. All of it, the falling, the fear, the skidding out, the walking down the really scary bits, or losing all your power and walking up the steep bits. Isn't that part of why we love to mountainbike in the first place? Finding your limits and pushing past them?

Just keep at it. And don't be so hard on yourself. Of course you can go back and ride that trail, and others. Maybe tomorrow it will still seem difficult and scary, but it wont stay that way.

And, one riding tip that helps me a lot ... keep your head up and ride through as much as you can. After all, we go where our eyes lead us. And if you can't and need to get off, regroup, walk it up or down, then have fun knowing that you are out on the trail. Soooooooooooooo beautiful!

I found that when I replaced my 115 mm stem for a shorter stem (100) my turning radius was tighter and more controlled. This helps with switchbacks, especially when climbing. Also, riser bars instead of flat bars will help you out on descents. Fine tune your fork for your weight and check your rebound and damping. Tire pressure...trail conditions and the type of trail tell me what to inflate to. But I never go over 40 pounds. Also, take a look at Kenda Nevegals, a wider more aggressive tire that will truly help you on descending and bite in good for climbing. I've ridden Pisgah, Bent Creek, Tsali, Dupont, and some trails around Ashville and its tough riding, very technical and I had smaller Continental Explorer tires that had great rolling ability, nice and light, but I wish I had my bad Nevegals back then. Keep your clips looser, but not too loose that you pop out of them when lifting up with your feet. Learn to get off your saddle and behind it and hold on to your handlebars. When you go over logs or roots, you hold on and you tell the bike where its going. I can't tell you how many times I've crashed because the bars got away from my grip. Learn to stick your opposite knee slightly out when going around tight turns to balance yourself. Take a section of trail at a time and clean it, then move on, when you ride try and do one new thing each time and be happy with that victory. Momentum is your friend, you will crash more going slowly then if you had the speed to roll over the obstacle. Going over logs and coming to a stop, if you can't balance or track stand you are going down, and remember if its a big log set, pedal over it! Don't think you can float over everything, sometimes you need to pedal and dig in. Speed and body english will get you over the logs or rocks, and there is nothing wrong with dabbing your foot down to push you over something. You will get better each time you ride. Whew....so much more, but I just wanted to get out the stuff I learned early on. And...it helps to ride with someone who is really good, so you can follow their lines.

I love my Kenda tyres, I ride Nevegal on the rear and Blue Groove on the front and they cope with most trail conditions I put them at: mud, lots and lots of rocks, roots...I find they give me confidence to throw the bike around on the full-suss and the big air volume of the 2.1s makes for a more comfortable ride on the hardtail. I'm so evangelical I'm convincing some of our riding group away from other tyres.

If you find that you have to have your clips really loose to be confident in getting out then keep in mind Crank Bros pedals. I used to set my SPDs loose so I could be confident of getting out when I wanted, unfortunately that meant that they were so loose that on the various very rocky descents round here my feet would pop out of the pedals involuntarily which is not a good thing. Since I changed to Crank Bros Candys I find I can get out really easily while my foot is held very securely into the pedal when riding. The trade off is that I find them a bit more faffy to clip in.

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Originally Posted by tattiefritter

If you find that you have to have your clips really loose to be confident in getting out then keep in mind Crank Bros pedals. I used to set my SPDs loose so I could be confident of getting out when I wanted, unfortunately that meant that they were so loose that on the various very rocky descents round here my feet would pop out of the pedals involuntarily which is not a good thing. Since I changed to Crank Bros Candys I find I can get out really easily while my foot is held very securely into the pedal when riding. The trade off is that I find them a bit more faffy to clip in.

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Yeah, I used Candies starting out and had a heck of a time clipping in with my second foot on bumpy trails. I switched to Speedplay Frogs and never looked back. Easy in, easy out. Perfect!

Emily