Many qu's

[btchance]

I've got another question. On the trail I ride on, they have one of those piles of logs with a slight ramp, but it comes up a little above my knee. When I have actually gotten up the nerve to try it, I always get stuck with my front wheel over and back wheel on the other side. To me this says I need to peddle at some point to get the back end over, but if I do that the cranks hit the log no matter where along the log pile I try it, and that doesn't end pretty. I can do logs that come up to the middle of my shin fine, I just pop my front wheel up and go over it with a weight shift, but this is just big enough I've never been able to do that.

I've tried to copy what other people have done, where they are going at a moderate speed (which I make sure I'm at when trying it), then they balance slightly on the peddles with their butt up and then just role over it.

Do you ladies have any suggestions on what to try to get that extra power?

[bouncybouncy]

go faster...hehe!

sorry couldn't resist

stay out of the granny on these....make sure you have enough speed to get you to the top (which you said you do)...have your strongest leg's pedal in the 1 or 2 o'clock position...when your pedal has cleared the top pedal as your pedal is being pushed down you & your bike will be moving forward (together hopefully) so the log will be behind you by the time the pedal is low enough to hit...

this takes alot of practice and hits (the scratches on my pedals say it all...but then again i was learning this on a rocky trail as well)....sometimes a little bit of back-pedaling is required to get your pedal in the right position...and once you have it down with one foot switch and work on putting the other foot forward so no matter what eventually you will be able to power over any log...this really helps on uphill ledges/steps when you are going so slow that when you back-pedal you risk actually going back-wards...

[Tuckervill]

If you really want to learn to MTB and bunnyhop and take logs, try riding with a 12 year old boy.

My son rides a MTB and skateboards and rides his BMX bike at the skatepark. Does wheelies and jumps and all kinds of things. Never falls. So I just watch what he does and decide if I can modify it to my ability. But I can't do a wheelie. Can barely get my front wheel off the ground. I keep being afraid I'll hurt my bike, and I do love my bike. But just having his example around helps me a lot.

Conversely, he's learning how to ride safely in traffic from me, learning things he would never think to do, because he doesn't drive.

:::sigh::: I just love having him around.



Karen