roadie trying mountainbiking

[02GF74]

Sounds like you suffer from the same thing as me on those dodgy downhills.

LACK OF BOTTLE!

yep - the older you get, the less risks you take.

I have the same problem; on the sponsored ride I used to do in peak district, I used to absolutely destoy the youngsters climbing, being 2x their age but they'd go zooming past me on the donwhills.

just take it easy and practise. if you go mad, you then will come off and injure yourself and that will make you more wary.

most of the times I've ever come off was due to braking before a scarey bit.

 

[Cubist]

yep - the older you get, the less risks you take.

I have the same problem; on the sponsored ride I used to do in peak district, I used to absolutely destoy the youngsters climbing, being 2x their age but they'd go zooming past me on the donwhills.

just take it easy and practise. if you go mad, you then will come off and injure yourself and that will make you more wary.

most of the times I've ever come off was due to braking before a scarey bit.

And the funniest I saw is a woman on our club ride who insists on getting in my zarking way riding in front of me on some tech sections, and goes down drop-offs with her front brake on. You can't roll them that way.........

 

[lukesdad]

And the funniest I saw is a woman on our club ride who insists on getting in my zarking way riding in front of me on some tech sections, and goes down drop-offs with her front brake on. You can't roll them that way.........

......Brilliant.......Love it!

 

[Jonathan M]

Accurate understanding of one's abilities and a dislike of hospital.

and the need to keep paying the bills!!!!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

surrey hills? doubt you need to drop your saddle more than 2 or 3 mm from the height you have it on your road bike - the alps or a trail centre they ain't. one thing to remember; you aren't supposed to sit on a mountain bike you're meant to stand 'in' it. lots of people spend far too much time with their arse glued to their perch when they should be on their toes moving all over the bike as much of the art of bike control off road, especially when descending fast or on technical terrain is about shifting your weight. If you sit there like a dead sailor you'll make very slow progress...

take a close hard look at your cockpit; if you levers and shifters aren't set up properly so its all a straight line from shoulder to finger tip when you are in attack position then you'll never get the rest of your setup right. you are always going to have your hands on the bars; unless things have gone very wrong, so this is your fixed point of contact.

if using spd's then start out on flats, you'll learn more control that way, spd's are great have thier place but learn to ride mtb using flats and you'll end up with superior control skills

other than that read some stuff on bike control (I recommend Essentials: Trailriding Tips and Techniques from Glentress) then go practise, practise, practise, get yourself up the Hurtwood Control and ride the same short sections over and over and over again. find a small drop off or a rooty section or an off camber corner (or whatever it is that gives you the colliewobbles) and ride it over and over and over again. start slow & small and work you way up to fast and small before looking for bigger obstacles to tackle. riding stuff that is out of your league only saps your confidence if you aren't in control. when you become a passenger on your bike rather than its rider then an off is often not far behind.

MTB'ing is a bunch of skills like any others, fitness is only a part of it, the skills have to be learnt, and repetition is the only way to learn them.

imo anyway

btw I lost my bottle following a big crash in Les Gets a few years ago and gave up riding real mountains. I've got my bottle back, courtesy of a skills course, now and went mtb'ing in austria last year and had a great time. Bought a new mtb this summer instead of a new road bike. I'm 49.

 

[Mr Pig]

Unless you're XC racing there's no point having them any harder than the minimum you need to avoid pinch flats.

I think the minimum to avoid punctures is about 50 psi. We did a very long, steep and rocky decent today and two of the guys who had their tyres quite soft got punctures. One of them got two punctures. I had about 60psi rear and 50 in the front and it felt good to me. If you hit a rock at speed it takes quite a lot of pressure to keep that rim away from it.

 

[Cubist]

I think the minimum to avoid punctures is about 50 psi. We did a very long, steep and rocky decent today and two of the guys who had their tyres quite soft got punctures. One of them got two punctures. I had about 60psi rear and 50 in the front and it felt good to me. If you hit a rock at speed it takes quite a lot of pressure to keep that rim away from it.

You see, opinions differ, unless of course it's different tyre types, volumes widths, tread patterns that make the difference. My XC has Schwalbe Ralph rear and Nic front. If I run them much higher than 40-45 they skitter around and bounce/skip off stones etc.

 

[GilesM]

Nosherduke996, good man to move over from the dark side, I moved to mtb a few years ago after many years as a roadie.

Firstly, consider the bikes you and those you're are riding with are using, if you are on a hardtail, (even a very good one) and they are riding reasonably good full sus bikes, you will struggle to keep up on the rough/rocky downhills or any fairly technical descents, unless you are quite a lot better than them. As also mentioned, head angles and fork travel will also make a difference, as will the quality of the front suspension forks, and the way that they are set up. Wide bars and shorter stem also help downhill controll. As for tyre prssures, this really depends on the tyre, but if you run with a high pressure, above about 45 psi, then you are at the risk of really bouncing the back wheel (especially on a hardtail) at speed on a rough descent. The trick is to have the tyre hard enough not to get pinch flat punctures and soft enough to grip on all surfaces and help act as additional suspension, I usually ride with about 35 to 40psi, this is with 2.4inch Conti Mountain king suspersonics, this works well, and no pinch flats so far with this setup, I should add this is on my full sus bike.

That's all stuff to do with improving the bike, but the best improvement can be in you riding, as mentioned, weight backis the important thing, right back in many places, pick your route carefully, and as mentioned, you shouldn't be on the saddle over drop ofs or table tops/jumps etc., a guy at Ae came off infront of me, bought me down quite badly as well, he came to a table top and just tried to ride over it sitting on the saddle. A good idea is a skills course, the main thing as with improving with all technical skill sports, is practise and practise, but also decide what you want, do you want to keep up with these guys downhill, or would you prefer to ride at a slower pace and enjoy the ride more.

 

[GilesM]

You see, opinions differ, unless of course it's different tyre types, volumes widths, tread patterns that make the difference. My XC has Schwalbe Ralph rear and Nic front. If I run them much higher than 40-45 they skitter around and bounce/skip off stones etc.

I agree, it really does depend on the tyre, and also the type of rim, on Saturday I did the Glentress Black run with a small group, one guy had two pinch puntures, the tyres weren't too soft, just the type of tyres, on a fairly narrow rim.

 

[Mr Pig]

If I run them much higher than 40-45 they skitter around and bounce/skip off stones etc.

Sure, I guess mine do too, relative to how they might ride at lower pressure, but I would rather deal with than than sit half way up a hill getting chilly as we fix punctures in the rain, which it what we were doing on Saturday. I try to loosen up and let the bike kick around and find its own path.

One of the guys who punctured clearly had little with him, no back pack or saddle bag, so I said to him "Have you got anything?" meaning tubes etc. He rummaged around in his pockets, pulled out ten pounds and said "Yes, I've got ten pounds for whoever can fix my bike" :0)

I also use Continental Mountain King and rate them, I think mine are 2.2.

 

[GilesM]

I also use Continental Mountain King and rate them, I think mine are 2.2.

I think that maybe the reason why you are having to run at the higher pressure, the normal Conti Moutain King 2.2 does seem to get a lot of pinch flats, the guy with us on Saturday at GT who had two punctures was on the same tyres, he has had loads of punctures recently, he is using the Mavic 717 rim.

 

[Mr Pig]

I've never had a puncture on them, they're on Mavic CrossRide wheels. I think if you get a lot of punctures there's something wrong somewhere. I helped the guy who got two punctures on Saturday to fix his first one, he couldn't get the tyre back on the rim. I did think at the time that I didn't like the feel of the rim, it felt very sharp.

You get a puncture-resistant version of the Mountain King, I'm thinking of getting those next. Ok, they're not going to stop pinch flats but, because I've got puncture resistant tyres on my road wheels, I forget the mud tyres are not! Few times I've battered across broken glass and thought 'Arghh, these aren't puncture-proof' on the other side. Never had a puncture on those tyres though I don't think, can't remember ever having one.

 

[GilesM]

I think if you get a lot of punctures there's something wrong somewhere. I helped the guy who got two punctures on Saturday to fix his first one, he couldn't get the tyre back on the rim. I did think at the time that I didn't like the feel of the rim, it felt very sharp.

I'm sure you're right, a sharp feel to the rim doesn't sound good.

Sorry, I miss undertsood, I thought you were having to run at higher pressures to stop pinch punctures.

 

[Mr Pig]

I'm sure you're right, a sharp feel to the rim doesn't sound good.

I would've taken a closer look but it was blowing a gale, teaming of rain and we were halfway up a mountain! ;0) We'd already fixed the other guy's puncture, yes, they got them at the same time in the same place, put the wheel back on and this guy was still trying to get the tyre back on. Was darn tight to be fair.

 

[bonj2]

I think the minimum to avoid punctures is about 50 psi. We did a very long, steep and rocky decent today and two of the guys who had their tyres quite soft got punctures. One of them got two punctures. I had about 60psi rear and 50 in the front and it felt good to me. If you hit a rock at speed it takes quite a lot of pressure to keep that rim away from it.

50! as in, five, zero?!! neeeiiigh, lad!
I think you (or, your mates who got puncures) must be using narrower rims and tyres than me. I run a sun ringle EQ31 on the back which is a 31.5mm rim, with a bontrager big earl 2.5" tyre.