Mountain Biking for Nervous Roadies

A compendium of tips and advice for the long-time roadie who is interested in getting dirty without breaking their body or mind. This is focused on mountain biking, but most of it applies to gravel to some degree.

I link to a few videos in the Technique section, but you could learn as much by watching local World Champion Kate Courtney ride through Sedona at half or quarter speed.

Basic Technique

• Learn “attack position”
  • Feet side-by-side, heels down
  • Back flat and mostly parallel to the ground
  • Most of your weight on your feet
  • Hands light on the bars
  • Constantly adjust your fore-aft position so you are neither pulling nor pushing on the bars
  • Maintain a vertical line between your center of mass, the bottom bracket, and the ground
    • You’re leaned forward while climbing
    • And your ass is hanging over the rear wheel on a steep descent
• Get your butt off the saddle!
  • You can sit when the trail is smooth and you’re not going fast.
  • You can sit on a non-technical climb
  • Sit for smooth, low-speed fire road descents
    • But pay attention! A bump at speed will toss you off the bike.
  • Otherwise you should be in “attack position”
• Cornering
  • Outside foot down, just like on a road bike.
    • Trying to learn some other technique will feel really foreign, and you won’t be able to concentrate on all the other things you need to learn.
    • I spent years trying to corner with my feet parallel, and it did nothing but slow me down.
  • Maintain attack position
    • Inside arm straight-ish
    • Outside arm bent
  • Lean the bike more than your body
    • Keep your weight over the tires
• Climbing
  • Mostly seated
    • It’s hard to maintain traction out of the saddle.
    • You have to constantly adjust your F/R weight balance
    • Be ready for the rear tire to slip if you’re standing
  • Often requires sudden bursts of very high power
    • Sometimes at high cadence
    • Sometimes low
  • Learn to grind at low speed
    • If you try to carry speed up a bumpy climb you often get bucked off the bike or lose the ability to control the front wheel
    • Low gear, high cadence doesn’t work if you need to time your stroke to avoid pedal strike.
  • Keep weight on the front wheel
    • Scoot forward and put your taint on the nose of the saddle
    • Lean down over the bars
    • On a really steep climb your chin might be 8" from the stem
  • As a roadie you’ll probably be better at long-ish non-technical climbs than most MTBers
    • Use your powers to catch up after you’re dropped on the descents
• Descending
  • When in doubt, slow down
    • You can go fast when you’ve got some clue and experience
    • But don’t try to crawl down a bumpy descent
    • You need some momentum to get over obstacles
    • If you’re too slow you’ll hit a rock, come to a dead stop, and fall over
  • Keep a low center of gravity
  • Get your ass off the saddle!
    • It should be behind the place your saddle would normally be if you hadn’t used the dropper post.
    • When things are really steep & gnarly your ass should be inches away from the rear tire.
  • Be gentle with the front brake
    • Going over the bars is no fun.

Mental game

• Expect to crash occasionally
  • But don’t fret about it – dirt is a lot softer than pavement
  • Most crashes are low speed fall-overs
  • Risk obviously increases with speed, so don’t be stupid
  • I’m a conservative rider and I go down several times a year
• Take care of the front wheel and your rear will follow
• Look ahead, plan ahead
• Point your eyes (and your hips) where you want the bike to go
  • The bike goes where you’re looking, so don’t look over the edge of the cliff.
• You can’t zone out on the dirt like you can on the road
  • You need to make decisions every second
  • If you can’t concentrate, stop, get off the bike, and sit on a log & breathe for a couple minutes.
  • If you’re in the mood to turn your brain off and just pedal then take a road ride.

Fitness

• MTB requires much more core & upper body strength than road
  • Do your pushups and planks
  • You’ll be extra tired and sore after your first several rides
• Most mountain bikers have limited aerobic fitness
  • A sub-25 OLH puts you in the 90th percentile for MTB climbers
  • At sub-20 people start asking if you’re on an e-bike
• A good MTB ride is like racing a surge-y crit while doing a crossfit workout
  • There’s a lot of short duration, high output moments
• You’ll work harder descending than climbing

Culture & Etiquette

• An MTB ride is more of a social experience
  • Riders stop and chat frequently, usually at trail intersections
  • People may want to “session” a difficult feature of the trail, repeating it until they can clear it.
  • They have a beer while packing up the car
  • Don’t show up at a group ride expecting to hammer for four hours straight
• Uphill riders have right of way
• Always give right of way to hikers, horses, & kids on bikes
• When you pass someone on the trail say “Just me” or “two more back”
  • i.e. Let them know how many are in your group
• Have a bell on your bike
  • You’ll get tired of announcing yourself to hikers & other riders
  • A jingling bell is less hassle
• Stay in control on shared-use trails
  • Scaring the hikers is bad juju
    • If you run over someone’s child your life will be ruined
  • Scaring a horse is incredibly bad
    • Horse people are rich and will complain vociferously to the authorities
    • A terrified thousand pound animal can kill you by mistake

Gear

• Wear long-fingered gloves
  • No matter what your preference is on the road
  • Trees and rocks and bushes are out to get you, be ready to fend them off
• You probably don’t need knee & elbow pads if you’re riding conservatively
  • I got my first pair of knee pads after five years riding dirt.
  • If you want to bomb down sketchy trails with little experience, then gear up accordingly and pay your health insurance premiums
• Road kit is just fine
  • But don’t wear that expensive Rapha jersey.
  • Grab the old stuff from the bottom of the drawer; it’s gonna get dirty, and maybe ripped.
• Riding dirt is a lot warmer than road
  • Average speed is usually well under 10mph, so wind chill is much less of an issue.
• Be prepared for Bad Things
  • Pack a multi-tool
  • Take an extra layer in the winter
  • A small first-aid kit is nice to have
  • Emergency whistle, gaffer’s tape, zip ties, ibuprofen, quick-link…

The Bike

• A dropper post is a vital piece of equipment
  • You don’t want the seat punching you in the junk when the terrain gets busy
• Low-pressure tubeless tires are key
  • The PSI numbers on the sidewall are sick joke
  • Lower pressure == higher traction. Worry about being fast later.
  • 150 lbs: 20 psi
  • 200 lbs: 25 psi
  • Try an online tire pressure calculator or table
    • https://bikefaff.com/mountain-bike-tyre-pressure-calculator/
  • But consider going lower.
  • Above recommendations are somewhat specific to the Santa Cruz Mountains
    • You may need higher pressure in a rockier environment
• Locking out the suspension makes climbing easier
  • But if you forget it makes the descent scary & miserable.
  • Best to just leave the suspension open while you’re learning.
• Weight isn’t as big a deal as it is on the road

Trails

• Don’t ride on wet trails in Northern California
  • Wait one day per inch of rain
  • If you’re leaving deep tire tracks it’s too wet.
• Have a trail map available
  • Google Maps has surprisingly good data
    • There’s a “cache this area” function in the app
  • Find a good offline mapping app that uses Open Street Map data
• Descend the single track, climb the fire road (the Mike Victor rule)
• Some good beginner trails
  • Russian Ridge / Long Ridge / Montebello preserves (they all interconnect)
  • Skeggs / El Corte Madera
    • Sierra Morena
    • Oljon
    • Blue Blossom
    • Steam Donkey (except for the steep bit to Springboard)
    • Any of the fire roads
    • Manzanita, Resolution, and Giant Salamander are intermediate
    • North Leaf & South Leaf are more advanced
  • John Nicholas Trail & Skyline Trail
  • Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz
• If you ride solo make sure someone knows where you’re riding
• When you travel to a new area ask a local about conditions & hazards
  • We’ve got poison oak, other place have cactus, or wasps, etc.
  • Get an idea about the trails – dirt, rocks, sand, mud
  • If you don’t know a local, call a local bike shop