Mountain Bikes!

I want to do stuff like that. I am a pussy. I dunno what it is, I have the ability, I just get in my head on anything bigger than like a 15' double and for some reason haven't been able to just sack up. Like another above... I can go fast as shit, everything on a mtb pretty much seems slow compared to motorbikes. I can do black diamond tech no problem, but something about big gaps, and especially step downs... I dunno what my problem is. If I make it to Whistler this fall I really want to be able to try Dirt Merchant before I leave. Post the vid when you hit it.

 

Just got to Duthie Hill In Issaquah Washington. Day one of a two day camp with Fluidride. Looking forward to this one.

 

Any folks with riding experience in Colorado that could provide some guidance?

I’ll be moving to Colorado - about halfway between the Springs and Denver - in early August. I’ve only ridden FS once there and it was on Little Scraggy.

I’m leaning towards a super slack hardtail with a gnarly fork, but the consensus seems to be that Colorado really rewards full suspension.

Any insight would be great. I don’t foresee super crazy jumps or drops in my future, but I definitely want to hit some gnarly descents.

 

Haven't had the pleasure myself. But all my friends there are riding short to mid-travel 29ers. Yeti SB130 and LR, Ibis Ripley, Stumpjumper Expert Evo etc. They all seem to be in the 130-150mm travel range, with the ones with the longer travel spending maybe 20 percent of the time riding in bike parks.

 

Whatever it is, it's more slack at the front and a steeper seat angle than you could believe with a BB drop that might make you believe that sub 165mm cranks aren't really that crazy when you think about it.

 

I r

I ride a 130mm f/r 29er (Canyon Neuron) and its a really decent all around bike. Fast enough on fast flow, can handle the db diamonds, and I even took it to a downhill lift park and didn't die lol.

 

Your second sentence there is exactly my problem lol.

 

do some test rides or weekend rentals.
Long travel (5"+) wide tire 29er will probably cover all the bases for climbs & descents. Some farkels like pressure compensating forks depending on the elevation youre riding.

 

haha yea well. i dunno how to get over it lol. at least i'm self-reflective i guess.

 

Finished day one of the Fluidride skills camp. It’s basically YCRS for mountain bikes. Tons of growth in skills and confidence already. Think I’ll be doing that drop sooner than I was planning.

 

Let me know how it goes I’m in that area thought about taking it.

 

So far, it's been well worth the investment. Simon is an incredible teacher and after letting them know I had previously ridden motorcycles on track, they immediately knew what things I was doing with my body that would need to be corrected. I'll probably have more thoughts after this evenings session, but I expect to head back up to take their followup classes as well.

 

@shakazulu12 Might be cool for your to make some notes for us to read about the parallels to, and changes needed from, motorcycle racing.
Putting it on "paper" might help you sift through it.

Have fun.

 

Right off the bat, every way we move on the bike is "wrong" when it gets to MTB. I never rode dirt, so my habit is to try and hang off and keep the bike upright. Not to hover over the bottom bracket. consequently, I never engage the cornering lugs and have terrible cornering grip. It's more luck than skill that I keep up with my more experienced friends. Now I knew this just from watching youtube videos. But up the pace, and I reverted back to instincts. So we did drills to get rid of that, and next thing I know, I'm leading the class through the berm section we were sesssioning without ever touching the brakes and feeling like I could have gone faster. You actual mountain bikers probably already know this. So less of a lesson. Also, we did a ton of drills to illustrate keeping our weight centered between the wheels and how to let the bike move underneath us, while staying in an athletic stance. Which also fixed body positioning issue #2 for me, the "attack stance" I was in was way to low and forward for proper movement and allowing my hips to turn the bike. Now that part did actually make sense, just the way it's done is different. I think I had a leg up on some of the other students with that, as I was used to using the lower body to steer more.

Few other things, like staying in that same athletic stance during hard braking. I was leaning off the back to settle the front, similar to Turn 1 at PIR under heaving braking. They got me forward and in the same stance and my ability to control the bike during braking went through the roof. Other drill was to stare at a fixed object that was elevated and far away while riding fast tech, let the bike move and head stays in place. All things that people already know, I just needed to be made to do it, and feel it when done right. My eyes were focusing way to closely in front of myself and trying to overthink obstacles. Much less fatigue and way faster this way. Being shown exactly when and how to weight the pegs and keep the feet heavy made a huge difference with building speed through berms and flat corners. And we did a lot of work on manuels since they are useful all over the trail. I was doing them improperly and simply yanking on the bars. With super inconsistent results because of this. This seems to explain why sometimes I feel like I can send anything, and other times I go careening off the trail of a little roller.

Much like when I took YCRS. It's nothing you probably don't already know, or have seen on youtube or read. Just makes a ton of difference to have live feedback and guidance while you learn the movement. Who knows how long it would have taken me to actually get this through my head. I always got told "practice makes permanent", so repeatedly doing the same incorrect movements was finally hindering my progress and making it unsafe to go any faster. So this way, I understand how to do everything properly, and can keep growing in confidence and skill due to a solid foundation. Looking at Strava, I've cut huge chunks of time off some of the really fast and wild downhills and occasionally even break out a top ten, though more usually in the upper 20% overall. That said, I'm on the ragged edge of disaster and my skills are/were holding me back. Plus, it's just not safe and I'm old now.

Steeps and gaps are today, with whatever other skill things they have for us. So I'll report back on that. Overall, for those that have done YCRS, it's like having Nick and Ken teaching you mountain biking.

 

that was THE hardest thing to undo when i first started getting harder into MTBs. same thing... city kid, i never rode dirtbikes as a kid, i had sportbike shit deeply engrained by then. the number of times i washed out because I was leaned over and the bike was upright and then roots/rocks unsettle the bike and it just leaves you eating dirt... was more than a few. fixing that went so far into just elevating everyday trail riding at more aggressive speeds.

i still feel like i'm awkward and crossed up on BIG berms... like 180* turns in a bike park type berms, and i'm entering too slow and not doing it right. park berms and big drops/gaps and steep ladder wooden berm features is what i would like to overcome. post all the deets of the class when you're done if you don't mind, cost, availability, etc... wouldn't mind checking out some options.

 

What do you guys run for pressures? I’ve washed the front tire several times now and it’s always a big slide before I lose it. I’m feeling like I’m running too much pressure in the front at least. I think I’m running 25 f/r with tubeless and it’s setup mullet with a 2.6/2.8 width.

 

Here is the full class list from Fluidride:
https://fluidride.com/mountainbikeclasses

I'm currently doing this one specifically: https://fluidride.com/mountainbikeclasses/adult-2-day-camps-9x2zz-dy9fw
Which is basically a slightly condensed version of their Trail Essentails, Air 101 and 201, and Cornering/Steeps

Everything you mentioned is covered in the 2 day class I'm doing now. Though obviously they can get more advanced as you come back for higher levels. I'll be coming back for sure for the Advanced Air and Cornering classes.

Ninja MTB is another one that has gotten a lot of recommendations from people around me locally, and they operate in way more areas if travel is an issue. Costs are all about the same. Ninja is always running 40 percent off on FB ads, so it ends up evening out.

 

Way to hard for any of us to tell you. Tire casing, your weight, terrain etc. All going to make a large differences. If it's smooth out, I'll go as low as 18F/20R. 20/23 in general and as high 23/25 if it's a nasty janky rocky high speed mess. This is running Kenda tires in the AEC casing.

 

Yeah that was pretty generalized haha! I’m running Michelin E-wild tires. The trails range a lot here from fairly smooth to really rocky and rooted up which is why I was running them fairly high. I might try a couple pounds less to see if that works better.

 

Great feedback!
My wife is a riding instructor also and echoes what you're saying, lots of body position habits to break on roadrace clients. That's awesome that you took a course, it accelerates the learning process so much.