Book learnin'...Mountain bike techniques?

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by vqdriver

flats are great for quick dabs. and yes, you'll get accustomed to a good set right quick.

another point is the saddle height with dropper posts. dunno where you set yours but i like mine high when climbing for the added leverage. but when you're spinning a steep section even a small rock can bring you to a halt and when you're that high you're also very tippy. flats come in very handy then, as does a quick remote lever finger

there's a slew of youtube videos out there on technique. find a 'toober that you like and check out their series of uploads.

One of the things I like most about the dropper post is getting the seat just a tiny bit lower over techy climby stuff where you might be in and out of the saddle and maybe want to add some body english to get the power and traction in the right spots. That and dropping it all the way to get restarted in a techy area. Dropper posts - not just for descents.

[Spaghetti Legs]

Practice track standing. If you can stay upright for 2-3 seconds while stopped or at very low speed, you will be able to unclip and avoid a lot of falls. I used to think if I didn’t crash on a MTB ride I wasn’t riding hard enough but that was a long long time ago.

[Gummee]

Originally Posted by Lewis Moon

So...I took my first MTB ride in 20 years yesterday, and I purposely picked a trail that had some (slightly) technical sections to get out of my fire road comfort zone. I crashed probably 8 times. All of them on uphill technical sections. I was an idiot (and persisted in being so) and tried to bull my way up climbs like I would a short jumper hill on the road. Yeah..didn't work. I finally realized I had to twiddle tiny gears and pick lines carefully in order to stay upright and the rest of the ride went better.
I want to get better before I break something...I know the best thing is to ride more and with better riders, but more than once a week isn't going to happen until November (this is Arizona...) so I was wondering if anyone has written a book on mountain bike riding/handling techniques. Not so much an introduction as a more technical treatment.

I'm going to bet that your rear wheel spun out and you fell over.

If that's the case, you aren't using your body weight to your advantage.

It's hard to explain 'rowing your bike' to get up a hill, but that's part of what you need to do. The short version is: when you're in the power phase of the pedal stroke, pull the bars back and down to drive the rear wheel into the ground.

If it's steep enough, you need to get up on the nose of the saddle to keep the weight right.

M