If you are a beginner mountain biker, you should know that mountain biking is a complex yet enjoyable adventure sport. A lot of people partake in this sport because it gets their muscles pumping and adrenaline jumping. If you wish to experience the same thrill and rush, you must buy a suitable mountain bike under $1000 to begin with and hit the long lost trails.
Mountain biking is adventurous; everybody knows that, it is not a secret, but you should know that it is not the safest adventure sport in the world. In fact, a lot of people get fatally injured from tripping over. If you do not want to have a same fate as those unlucky souls, you should first learn the basics of mountain biking and then go on mountain trails.
In this post, we will learn about the 4 basic things that every mountain biker should keep in mind before biking on a mountain trail.
There are two ways you can bike on a mountain – You can either go uphill or downhill. Going uphill is generally considered safer than going downhill, because the speed of your bike won’t increase unless you put in the effort. In short, while going uphill, forward acceleration is under your control.
But, what about negative acceleration!?
Yes, it’s true that even while going uphill; you can fall from your mountain bike. If you want to prevent that from happening, adhere to the guidelines below. Let’s get started with the top tips and trick of mountain biking.
Stand on your mountain bike: While going downhill on a mountain bike, you will have to face rocky descents or bumpy tracks. If you will keep sitting on the mountain bike, then all these shocks will have to be absorbed by your bottom, which is not good because it can lead to lower back aches.
To release strain from your lower back, you should stand on the pedals on the bike and use your knees and legs to absorb the shocks. Make sure you are braking efficiently while doing so or else it can get dangerous.
Drop the height of your saddle: Sometimes the bumps and technical descents may be too steep. These steep bumps can topple your bike over and that could lead to some bed time in the hospital. To avoid that, you should lower the centre of gravity of the mountain bike by decreasing the saddle by 2 or 3 inches.
By doing this, the centre of gravity will get lowered and torque applied on the bike during bumps will get reduced. This will help you stay seated on the mountain bike even on steeper descents.
Keep pedal parallel to the ground: The pedals of the bike should be kept parallel to the group and away from the surface of the ground. Ideally they should be at the mid position. This will allow your bike to steer smoothly without trapping obstacles like rocks, stones etc.
Keep your eyes on the path ahead and keep calm: If you want to reach home in one piece, don’t think about anything but the road ahead.
Since you won’t be mountain biking every day, to practice the basics get a Kestrel Legend, considered to be one of the best road bikes and keep biking.