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Jack
and Jill
In the last issue we dealt with the honest job of hill climbing. Once
you reached the summit, you'll want to reap some reward for your toil
... spending time sifting around the tops, imbibing the views and sucking
a few lung fulls of clean air before plunging homeward. Pick the right
spot and a myriad of opportunities will present themselves to sidle across
slippery slopes or follow ill-defined sheep tracks around the hillside.
Hardly ego-singletrack, and when the trail gets rough and cuts into an
increasingly steep slope, it's hard not to imagine the worst as your eyes
wander off the edge. Fear not - a few nifty tips and a large helping of
huevos will help you tackle this tricky stuff ... and will soon have you
queuing up for more.
 Lean-out
Lean your bike
out, pushing your arms away from the slope while keeping your upper body
back towards the hill so your head remains directly above the track. This
helps prevent catching your inside pedal on "intrusions" and being inelegantly
pitched over the edge. You also gain additional traction with your centre
of gravity directly over tyres - forcing them into the dirt rather than
sliding out from under you.
Stutter
Pedaling
Just when things
are looking sweet, you're bound to be confronted with a rock or two on
the trail. This is equally likely to coincide with the need to keep pedaling
so as to maintain your momentum and Murphy will ensure you hit your pedals
on the way through. Stutter pedaling is your saviour. You develop a sixth
sense to predict when your pedals are going to hit (without staring downwards),
then quickly back-pedal half a stroke and resume pedaling. It takes a
few attempts to get this sussed but is a life saving manoeuvre once mastered.
Mind
the Gap
Try not to
stare at the offending rocks and obstacles - they don’t blink and
have "tractor-beam" cunning. The knack is to steer for the gaps, rather
than obsessing about avoiding the hazards. A tad esoteric but for many
it magically seems to do the trick.
Speed
A little speed
helps you balance your steed. There is nothing wrong with a good solid
run-up to get you through the technical sections, maintaining your momentum
so you can keep your eyes focused on the track ahead. Check out "Stand
up and be counted" in the Tech Tips section of www.groundeffect.co.nz
for Murray Dwyer's insights on this topic.
Keep
it Clean
Freaking out
and riding around tough obstacles or cutting tight hairpins is uncool.
It causes of track damage and hey, if you can’t ride a section then
treat it as a future challenge for when your skills are up to the task.
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