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Showing posts from April, 2011

Hints and Tips: Be A Better Mountain Biker : Part 1

I saw a blog on this topic on BikeRadar and thought there were some key points missing. So here are just a few useful tips to make mountain biking easier and safer. 1) Cadence: Keep it high; this is more important than on a road bike, where changing up a gear and powering it up to speed is possible, on a mountain bike it is key to keep the cadence going so that if you hit an unexpected small incline or bump you have the momentum and power to push over it. Aim for 85-95 r.p.m. 2) Climbing: Looking ahead at the trail, rather than down at your front tyre is one thing for balance and peripheral vision, but it also important for thinking ahead. As you near a climb think about your cadence. It needs to stay high when you hit the climb, so change down a few gears, spin up to above the r.p.m you would normally use; then as you hit the climb it will gradually decrease back to normal and maybe a little below. This is the most efficient way of climbing and again allows you to push over