Mountain biking is indeed a skill that demands the 3 Ps; Passion, Practice, and Perfection. And once you get a hold of them, there’s nothing beyond that can stop you from touching the eternal heights of the mountains.
Overview
Mountain biking is one adventurous sport that is full of breathtaking events and roller coaster rides.
To hold expertise in that, you not only need to practice speed modulation or control over rugged trails and terrains but perfecting the technical bike riding skills is also a must.
There are enormous benefits that are associated with the sport of Mountain biking.
This keeps the riders fit physically and makes them mentally and psychologically strong enough to face the challenges during off-road biking.
How to become a better mountain biker?
This question is the sole of this article that I have drafted to help the biking enthusiast within you.
This article thoroughly covers all the salient aspects of being and becoming a better mountain biker.
Mountain biking, on whole, lets a biker explore the serenity of nature and the sanity of the mountains in the best possible manner.
Meanwhile, it also teaches the passionate riders the skills to overcome the hurdles and obstacles they encounter over the rough terrain while gliding over with speed.
But for that, practicing the technical skills and bike handling capability, boosting the stamina, and maintaining the rider’s fitness are extremely important.
Moreover, it also seeks your time, patience, and self-will. In the journey of becoming a better mountain biker, you undoubtedly need to focus on your strengths and positive aspects.
But your weaknesses are equally required to be focused on and worked upon to become a better mountain biker.
A rider must understand the basics of speed and control during off-road riding to become a better mountain biker.
This includes steep uphill climbing, downhill riding, and navigation through technical sections of the terrains, crossing the rooty and rocky trails.
Besides, much better and competent mountain bikers ought to look into a perfect fitness regime to acquire an aerobically fit body that makes them capable enough to resist any strains during biking.
The further article covers all the factors, tips, and measures in detail required to be adopted by the riders to become better mountain bikers. Let me discuss these facts and learn to implement them.
How To Be A Better Mountain Biker
Mountain biking is a highly efficient sport that can make you a pro biker or an all-rounder athlete mountain biker with time, practice, hard work, and dedication.
Whether you are an entry-level mountain biker or have even been an aggressive, competent rider for many years, there is still a possibility each day for you to learn the technical biking skills to become a better mountain biker.
There are many important things and factors that are required to be followed religiously by passionate mountain bikers who look forward to becoming perfect in the field of mountain biking.
Also, to become a better mountain biker, you first need a better mountain biker. If you have don’t have, then scroll between the below options.
Let’s scroll down to learn and implement them in the practice of perfection.
1. Get Best Friends With Your Best Suitable Mountain Bike
To conquer the game of perfection, it becomes extremely important to be friends with the mountain bike that you own.
If you want to be absolutely comfortable while riding off-road every time you hit the terrain, you need to keep a check on the maintenance of all the bike components and technical systems of your bike.
You also need to practice the seating posture while uphill riding, downhill gliding, or even biking over flat terrains, as even a minute of carelessness might lead to uncomfortable strains over the rider’s back and shoulders.
Hence, to keep it great from the beginning till the very end of the journey, it is important to befriend the mountain bike that is best suitable for you.
2. Choose The Best And The Cleanest Terrain To Practice
It is always recommended to start with the simplest and then go ahead with further challenges.
Either you are a beginner in the journey of achieving marked success in mountain biking or biking for years, always choose the cleanest terrains for your initial practice sessions.
You can make sure the path you choose must be versatile yet not much harder. With time and constant training, you may enhance the level of the challenging surfaces.
Hence, keep it simple in the beginning and let yourself learn effectively to achieve the best results.
3. Maintain And Practice Speed And Control Well
Speed is the second name for biking. When you intend to achieve a greater speed while hitting the trails, you equally need to practice having great control over your bike, significantly while downhill riding and even over flat but bumpy terrains.
While you acquire speed and control with practice, the bike components like technical geometry of the bike, powerful suspension, braking system, solid and high-traction wheelset, thru-axles, etc., play an equally important part in becoming a better mountain biker.
4. Keep A Focus On Body’s Strength And Flexibility
For a biker, it is equally important to keep fitness the utmost priority while practicing the expertise in mountain biking.
It is essential to settle well in the bike’s saddle while intending to ride with overall comfort and ease.
But in the case of steep descends and technical terrains, the biker might also be needed to stand on the pedals, maintaining equal pressure over their knees, thigs, back, and hands.
This posture helps the rider in absorbing the shocks without causing any strain. Hence strength and flexibility must be maintained with strength boosting workouts for safe and better mountain biking.
5. Grow More With Excellent Biking Professionals
It is always a known fact that an individual’s growth and downfall depend on the company he keeps.
It is equally an important note in the process of growing well in the journey of becoming a better mountain biker.
Riding along with much better and professional bikers than yourself will eventually help you learn all the aspects of mountain biking much faster.
That would equally push you harder to try various athletic and aggressive biking skills, as you will see them doing it with you.
6. Get The Perfect Hands-On The Braking System
Practice applying the brakes while riding swiftly and both the brakes together.
The brakes are one of the extremely powerful components of the bike that ensures the overall safety of the biker over rough and bumpy terrains.
Hence getting hands well on them would eventually make you learn the art of biking safely and without causing any harm to yourself and your mountain bike.
That would also help you acquire better control and stopping efficiently while taking crisp turns or stopping suddenly over any type of surface.
7. Learn To Overcome The Obstacles Well
The mountain bikes are usually either front suspension, full suspension, or no suspension.
Suspension plays an essential role in absorbing the bumps and shocks over rough, challenging terrains.
To become a better mountain biker, you sincerely need to learn to glide over the obstacles well using the bike’s suspension.
In other cases, while riding downhill, you must learn the skill of standing up over the pedals while bending a little and using your arms and legs as the powerful suspension.
This technique helps in absorbing the maximum shock keeping your body relaxed without causing fatigue and strain.
Moreover, that allows the rider to have a better grip over the handlebars while making him more comfortable.
8. Learn To Spin And Use Pedal Power When Needed
Efficiently spinning and pedaling is an extremely important skill to learn while intending to becoming a better mountain biker.
While off-road biking, the rider faces several hurdles and obstacles. Learning the skill of crossing through them with strong pedaling boosts your timing making you much faster.
But that again requires the biker’s fitness quotient to be excellent and much competent.
9. Practice The Art Of Climbing
Be it steep uphill climbing or challenging descends over the technical trails, the rider must always be aware of effective climbs to be made.
Once the rider learns the skill of comfortable climbing, the biking experience for him would be as easy as possible.
To achieve that efficiently, the neutral positioning of the body holds the utmost importance. Besides, a proper hold over the bike’s gear system, brakes, and smooth pedaling is also required to be practiced well.
10. Practice Wheelies For A Versatile Biking Experience
Once the rider sees that they have mastered the skill of mountain biking, the one that is usually a fun trick to try hands-on is wheelie.
The Wheelie and Nose wheelie is all about playing with the wheels getting the mountain bike first on the front wheel, keeping the rear wheel in the air, and then instantly flipping the rear tire on the ground, waving the front one high.
In the case of the wheelie, the rider firmly practices smooth pedaling, pulling up the handlebars efficiently, and then shifting the balance on one side, maintaining the safety well.
The rear brakes also play an important role if the rider goes too back while performing the stunt.
Whereas in the case of the Nose wheelie, the rider needs to practice the art of balancing himself over the handlebars securing the feet well on the pedals and lifting up the bike from the rear side.
The Final Piece Of Word
If you are really looking forward to becoming a better mountain biker with sheer practice and hard work, all you need is to put your whole and soul into it.
And remember, as they say, Practice makes a man perfect. Hence, keep on practicing hitting the trails of the mountains with your mountain bike in order to be an excellent version of yourself as a mountain biker.
Never ever fear the challenging trails, and don’t let the challenges affect the zeal that the biker within you has.
Always look ahead to the rooty, rocky mountains as they are there to carve you into the best biker avatar of yours, getting off the highest of its peak.
In order to be a better mountain biker, you are strongly advised to spend maximum time with your bike.
In the case of your daily schedule, at least try to fix a specific time duration that you can invest each day with new and different types of terrains. Thus try practicing on every type of surface.
To conclude the article, I wish all you biking enthusiasts out there all the best for a wonderful journey with a bunch of positivity and a big biker’s high-five!