Mountain Biking - Progression

This thread was inspired by the one of the same name on the BMXTRIX forum, but since mountain biking isn't based on tricks, it doesn't really serve the same purpose.

Pretty much... whatever news that people might have, that doesn't quite deserve its own thread, should have a thread dedicated to it.

Like, if you tackled a trail or something and you feel good about it, or if you crashed and didn't get good enough pics to post without being scorned if you made a thread... or whatever. Maybe some stuff about equipment, but I think it should be mainly for personal news related to mountain biking :)

For some news of mine...

I decided to rebuild the crappy little dirt jumps in my neighborhood that were destroyed when the land owner needed to use that land for a bit, and hopefully make the jumps better while I'm at it.

I worked on that a couple hours today, somewhat lazily so I didn't get too much done. The first jump is jumpable so far, it's going to be a small tabletop that hopefully lets you carry out enough speed for the next part. Some little prick on a crappy bmx bike tried to bunny hop over it and tore up the side... Guess I need to pack all the sides in before I step away from it :P

Make a rough jump and wait till it rains, then a day later, when it is all soft and moist, pack it down and shape it. Wait till it dries before hitting it.

Even better, we have a drainage ditch we can 'borrow' water from using buckets to moisten the dirt. Thing is, the dirt here turns to crappy clay when it gets wet, and it sticks to whatever you use to pack it in. Makes it tricky...

No one have any crap to talk about? There's no good threads atm, better to talk about nothing than not talk about something.

Or whatever.

I finally got out for a bit of decent freeriding yesterday on my hardrock nd hit up a few dirt jumps, i went bigger than before on the jumps, and im now one of the fasted out of our group on the local downhill trails here, I also seem to be flowing alot more, and im really enjoying riding at the moment, roll on the new bike :D

No one have any crap to talk about? There's no good threads atm, better to talk about nothing than not talk about something.

Or whatever.

My risers are bugging me, I've 2 sets, one pitches up, others are down.
The down ones are good for xc as the side on my hands don't get sore.
The upwards pitch ones are nice for lifting the tire climbing, my fingers are less strained.

I need bars that are between the two....

..anyway, in the interest of overkill, I've mounted Amoeba 5mm wall alu bars on the bike, they do flex a little, but I believe bend, not snap.
I mounted an aluminum butted crossbrace on the risers and bolted right through the collars and put steel locknuts on =no more flexy, will not rip out the alu threads.

I had to stick little corks in the bar holes, as the thick wall bars only have a 5mm hole and the ODI plugs don't work.
Why I want such a beefy steering setup ???
I dunno...too cheap to buy $$HQ bars today.
So I'm gonna go for a ride and see if I can stand this setup or start over.

Noticed I've been getting better with my balance, much better than the first day on the trail when i thought fireroads were bumpy. Know I've got to push the limits further, but have this unnerving feeling that my bike's just a tad too big for me to handle easily. Ergo a strong desire to get a new FS before the paint chips are even rusted on my current bike (which will be 1yo as of the end of this month). I've got another 5 months to decide anyways, since my plan is to buy in october as a b'day present. A good time to buy too, since i just found out they're building a 4x park only 1/2 hour ride away from my house, due to be finished in october too to coincide with the sydney bike show opening.

/rambling dont want to do work on a friday

My rear derailer is acting up. It is not bad, and alot of people would not notice it, but I ride so much I just know it is going to get worse.

went djing today and showed up some punks with their djbikes on my DH bike. i also think my friends bike is cursed. last week his shock seals blew(cockshox, what can you expect eh) this week his front tire started to come off the rim we tried to get it to the shop since it was close and he had thoes stupid presta valves or whatever so i couldnt fix it. he was just riding along and the tirecame off the rim(we let a bit of air out before to see if we could get it back on before we headed to the shop.) and he tocoed his rim. we buy a new rim put ot on his bike ride for a bit and then the QR handle comes off, not loose off. i really think we should takes his bike into a dark field late at night at shoot and twice in the headtube

I was cleaning my bike today - took almost everything off, hosed it down, brushed the dirt off... took off the chain and used Raiyn's method to clean that... took off the derrailuer wheels and cleaned/lubed them since they were spinning like crap, etc.

I'll clean the rims and pads off really well, and get the glazed gunk off. I wanted to buy a new bike, but my wallet likes this method a lot more.

I was tuning my fork the other day and added too much oil and it felt like crap; too progressive. Today I got around to taking some oil out and it feels great.

Its been raining the whole week but today its good ol sunny california weather.

I'm pretty much going to a scaled down, spanish version of Whistler on the 18th and 19th of June. :D My LBS is organising a trip there. For 100 euros, use of trails, jumps, etc, lifts, trip there and back by coach, accomodation, dinner and breakfast. Killer deal. ;)

Well, I finished cleaning my bike, and then I couldn't manage to get the chain back together after it was on the bike.

So I rode my other bike for the evening. I'll mess with the chain tomorrow (well, today now)

Ok my progression caught me by surprise. I knew I was getting better but hadn't really been testing myself or even really trackign it. I was Riding a set of trails called the Chris Markle trails. Pretty tech xc trails with lots of involved pumping and really sharp switchbacks. I would never have been able to clean these even last year pre-dh season but I cleared them. I got a little turned around and went down this unknown trail. This ended up being a very short trail but it was a 'go-between' for two other trails. I remembered I had ridden this before and scared myself to pucker point.It was steep had decent turns in the middle of steepness and very rutted. Little dropoff to add to the flavour and even on one turn on fallen tree just sticking out. I didn't even blink this time. I just flew down the trail off the brakes railing the turns and thinking "wow this is kinda steep" and then I was done. The only think giving it away was the fallen tree. Very good day of riding. I wasn't up for the skinny riding I wanted to do, but on a rainy muddy day I enjoyed some xc trails and some dh fun :) Progression sometimes sneaks up on ya.

http://jonbuder.com/images/jump_521.jpg

EDIT: I'm dumb, should have written something in here in the first place.

I brought my camera up and got used to jumping on that DK, also took some videos. I'll upload a clip in a minute...

Get that seat down and lift that bike up. Get some pop on that jump.

The seat can't go much lower... even now it's low enough that my heel can be about 2 inches from hitting my butt when I sit down and pedal.
The jump seems harder to get high off the ground with than the last one was, maybe I should make it a little steeper.

Here's the video, I'll also post it in the hucking thread:
http://jonbuder.com/videos/Riding521.wmv

The seat can't go much lower... even now it's low enough that my heel can be about 2 inches from hitting my butt when I sit down and pedal.
The jump seems harder to get high off the ground with than the last one was, maybe I should make it a little steeper.

Cut your seatpost then. A dirtjump bike's seat is slammed so it doesnt go up yur but when you land.

It's not all that high... seriously, the top tube is lower than it appears to be in that picture.

Seriously, on djs you have another 6in you can manually lift that bike up to give you more 'pop' off the lip.

http://jonbuder.com/images/jump_521_2.jpg

I guess when I tuck the bike under me, I push it forward also... not really any other way to do it. Anyway, the seat doesn't ever come close to my ass on this bike, not during landing anyway. I have like 9 inches to go for my legs to absorb the impact from the position I try to land in.

Its no a big jump so you shouldnt come close to your seat anyway...

true... sadly, I can almost bunny hop that high, that jump is just a different way to get there atm. I want to go to the BMX track tomorrow and ride there, just have to convince my mom to bring me over there. Maybe I can even get my niece to take a photo of me jumping, she likes cameras and all, even if the pics tend to have a fingertip on the edge.

I went to the BMX track around here today. Had a pretty good time. Im going to film some friends paintball and ride a really good trail tomorrow.

I learnt to properly bunnyhop gaps which ive been struggling with for ages, it just came to me when i was riding, like tuning on a light, i can now bunnyhop 5 foot gaps on flat, i can bunnyhop over things about 3/4 of a foot tall (not very much i know) and i can bunnyhop off edges and land on a slope and i can get about 9 foot of distance from that, whereas before i was getting about 2 foot.

Those bunnyhops are more useful than you think, i think my problem was i learnt the british bunnyhop, and then didnt bother learning the better, american bunnyhop so i got stuck in the technique of the other one..

lol, what's a 'british bunnyhop'?

I am curious to know myself?

I am assuming one is like a level lift and one is the traditional bunnyhop now called the "j-hop", "monkey grind", "donkey kick", "blowhard", and "maneuver we feel we need to change the name of to make it seem original but it really is so old school your grandmother did it before you were born".

probably a bunnyhop measured in metric.

Hey watch it, canadians measure in metric :p...

yeah so do we aussies actually :)

I'm a master at looping out of manuals now, woot :)


...now to learn how to balance them.

The younger half of the UK is metric, the old group are imperial, the group in the middle ( me) are abit of both :P

A british bunnyhop is just where you flick your legs on the pedals, and yank the bike up with you, its not as effective, both ends of the bike come up at the same time, and max height i can get is about a foot, but its very hard to hop over anything with a british bunnyhop because i had a hard job measuring when to pull jup, whereas its very easy with your american hops :)

I'm in the middle group too - it was strange being taught metric at school but in every day life having to use imperial measurements which you'd never been formally told about. I think the only things still in imperial are the road system and pints of beer aren't they?

As to the topic, I've been a bit disappointed with my progression on my mtb - the progression on the road bike was obvious due to increased average speeds on climbs and the ability to turn higher gears while on the mountain bike the progression seems to be in much smaller increments due to the greater reliance on bike handling skills in addition to leg and lung power.

i thought that was just a standard bunnyhop. so what's an american one then? how do americans lift the rear wheel?

the bunnyhop is still elusive to me after a year of riding. i cant do it w/o being clipped in and i'm still lifting both wheels at the same time therefore no more than six inches height achieved. Hoping to change that and learn on flats - now that they just came in (right through the door half an hour ago, straight to my office desk) hmmm its not working guess i should put them on the bike first. At least i can wheelie abit now, got my balance somewhat on that, now to practice a manual.

Its takes some practice but once you get it isn't hard. (gettin really high is)

Its more about body movement than anythng. Lift front, throw body forward lifting the rear end and then throw bike forward and up. I can maneuver my bike just fine without clipless.

Anyone do anything worth posting today?

I rode up to the trail by my house, there were these people getting ready to hit the trail... the guy had a santa cruz, it was pretty nice. I just opened the gate and rode down the trail, then I turned back like 10 minutes later because I didnt want to ride the whole thing, and I saw them coming the other way like 1 minute from the trailhead. Slow people.

I also went to the BMX track with my dad, but I was tired and I didn't really have much fun. They changed the track, made it much less flowy but the jumps are bigger for those pro types.

Well after lurking quite awhile tis about time i contribute something to these forums. Started mountain biking again around five months ago after a year long hiatus from any sort of physical activity. Mountain biking has gone hand in hand with a dramatic improvement in my life. Long story semi short i became a gambling addict at college and my grades fell along with my physical and mental health. A few of my friends decided it was time to intervene and explained to my parents the real cause of my decline. My parents decided it would best for me to not go back for this spring semester and for me to attend community college at home. That was probably the best change i possibly could of made with my life. I made gambling inaccesible to me by canceling my checking card and deleted all of my computer games i wasted my life away on. During this semester my grades improved dramatically along with my outlook on life i went from 145 pounds 6' to 160. My self esteem has atleast doubled. I replaced my old 1998 gt tequesta around a few weeks ago to a 2004 kona stuff and have been spending atleast 3-4 hrs a day biking. The progress in skill and health along with the experiences from biking have been some of the best times in my life. I enjoy everything about it and hope to eventually compete in some sort of mountain biking discipline. For a recent story yesterday went on a 30 mi or so ride in the forest and had a great time despite taking a nice fall at a christmas tree farm. I bunnyhopped a small ditch at around 25mph and then got taken out by a christmas tree as i overshot where i planned to land. The tree sent me flying onto my ass and elbow taking around half the skin on my forearm off. Ran out of water soon after. Good times.=)
- Just realized i forgot to use paragraphs ,but meh just skip it if it bothers you instead of whining about it=)

FearTheHizzo:
Great story. Glad you were able to find something better to do than gambling. Also glad it could be something as fun as cycling. You might find cycling to be addictive also, but at least the money you spend goes to good stuff you can make use of, if you're careful anyway.

I started getting the hang of the "American bunnyhop" yesterday while just riding urban. I now understand the technique, all I gotta do is work on it, all I managed yesterday was an inch. :lol:

FearTheHizzo:
Great story. Glad you were able to find something better to do than gambling. Also glad it could be something as fun as cycling. You might find cycling to be addictive also, but at least the money you spend goes to good stuff you can make use of, if you're careful anyway.
Definately. :) Cycling is addictive but in a positive way (mostly, anyway. On Friday afternoons in school I'm pretty stressed out because I wouldn't have ridden a trail for five or so days. :lol: Then in the last period I just daydream about Saturday's and Sunday's trails)

I have been inspired by notfred to revive this thread (21 of 25 top threads are about equipment). Hope nobody minds.

earlier in the year i thought i'd be doing lots more big drops as soon as i went FS. Now that i have my coiler, i've found so much more to learn and get used to. for one thing, instead of doing more drops i've found myself going faster over technical terrain, the long fork travel and toughness of the bike is making me complacent about the way i land (too far to the front). i guess the drops will have to wait until i learn to lift my front end more and also learn how to jump. two things i'll vouch for: this is a tough-@$$ bike, and flat pedals are fantastic.

Not much progression with me lately, other than I can walk without cruthes now.

I have found a new fun riding activity. It involves riding through the city at night.
I am not sure why but it is a lot of fun. Not too many people and, not too many cars, so I can kind of just ride around wherever, jumb curbs, whatever, I find it to be incredible fun, and practice.