milesofsmiles

I had the feeling that was going to be the answer I got. I was thinking a lot more about it after I posted that idea.
As I said I am a beginner and I have a lot of the basics to learn. I learned a lot today, mainly about getting my shifting timing down, especially uphill. And how to choose my line so can avoid at least the worst, speed killing obstacles. I need to do some practice drills, like balancing on the bike. Also type of tread effects traction. Right now I have the all-terrain tires that came on it and they're not as grippy but they some to recover quickly (but this is for another thread).

osco53

And all the other things you said,,,,, BUT,,, There Is something you may be overlooking and that Is the fact you may be Overthinking !

Yeah Yeah get the basics sorted and stuff them In your bag-o-tricks.

Then focus on one thing only for each ride, like next ride think ONLY about how to move on/around/over the bike and work on ONLY this for the whole ride.

Next ride work on your eyes,, looking ahead and TEARING your eyes off of things you don't want to hit ASAP is Very Important,,, LOOK where you want to go !

Next ride work on breathing,,,,,,Yeah This is a needed skill for your bag of tricks, trust me

You must control your breathing, steady it, Gulping air is a good thing IF your breathing deep and steady, a short 1 second pause is good, keeps you from passing out.
Breathe IN DEEP and hold it for one single second, breathe OUT ALL the way and hold for one single second...
Do this while your resting ON THE BIKE, pedaling a mellow cadence and you can recover faster and bring your heart rate down out of max Q....
And when your Hammer Down Keep breathing, you'd be surprised how many riders breathe shallow or stop breathing and grunt up a short punchy hill.....
Shallow fast breaths will rob you of power and eat your energy reserves..

If you skip ONE SINGLE Breath your legs will Instantly loose a good 10 to 15% of their total horse power and It will take you several deep controlled gulps to get It back !!!, But Alas,,by now your off the bike and pushing it up that hill...

* Being loose and low on the bike, never locking elbows or knees will make you smoother and smooth Is fast and speed Is your friend...

* Having fast eyes will give you more time to deal with obstacles, line choices, gear choices, body position,,,etc LOOK FARTHER AHEAD,,

* Learn to get Oxygen Into your blood the right way !


The Hardest thing to learn and the one thing most never learn is this simple truth, 'It ain't the bike, It's the engine'


Pedal smooth and with power going down a hill,, you can coast up most of the next hill saving a TON of energy...
Coast down a hill and you will have to pedal very hard up the next hill burning a whole lot of Energy !!

Scrub any speed with your brakes going down hill and you will soon be off the bike pushing It up the next hill killing your reserves,
puking,
calling It a day,
Cramping out that night,
and,,going down hill while playing with the brakes,,well,, Hospitals stays are very expensive....

milesofsmiles

Very good advise, it's easy to get overwhelmed in the beginning trying to sort it all out.

I road some different trails today, beginner level really. Not too many roots or rocks but quite a bit of sand. The lower pressure, 30 psi, helped a lot. I could feel it as soon as I started riding that it wasn't so stiff.

I concentrated mainly on not tensing up. I mainly worked on not tensing up in the turns, get a rhythm and follow it through the curve/turn.

osco53

Tubed,, rider weight in full gear divide by 7,,, add two psi to the rear and take one psi out of the front,,,,

milesofsmiles

OK, that's 130 lbs divided by 7 equals 18.5. So rounding off it would be 20 for the rear and 17 for the front.

osco53

Carry two tubes just in case you're thin wall tires snakebite which is always possible at lower pressures if you ride rough if you snake bite go up a couple psi

osco53

Not all tires are suited to real low pressures with tubes but a hundred and thirty pound rider in gear should be safe around 20 considering I'm a hundred and eighty and have not flatted at 24 psi... Ever...

osco53

IMO a newer rider on a hardtail bike or a rigid should use more psi probably 20% more unless he/she has learned to ride the light......
If you hit bumps hard with your tired butt in the saddle and you're under a hundred and eighty pounds work down from 35 psi one pound at a time and carry two tubes

Mountain Mitch

You're in FLORIDA! Don't know where the OP is but here in the mountains I guarantee a 180 lb rider will flat at 24psi as soon as he hits a serious trail!

milesofsmiles

The OP is in Southern Michigan, pretty flat. About 50-70 miles north and it starts to get fun but no mountains. I road again today at 28 psi front and 30 psi rear. It seems to be a good compromise between road and trail pressure.

osco53

I hear ya,, we got the phosphate mines/reclaimed land, they left us some good steep,,,HILL's most are deep wide holes
I may hit 25-30 mph going down a respectable drop then G-out on some smaller rocks, lime rocks etc but most of my air time is just trail flow. I don't go for big air or jumps. If I was to ride Carter Road I'd up my psi to 28 rear and 27 front.

But Really Mountain Mitch,,think about this thread a sec.

Most guys who are asking for tire pressure help are not yet doing rock drops like you mountain goats do

That's why I tell them to take two tubes along..

Funny I hit all kinds of things, rocks, roots drops with rocks and roots, at respectable speeds, I don't flat at 24 psi And I run a bit more than the real fast riders we have.....
Just sayin...

osco53

Yeah we got lots of riders who do 10 or 15 miles of roads to get to the trail head, they think we guys that drive to the trail heads are wimps,,
These riders don't 'compromise' as you say,,, on anything, they are some of the fastest riders I have ever seen.
One of these guys took the time to teach me a better way to pedal,, nice eh?
I see them all the time, dropping pressure at the trail head and pumping back up when they are leaving,,no biggie right !

milesofsmiles

I thought about that idea yesterday, mainly because of the different road/trail conditions I am and want to ride. I was thinking of a "State Park Hopping" journey here. There are quite a few in the area (and within a 200 mile radius). It would be a bike camping kind of thing. I am hitting as many trails as I can to condition myself.
Today I was mainly on paved trails or hard packed trails (smooth riding but windy and gusty), yesterday they were mostly sandy trails. So the idea of raising and lowering the tire pressure according to the terrain is something I will practice.

Mountain Mitch

I think I've got more vertical in my back yard than Florida State without those developments but I figured you'd know where there was some steep to shred . Maybe not quite like my local favourite double black diamond trail, SMD (Super Mega Death)! But fun all the same.

osco53

Yeah Here's a flow trail we all like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx7IPcJdylU
and,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK6gFELDWjU

Alafia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=397F4yaJv8Q

Mountain Mitch

Hey, thanks for the cool vid. Here's one shot on our local 'signature' trail, Seven Summits, 35 km of point to point single track: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dIv3LpfDJu8
Like it says in the intro, bring 5 litres of water and a bag of tubes!

Mountain Mitch

Or this one that features some pitiful riding but good panorama shots of our riding area: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DAtxLXk_Qio

osco53

Yup you guys are like Billy Goats,,lucky dawgs..

The Swamp people had to re-route a trail a few weeks back, Turns out it was 3 feet,,36 Inches from a Gators nest..
About the only time alligators get aggressive is when they are on the nest sitting eggs...





You guyz got Grizz Up there ??

milesofsmiles

Cool vids. The Fla. ones looked like what I road today, the BC ones more like what I road yesterday ( not that mountainous but that rocky). I think I have my tire pressure set pretty good for most stuff. Yesterday I was watching the tire some to see how much it was forming to the roots and rocks (and part of the reason I was stalling out going up some of the hills) then I had to remind myself to look down the trail. I was wondering as I was driving home after the ride today why it's so hard to look down the trail instead of at the wheel, I look down the road quite a ways when I'm driving. I guess it has to be learned, to get over the fear of each little bump in the path.

slowride454

These are my baseline pressures I run at 240# all geared up
4F/6R 26X4.8 tube-rigid
6F/8R 26x4.0 tube-rigid
11F/14R 27.5X2.8 tubeless-HT
10F/20R 29X3.0/29X2.35 tube-rigid
20F/22R 29x2.2 tubeless-FS

and for the road
65F/70R 700x35 on 19mm rims
85F/90R 700x25 on 23mm rims

C Law

I run about 23 front and 25 pounds rear at 180 around state college pa and michaux pa. It doesn't get rockier or more 'serious' than those trails. I've had good results.

These are tubeless setup on 29er.

osco53

That fear you speak of is simply overcome by you doing two simple things, Well, one's not so simple but can be learned alone with a little discipline.

The simple one,, learn to tear/rip your eyes off of things you DO NOT want to hit ASAP and look where you want that front tire to go..

The second one,, Learn to ride, 'Lite' on the bike then those little bumps In your path mean nothing.
Elbows AND knee's always bent some,, never locked.
Always ride heavy on your pedals and light on your bars.
Learn to allow the bike to move beneath you,,YOU become the suspension..
Something to practice,
When you come up on a step,, a place where the trail before you goes straight up say,,4,5,,,6" learn to lift the front with perfect timing so the fork does NOT compress at all BUT you can feel the front tire remain in full contact with the steps edge ....

Learn to, 'Bunny Hop'

EastCoastDHer

Usually 24-28 PSI if I'm racing. If I'm just on an XC ride locally maybe a tad more to lower the risk of flats. I double wrap my tubes (old inner tube wrapped around the newer one) and I run more pressure than most however the added weight has kept me flat free for over 10 years. Use this tip: Log your tire pressure before each ride, then you'll have a ball park as to what works for you. Don't forget to pinch or push on your tires also, that way you can start to develop a feel for what you like - this is handy during practice runs when I start with about 45-50lbs, it usually takes 2-3 runs to get it just right but it's quick and it works.

Mountain Mitch

I missed this post. There are a few Grizzlies up high but so far there haven't been any serious incidents I know of. This spring I heard of one guy run into two young ones on the trail (about 200 lbs. each) but they ran off when he yelled "Shoo". (Those two are well known and this is their first year on their own.) A couple of years back I saw a great big silver back grazing with some cattle out in a pasture. Made me tighten up a bit but he showed zero interest in me (or the cattle for that matter).

As as for black bears, they're all over the place (including my back yard). Most of them are pretty chill. I've even had a Momma put her cubs up a tree and then clear out. My wife had a problem with a Momma and cub pair this spring when they just wouldn't get off the path and just kept slowly walking down it in front of her. She was late for her rendezvous with me at a trail junction.

Mountain Mitch

I'd just add, let the bike do its job. It will suck up a lot of those bumps if you just ride. Speed is your friend (admittedly, one who turns on you every now and then!).