mrchristian

Well, if you caught my last thread, I told you about my first foray into mountain biking...pretty fun stuff, but I was wondering, Is there always so much walking and pushing??

Seriously, today we took a fireroad in my area up (Rocky Peak Trail) and it was hard as hell! I've heard of people just bike up this. Is this even possible?!? I am fairly in shape and so is my friend, but we couldn't drive up the trail in the lowest possible gear combination!

Its not the bikes either. He's got an insanely light Giant XTC, and I have an insanely heavy POS Mongoose Rockadile SX with a tank-like chromoly frame, but it made no difference!! Is there some sort of secret we're missing? I know climbing; i've gone over the Santa Susana pass numerous times with a road bike with a double crankset...but nothing compares to this! I can barely get traction! By the end of our ride, we had blown through 12 of the small arrowhead bottles in the 92*F heat.

Still had a heck of a lot of fun though. Going down was beyond awesome! Kind of felt like a cyclocross rider!

NEXT WEEK: we're going to try to go down the "Double Diamond" rated Hummingbird trail! Or not. I am duly humbled by this.

never

I don't know what the trail looks like but if people are biking up it, keep practicing, you'll get up it.

rigid4life

You know climbing... on roads. It would be no exaggeration to say that climbing on a mountain bike trail is completely different. Start with the posture - put the saddle a little lower than you would on a road bike (which is a little higher than you normally want it on a mountain bike), put your ass forward on the saddle, put your head down - your chin should be right over the bars. Grip the bars (don't use bar-ends) as though you're pulling them straight towards your abdomen (because you will be) and pull your elbows in towards your sides. Now when you're climbing, you'll be pulling yourself forward and using your upper body a lot, so look straight ahead and focus on an object 10 feet from you, and imagine that you've got a rope attached to it and that you're pulling yourself towards that object. And pull, and spin. I didn't invent that technique, I just read about it in Mountain Bike Magazine's Mountain Bike Skills book (or whatever it's called), and it works for me. Whatever technique you use, don't lose momentum, and don't let your front wheel lift. There's no relaxing on this climb - as soon as you slow down you start to lose balance and lift your front wheel, which makes you lose more speed, which goes on in a vicious cycle until you have to put your foot down. Once you lose speed on a trail climb, it is very difficult to gain it back, and it is even more difficult to start climbing again after you've had to stop.

MasterSezFaster

I live 2 min from R.P. When I ride constantly (4 or more days a week) I can ride the entire trail on my Stinky Primo. Yeah, the first climb right from the start is 0.8mi with an elevation gain of 525ft. The second half of the first climb aint bad but the first is, I believe, a 10% (if not more) grade.

If you ride it alot you will be climbing the entire trail in no time.

Humming bird is not a dbl diamond unless you have no skill. It is more of a mind F*** with the exposed drops and tight switch backs. PM me and I can send you a vid of what HB looks like.

MasterSezFaster

Another thought, if you want a good training climb you should check out Johnson Motorway. It starts just above Topanga Cyn and intersects with RockyPeak. johnson is a 3mi. climb with an elevation gain of 1117 feet. Very doable and fun with the little descents and small tech sections.

markhr

don't mash the pedals - you must spin smoothly becuase of the loose surface. Lowering your rpm to 70/80 also helps (assuming 90/100 is your usual for road riding).

mtnbiker66

Keep riding,you'll get there!!

apclassic9

practice, practice, practice.... it's like Lance says, It's not the bike......

CranxOC

Remember, whether your in shape or not from other types of exercises makes virtually no difference on the bike as the cardiovascular endurance and muscles used are very different from those you use running, swimming or doing cardio machines at the gym.

Heck, mountain biking is even a lot different from road riding on the cardio front. This is due to the fact that the terrain is so varied on trails that you generally cann't get a solid cadence going for very long.

Just stick with it and push yourself harder and harder each time you go out and, believe me, you will get better.

A couple of other things to keep in mind:

1) Most of us hated this sport the first couple of times we tried it since it's hard to figure out exactly why (in the beginning at least) you're inflicting the amount of pain upon yourself that you do on most trails.

2) As John Madden says, "90% of the game is half mental." In other words, get it in your head that you're going to push yourself to make it to a certain point on a given trail and, even when you're legs, lungs, heart and every other part of your body is screaming at you to stop, keep pushing until you reach your goal or collapse. It can suck but once you reach your goal you'll realize how many of your limitations are in your head.

Good luck.

BCBike

Very True, CranxOC. I have to climb to many hills just to get where I am going here in Town. Now we are really spoiled. One of are local mountains was not doing so good in the winter. They dedicated the the hill to mountain bikes by developing the Chairs to hold Bikes. Just load up and get off at the top, they have Runs that are for novice riders to expert. There are only 2 other mountains that have Bike lifts like this one in B.C. . Best thing is theres a Pub and its only 20 mins out of town. Your right, its your Mental status thats going to get you where you want. Go mental go mental you know what i am saying. Mental status. I need more I really do ahahhha Mental power

BCBike

Its only about 30 hours away from Cali

Later