We all ride our bikes for a variety of different reasons. Most of us just want to find a bit of 'me' time away from the stress of everyday life, and mountain biking is a perfect balance of physical challenge and mental commitment. Do it for long enough though and you might find that you've stopped improving. This can feel really dissatisfying and start to erode that good feeling that you used to get when you escaped for a couple of hours. These articles are about giving you clear and specific goals to keep in mind when you ride so that you can continue to make progress.
If you read our last two articles then you'll know that we've been breaking solid jumping technique down into its component parts, and encouraging you to practise basic skills that will allow you to unlock the bigger, more complicated techniques. This month we're going to follow the same format and look at progressing your jumping into boosting for height or distance. This should allow you to link features together on trails that you never thought possible. All of these will be accessed through perfecting a neat and tidy bunny-hop technique - our enabler skill if you will. Unlock the bunny-hop, and suddenly you can read the trail in front of you with confidence.
THE COACH
ANDY BARLOW
Before joining Dirt School Andy liked to win things - races like the Scottish XC Champs and the Scottish Downhill Champs. Since 2009, though, he's coached some of the world's best riders with Dirt School and helped bring on the BASE MTB course at Borders College in the Tweed Valley. But what Andy really likes to do is communicate those pro techniques to everyday riders.
GOING BIGGER
Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av Mountain Bike Rider.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av Mountain Bike Rider.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Best places to ride with your kids
Five top venues to keep the nippers entertained this summer
CANNONDALE MOTERRA NEO CARBON 2
It’s got more suspension tunes than a Hitchcock movie, but will this Moterra thrill us or chill us?
100% GLENDALE GLASSES
When it comes to eyewear, having a large lens not only offers a lot more protection from trail splatter, it puts the frames further out from your field of view, allowing you to focus on the terrain in front of you. The Glendale is absolutely vast, and actually has a lens size akin to a full downhill goggle, so you literally can’t see the top or sides of the frame.
DMR STAGE 2 MTB RAIL SADDLE
DMR's new Stage 2 MTB Rail is one of those new/old products. The shape and construction are identical to the existing Oi Oi saddle, but the company has wrapped it in a new skin and added some harder-wearing reinforcement to the edges. It's also toned down the lairy graphics; this saddle only comes in plain black.
STRAIGHT TORQUING - GUY KESTEVEN
Has tech taken the hard work and fun out of mountain biking, or should we embrace evolution and roll with it?
STORM FORCE
Manon Carpenter may have retired from downhill competition, but her new role as a trail advocate is achieving results far beyond the race track
SWEAT AND SLATE
We ride 140 miles through Snowdonia on Cycling UK's newest and gnarliest long-distance trail
HEAD SPACE
New guidance reveals how to spot concussion, and how best to treat it
LATE SUMMER LOVIN'
Classic UK holiday hotspots that really shine when the crowds have gone
HOT STUFF
WHAT WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT THIS MONTH
