Leaning a bicycle vs. dirt bike vs. street bike

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Lee,

Say one question that you gave me the answer to when we were in Moab but I’d like to explore a bit more. We talked about how on a motorbike we tend to hang off in corners which I thought was because the motorbike is heavier than the person so trying to keep the bike more upright centralized the weight over the wheels a bit more. On a mountain bike we do the opposite. You let me know that riding a motorbike with a kind of mountain bike mentality (i.e – pushing the motorbike over and me staying more upright) would be just as workable. So I’m a bit lost on the logic (although I think you’re absolutely right because I’ve been riding my motorbike more like a mountain bike and especially at lower speeds it’s much more manageable) and would appreciate the cliff notes on the why it works. I’m so darn logical that I have to understand before I can get truly comfortable – sorry about that!

Regards.

Phil

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Recovering from hard rides

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Lee

The end-of-day recovery from your four day clinic (LLB Moab Camp Oct. 22-25, 2015) is very interesting to me. As I am 54 I find this is becoming extremely important. What can I do to learn about the best recovery for me?

Chris

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Cornering drill: dot dot dot …

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It’s all about the middle dot.

Pump it hard to drive outward and late-apex the outer dot.

Cul de sac kung fu!

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Thumbs, EMG, dead lifts and box jumps at REVO

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Last fall my orthopedist said he will eventually replace my flesh shoulder with a metal one. In the meantime, some brilliant physiotherapists and trainers have helped me function better and ride stronger.

The three sharpest people from the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine have recently opened their own facility: REVO Physiotherapy & Sports Performance in Boulder, CO (on 29th St. next to Panera).

REVO is the official “Keep Your Shoulder For A While and Kick Some Ass While You’re At It” sponsor of Lee Likes Bikes. See what they do:

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Bike nerd question: grip narrow or grip wide?

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Hi Lee,

I have a bike-nerd question that’s been bothering me for a couple of weeks and I think you’re the guy to help!

If you look at freestyle BMX riders they don’t hold the bars at the ends – they seem to consistently hold the bars more inward so that there is an inch or more of grip protruding from each side. Seems to go against the theory of wider bars = more control.

I’ve been playing around with this — move the controls inwards, pushing my thumbs up against the inside of the grips when I’m cornering and only using the full width when climbing — and it seems to put less strain on my wrists, but I don’t know why and I’m not sure if I’m just imagining it. Any thoughts?

Cheers – Mike

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Pump tracks in EagleVail, CO

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Check out these LLB-designed pump tracks — one advanced and one beginner — in the town of EagleVail, CO.

My wife, girls and I will be riding there this weekend!

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Power testing: in two sessions or all at once?

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Hi Lee,

First of all, I just wanted to say thanks for the Pump Up the Base programme. It is the first bike related training programme I have done (although i have extensive experience with track and field programmes, predominantly sprinting) and was blown away by the progress I made over the 12 weeks; struggling to manage the 6x3min sets at 250w in the beginning and wondering how i was going to do 10 min let along 15-20 to being able to do the 3x20min reps at a significantly higher power output marginally lower heart rate, but even better is the look on my mates faces as they realise I’ve been waiting at the top of a climb for them for a couple of minutes and that I’m already to continue on down the trail.

Now I am about to start Prepare to Pin It, but I don’t know quite how to approach the testing. The testing in the e-book appears to be broken up over 2 days (sub-max and speed endurance/ max power), however, the blog posts on your own tests appear to have it all on one day (the longer TT also appears be a FTP test rather than the sub-max in the e-book) is this correct and which one would you recommend over the other and why?

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Awesome examples of awesome riding

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I want to put some of the best riding — ever! — in one place for us mortals to study. I’m looking for clean shredding.

Check these out, and tell me what I missed!

UPDATED July 7, 2015 with Greg Minnaar’s World Cup DH winning run.
UPDATED July 6, 2015 with Andreu Lacondeguy’s beautiful violence.

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Aaron Gwin wins — chainless!

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By now most of the internet knows Aaron Gwin won last week’s World Cup downhill in Leogang without a chain. He broke it out of the gate, shrugged it off then railed and pumped his way to a win — over the best riders in the world — the rest of whom pedaled!

Totally rad. Go Aaron. Go America. Go God.

Update July 3, 2015: Added link and summary of Dirt article “Aaron Gwin – Chainless – How did he do it?”

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Sweet new pump tracks at Martinhal Sagres Beach Family Resort Hotel in Sagres, Portugal

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Check out this pair of pump tracks I designed for a 5-star resort on the coast of Portugal.

These tracks were built by the resort’s construction crew — and they look fun!

The beach view isn’t bad either.

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Weight on bars when turning?

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Hi Lee!

I’m practicing the LLB Remote Coaching cornering drills before every ride and the lean angles are getting bigger! At least on the paved parking lot…

Question: When leaning the bike, say into a left turn should the left hand put a bit more weight on the front wheel? Or should I try to even it out with the other hand?

I get the feeling on dirt a bit more weight on front wheel = more traction on front wheel –> is a good idea … Or not?

By the way: Love your videos!

Thanks,

Jan

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Cornering: flat feet or outside foot down (again)?

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Hey Lee-
Met you at the Georgia high School mountain bike league Summit last summer with Dan Brooks and got some good riding in there. I have a serious question about cornering and the techniques that IMBA is teaching. I find that I do a combination of flat footed for easy turns and outside foot down for aggressive cornering. What is your recommendation after the recent IMBA teaching of “flat-footed” through turns.

Stefanie Gore
North Georgia Mountain Bike Club (founder and junior mtb coach)
Georgia High School Mountain Bike League coach

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