Which type of road bike for MTB training?
Lee,
I’m getting a road bike for my birthday. Any suggestions? I hear I’ll be a stronger mountain biker for doing so.
Vasi
Questions, comments and criticisms
How do deadlifts apply to MTB?
Over the past few weeks I’ve been posting deadlift photos and videos on social media, and people are asking:
How do deadlifts apply to mountain biking?
Riding analysis: On Track with Curtis Keene S2E2
Lee,
Have you seen the most recent video in Curtis’ Red Bull enduro series?
Toward the beginning there is a shot of him coming out of a corner and lifting the front as he accelerates out. Braaap!
Is there a functional purpose to this?
Is he just that hard on the pedals?
Is it merely an artifact of pumping the exit of the corner?
….or is it just a “style” thing?
True
Leaning a bicycle vs. dirt bike vs. street bike
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
Recovering from hard rides
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
Power testing: in two sessions or all at once?
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?
Weight on bars when turning?
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
Cornering: flat feet or outside foot down (again)?
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
How many feet down in turns?
Lee,
Been an admirer from the UK for a while now and have a good collection of your books. I’d be interested in seeing a blog post from you on cornering technique.
In Mastering Mountain Bike Skills 2nd Edition, you advocate putting your outside leg down and putting all the weight into the outside leg. This allows the rider to weight the tyre effectively and get your lean on. I’ve also seen other people use a technique where they lean their butt out just as much and lean the bike, but they keep their feet parallel to the ground. I see the benefits to this being that, since both legs are not full extension, the rider can extend into any depressions and most importantly get their pump on as they’re coming out of the corner.
Connected to that, your book advocates a similar technique for traversing a slope where the down slope leg is fully extended and the hips are tilted over the bike. To me, this is another situation where it might make more sense to have feet parallel to the slope so that they can extend into any depressions.
Anyway, as mentioned, I’d be keen to know your opinions on this. I’ve always used the leg down technique but am wondering if I should be using the other technique for more radness!
Gavin
Can you ride harder in softer shoes?
Conventional wisdom tells us stiffer-soled cycling shoes are better than softer ones. Something out Power! and Efficiency! and Being Pro!
Our friend Max asks whether that’s true, especially for mountain bikers.
Miriam Nicole’s endo: was she too far back?
Lee,
After studying your lessons about not getting weight back in the air and staying centered (Stop the injury cycle!), I’m curious if that contributed to Myriam Nicole’s violent endo at the Fort William World Cup. I know landing on the flat didn’t help, but is this an example of overloading the rear like your info graphic?
PS: Just trying to wrap my head around it all as I start to slowly but surely leave the ground higher and longer the more I ride and better I get. Not a knock on her, I know she’s far more skilled a rider than I. I just watched the second half in slow mo and immediately saw your info graphic in my head.
Randy
More fork travel for XTERRA and XC?
Lee,
Hope all is well. I was thinking of getting better and longer front end suspension from 100mm to 120mm. Knowing that I’m transitioning from Ironman to XTERRA, mountain bike biathlons, a large variety of trail rides, as well as the 12 or 24 hour thrown in, would adding 20mm of travel be something your recommend or is 120mm simply overkill for the type of riding I do? Also would adding suspension mean I would have to change up the stem length, spacers that you guys dialed in at our last Moab camp? After reading your book on Mountain Bike Skill, I would initially think it would slacken the head tube angle, etc.
Thank you. Your thoughts/inputs on shred-fu are always greatly appreciated! Looking at my first XTERRA in late June in CO, South Carolina or Indiana (can’t decide yet) and maybe a 12 or 24 hour relay next month.
Neil