The power of kung fu skills

Niko Mulally’s chainless world championship downhill run!

Plus notes from two stoked Peoria, IL skills students:

Hey Lee,
It’s Mike Wolford. I was in the Friday group in Peoria, IL. Just wanted to let you know that I came in first overall in our local Cat 2 mtb race. In three years of racing, this is my first overall win. Prior to this race, I’ve always finished in the upper-half to upper-third of the overall field.

How did it happen? It was the Kung-Fu. In short, I carried more speed through the corners than my competitors. That’s really what it amounts to.

I was 7th or 8th at the start, but by working every corner, I was able to close gaps and pick people off without burning a bunch of matches. I even threw in some late braking and ate up big chunks of gap (I was like “Holy shit, that was a free 10 feet”). Once I got into the lead at the beginning of the last lap, I really concentrated on the Kung-Fu. About halfway thru, the two guys following me (teammates) tried to attack. But, because I’d been carrying more speed and expending less energy to get back to race pace, I had plenty of reserves to fight them off. After a couple of minutes, they were dropped and I was able to coast across the line in first. Ironically, winning this race required less effort and suffering than any other race I’ve done.

After the race, the guy who came in third told people he stopped chasing me because he wasn’t willing to take the risks I was taking. Ha! I wasn’t taking any risks! I was completely in control and riding within my (new) limits. If anything, I was getting on myself for not maximizing the Kung-Fu and getting thru the corners at the same pace I had in practice laps.

My race was far from perfect and I’ve got a lot of room for improvement. But, you’ve given me fundamentals to work on. Every corner, every drop, every climb is an opportunity to get better.

Thanks, Lee. What you’ve done for my mountain biking is game changing and will help me for years to come. Sine wave of love, baby!

Mike Wolford

Lee,

Greetings, and I hope all is well.

I have been practicing the techniques you taught me several weeks ago, and HOLY COW! This stuff actually works, and guess what, I am not only having a BLAST on the bike, my endurance (mental & physical) has about doubled! And, I know you shall find this hard to believe, I haven’t done a single face plant since that day. I have learned to use both butt cheeks, corner, descend like a “pro” and make angles everywhere. I cannot believe how fast I am now, compared to several weeks ago. I am riding low on the bike, dropped the seat another inch, put a 60mm stem on vs. 140mm, and WOW!

I have been SMOKING the regulars on the training rides just from your techniques!

Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Steve Driscoll

And here’s Niko Mulally at DH Worlds

Beautiful flow and 4th out of more than 80 world class riders.

I wonder if the lost chain actually helped him ride faster by:

• Keeping him off the brakes as much as possible
• Putting even more emphasis on pump — both in the bumps and the turns
• Adding another stress and launching him even deeper into a Flow state

Worlds is full of Flow triggers. Did the mechanical actually help trigger a higher level of performance?

Watch and learn:

Know more. Have more fun!

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