Mountain Biking
I send a PM to one of the guys on here that I know is a Mtn biker, but wanted to get some feedback from the exercise gang as a whole. You will note I am a noob and don't know all the technical terms!
Ok, so I got the bike out this weekend for the first time, and went for a ride.
Trek Alpha 4500, rear is solid/fixed (no shocks) and front has rock shox.
3 speeds on the left (at the pedals), and 8 speeds on the right trigger (rear gears)
So I wanted to get some thoughts on taking this thing off road.
My trip on Saturday was 5 miles and 95% on road, with just a small section down the main drag that I went on the grass beside the road, pretty dense sandy / muddish and grass.
The offroad grassy / sandy / muddy section was pretty TOUGH. Are most trails that tough or are they tighter packed down, closer to biking on pavement?
Should I have the max PSI on the tires to help cut through those sections or is there a PSI to weight or some sort of formula.
How much "weight" or lean should I be doing on my wrists? I felt like I was leaning pretty hard on them, my left hand was throbbing a bit by the end?
(How much are you "standing" to pedal vs sitting on seat and pedaling...I was on the seat 100% of the time)
Other tips or thoughts? Shoes? (I wore just standard Nikes "tennis" shoes) I prefer minimalist running shoes for my lifting and runnign but they might be too thin for the pedals?
Pants? (I had to tuck my jeans into my socks, kept wanting to grab at the gear on the pedal.
There should be very little weight on the wrists, you want to power from the legs. You are actually wasting a lot of energy gripping so hard.
I would also invest in proper pedals and mountain bike shoes. As for pants, they have a variety of great pants for mountain biking, with padding. They are generally a "compression" tight fitting pant or short.
When off road I am up a little to go over rocky or rough patches or at the end of steep hills. Tire pressures are an individual thing with trial and error. Do not have them too soft so that the tire comes off the bead, or too hard that the seated ride is unbearable.
If you bought the bike new, did the shop fit the bike to you? That is probably on the most important areas is to get the fit just right, again to avoid wasting energy.
