Mountain biking is a great sport, but like all other sports, beginners have to start with baby steps before they can fully and safely participate.
When I started mountain biking I would be riding vehicle-width dirt tracks around the local lake. They were great fun for a while but I soon wanted to progress. Like most people I just got on my mountain bike and rode, after all how much different to riding on the road can it be? I knew how to ride so the rest should be easy, right? I would experiment with different techniques on the trail to see what felt more comfortable. Off I’d go with my mates, on reflection we were all as bad as each other technically, some where stronger physically and for some time strength overcome technical ineptitude, combined with the exuberance of youth and at that point the self preservation gene had not been fully developed. Crashes I had a few. But if your not crashing your not trying hard enough, right?
It wasn’t until I moved to Spain to set up the Andalucian Cycling Experience that I thought it might be useful to get qualified as an MTB instructor. Although I thought I was a competent rider I learned a lot on that course about technique and how to actually ride my mountain bike. I would recommend taking yourself off and doing an MTB skills course in the early days of riding as this will rapidly accelerate you enjoyment of riding off road. Now, of course you can just ask a friend how to ride certain obstacles. Your friend will tell you how they ride said obstacle which is not necessarily the technically correct way
What bike? The real question before you buy a bike is what type of riding do I want to do? Is it simply riding cross country (xc) non technical rides or are you aiming at full body armour downhill style of rides? The answer to this question will affect the bike/kit you choose and there is a mountain bike for all occasions. XC, enduro, downhill, the list goes on and on.
As a beginner I personally think that learning on a hard tail (suspension only on the front forks) as this brings your riding skills and technique on far quicker than learning on a full suspension (double suspension front and back) as the full sus bike will absorb a lot of your errors an when you have an off and trust me you will have an off, it will be a big one.
Mountain biking is a wonderful sport with rides to suit all levels. The most important thing is that you are comfortable with the trails you ride. You’ll know when you need to make your rides more challenging, you’ll also know when you have reached your limit and happy just to ride at that level.
Trail centres are a great place to go and practice. At trail centres to routes have been made to ride they have a colour coding for the routes as follows:
- Green/Blue – easy
- Red – intermediate
- Black – hard
- Black diamond – advanced
- There are a few more levels above this
Years ago I rode with the Managing Director of the Fort William Trail Centre and I will always remember what he said about riding the harder trails, his quote was ‘the problem is Ashley is that we can all take off’…….
Enjoy your riding but don’t fly before you can ride, so contact us and let us organise your next MTB holiday in Spain.
