So, I was in wales at the w/e. took in only 3 trails in the 2 days. legs fine. back fine. arms fine. control largely OK, the identified weak area in my game was hand strength at the end of a long decent.
I live in the flat lands so find it near impossible to practice long descents with & 'arm pump' was definately an issue. I've tried getting thinner grips (for my small girlish hands) and have tried braking less (started to get a bit scared – I don't want to die). So I think that leaves me with train the muscles in forearms for more endurance.

Any ideas on what I can do?

powerball.

& I forgot to mention: I've tweeked my brake lever positioning too. so I think that's dialled, but further ideas are accepted too…

You should try doing the Megavalanche!

Could be gripping on too tight?

I've got one of these gripmaster things, but it's the hardest sprung one, and I guess for this you would want a lower-strength one and do loads of reps.

more travel, bigger brakes

I used to get real bad finger pain after long decents and long rides, and after some recent changes in my riding style it's mostly gone away.

Firstly, if you're two-finger breaking, change to one-finger, and position your leavers so that the crook of the leaver is inline with your index finger. This gives you an extra finger to be gripping the bars with and you don't need to grip so hard.

Secondly, don't ride with your finger over the breaks unless you're actually breaking. I used to have my fingers over the leavers for the whole decent, but you'll find there are usually good sections where you can use that extra finger in the bars.

Thirdly, Get a lot more of your weight back and ride on your feet rather than on your arms. This made the most difference for me, as I felt much more in control especially on steeper decents and when cornering, as well as taking almost all the stress off your arms and hands. Ride on your legs and steer with your arms.

Hope this helps, it worked wonders for me.

Robin is dead right about riding on your feet. You shouldn't need to hold on to the bars very hard at all. With a little bit of focussed coaching your hand strength problem would be negated, and your technique in general would be improved too – have you considered trying a skills session?

I had really sore forearms last year in France. Avoiding deathgripping is what I think I need to do but I'm also like you, don't do much riding – esp long downhills. I'm now on thicker grips, by the way.

powerball's probably good

when I was at school they had some cut-up broom handles with a hole drilled at the mid point, threaded with rope & a weight tied to the end. You had to wind the weight up & down while holding your arms out, first with palms downward & then upward. It bloody hurt after a while and our PE teacher swore it was great for hand strength (cricket, footy throw-ins etc)

increasing forearm strength – ask SFB he has phenomenal strength in his forearms, mentioned something about sitting on it to numb it so it makes it feel like someone else is doing it??

Grumm> I tried the avalanche enduro in '08. I'm quite comfortable with my masculinity & know my limits. ta :p
I might give the Mega a go next yr 😀 😉

Qwerty> I think 130mm travel & 203mm disk are plenty for a welsh trail centre. I ride a solid frame SS at home & feel a bit "over biked" on a FS TBH. LOL

RB> I do prefer single finger braking & like to use the second finger rather than the 1st & have set up the levers to suit. I like the idea of focussing on technique. I was trying some of the stuff you highlighted, but I'll put some more work into it.
Perhaps it's time I spent sometime with a pro coach?

Glenp> i hadn't – any recommendations?

It's great fun, but the arm pump was horrendous – my wrists still feel tender.

My two smallest left hand fingers dont do much as I badly broke my hand and fingers a while back. I find thicker grips and thinner gloves make big difference, but getting brake levers really inboard is critical making most of blade leverage. Also angle them so they are in the right/comfortable position when decending, rather than sitting on bike in your garage. Wind levers in so brake locks up when levers are nearly touching the grip.

Could be gripping on too tight?

tick

I have broken my left wrist 3times (non riding) and I use alot of pressups on my knuckes and finger-tips to challenge my wrists. As a bi-product its strengthen up my hands no end! I can hold both fingers on the levers and never suffered!

Of course you may be riding much rougher/longer trails than me, I expect so in Wales. But I'd check a few things first:

1. Moving brakes inboard as mentioned above so you only ever brake with one finger
2. Angling them, probably up a bit, so that when your are low in the "attack" position your hand is flat with your forearm, not tipped down. The angle depends on your frame geometry and body shape. For example, my Giant is quite high at the front, so my angle is quite "up".
3. Check the lever reach and try to minimise it without losing braking power – sounds like you already did this.
4. Descending, drop low and try to put more pressure back, balancing purely on your feet. Your hands can then be more relaxed, just tight enough to stop the bars being whipped out of your hand. I can only really do this on my FS, on the HT I'm all over the bars/sus-fork. Incidentally, this final point has improved my speed down fast/loose trails, I think because having a more relaxed grip and upper-body is allowing the bike to straighten itself when things go skew-whiff – which it usually does. But it's still a work-in-progress!

best of luck

I used a Powerball (sparingly) for a week and got tendonitis and couldn't ride most of the following week, it's sat in the box untouched since then…

crotchrocket (good name, but I'm not comfortable typing it!) – don't know where you are based, but wherever it is I'd recommend going for the CTC system. We're in Surrey Hills, if that's anywhere close?

Our method starts with riding on feet, not hands – and has multiple other benefits which will get you riding smoother and faster. The system, originally devised by Ian Warby ex of Aston Hill/Firecrest, is suitable for every level of rider, right up to world class downhillers (several of which have done the same instructor training as us, indeed they have done it with us).

*Try not to adopt death grip
*As mentioned align your brakes at the right angle for you in a riding position (mine point down quite a lot)
*Bring bite point of levers as close to bar as poss and still have good braking
*move levers inboard for 1 finger braking
*alternate 1 finger braking between index and middle on a long descent.
*maybe try one of those squeezy balls for hand strength
*I 2nd the broom handle rope and weight, it's pretty good for forearms

i think the definition of deathgripping is slightly misplaced on this thread.

deathgripping is all four fingers on the bars and no braking at all…

I certainly would not have the levers down – that encourages you to go elbows up and be somewhat all over the front of the bike. Levers up-ish helps you drop wrists and elbows and leave your arms just laying neutrally on the grips.

As for "deathgripping" – agree what is normally meant by that is simply avoiding the brakes. However the other meaning is a no-no. I do suggest resting the braking fingers on the lever, because it stops you grabbing the brakes too rapidly. The trick with reducing braking has nothing to do with how you hold the bars though – something else!

In addition to the riding tips:

a) take up rock climbing. It's fun, good for all over body strength and conditioning, but particularly fingers and forearms. Because it's more natural and less repetitive than powerball/gripmaster, you're less likely to get tendonitis. You still need to be sensible with stretching, and warming up, though, same as any other sport.

b) do some restaurant waiting shifts. Build up to clearing family service with sideplates on tables of 4 in only one trip. Tends to be only the one forearm that gets the full treatment though!

Search on CRC for "Motogrip" it is a little rubber ring that you squeeze to increase forearm strength. I think they were designed for Moto enduro riders

As above, but also drop your heels and push against the pedals, especially the leading one. You're then using your legs to stop you dropping forwards, rather than the weight going through your hands to the bars

A cheap alternative to a powerball is a squash ball, come in various compressions and you can sit at your desk squeezing away with one hand without a strange buzzing noise making your coworkers wonder what's going on.

glenp: Your courses sound interesting. My birthday is coming up in early Oct and I was thinking about some tuition as I feel I have stood-still for ages and am getting more circumspect (scared) not less!

Looking at your site, I reckon I'm battling with level 3 and wanting to move into level 4. I'm in Somerset so I could do a couple of day-trips. The dates in your calendar go up to mid-Sept. Have you got anything planned for a weekends in Oct?

Powerball spins… so cant be replaced by a squash ball!
I gather its all to do with the muscles constricting blood flow and making your arms hurt. getting stronger arms isnt the only fix as this would give bigger muscles and more constricting

buzz

I trail building tonight with Richard – I'll remind him to update the schedule! If you have a particular date in mind I'm sure he may just let that determine what happens when.

As for level – even if you're quite an experienced rider I'd encourage you to come in at level one or two, because the basic stuff about how the engagement with the bike works, how we move energy around, how we maximise everything with looking and so-on is explained there. Be good to see you if you decide to make the trip – if you fancy stopping over the local B&B is v nice Bulmer Farm

I used to get this really bad but after I serviced my forks I don't get it as much. Something else to try I suppose.

Tommy tanks,5 times a week
Sorry,i'll get my coat