I have started riding more regularly with a group in and around my local trails (Brandon/Thetford).
I have never really considered myself to not be smooth rider but its apparent that when the pace is upped I seem to spend a good deal of energy not being smooth.
I appreciate that this isn't a very eloquent way of putting things 😳 😆
The trails we ride are a mixture of man made and natural undulating tracks that often have a repeating small bump pattern to them.
I find that need to have my seat up at "normal" height* to pedal efficiently but that with the constant terrain changes and undulations I feel like I am bucked around and loose my stride.
This is not technical terrain by any means - one of the guys I ride with rides rigid single speed swift and is uber smooth and fast over the same trails.
My bikes are all hard tails and this is XC riding rather than anything knarly 😉
Any help/suggestions word of MTFU encouragement ....... 😆
*no option for a dropper post.
cane creek thudbuster?
you'll find a lot of people will just 'float' over the saddle on a lot of terrain - majority of their weight is on the pedals/bars and they're really not sitting on the saddle at all - just using it as a reference point for body height.
Yeah you need to adopt the 'hover' nothing you can do if your weight is on the saddle.
I found the ruts and bumps at Thetford pretty annoying first ride out but then after 'dialling my brain' and looking ahead, relaxing and atticipating the upcoming undulations just tweaked the bike to follow the contours or pumped through the other stuff generating more speed.
Relax and focus a bit is what I mean really.
This was on a hardtail too.
Drop your saddle 1/2", stay loose, drive your weight into your feet and try to pump the bike into the dips and over the bumps.
shift your body weight around more to compensate for the movement of the bike.
Kev
List of ideas / stream of continuousness below. Trying to explain what I think I do when I am riding smooth. (This dose not happen all of the time! :)). Hope it gives you some ideas.
Practice pedalling and inch or so off you seat. Keeping your body level with the bike moving under. Try letting the bike float and rock backwards and forwards under you as the terrain changes. Try pulling up a little over bumps and pushing down into dips. Similarly when you have pulled up a little over a bump expect to have to suck up the rear a little and then push it back down into the dip.
Don't go too fast, work on smoothness then speed will come as the smoothness becomes more intuitive. Practice pumping up and down dropped curbs on driveways riding along or close to the curb stone.
chiefgrooveguru has it IMO.
Worth investing in a skills course too, where you can be taught specific techniques for improving flow
I found when I got a hard tail that Thetford felt like a lot more effort than it did on the full sus.
You need to spend a lot of time hovering over the saddle & soaking the bumps up with your legs - on a full suss you can plough through stuff and let the suspension absorb the hits.
I found that I was way more tired riding the hardtail and struggled to keep up the same pace as I normally would.
Your legs gradually get used to it & you start finding smoother lines.
Look for sections when you can really 'pump' the trail too - there are quite a few sections where you barely need to pedal, it looks fairly flat but you can get quite a head of speed up.
You probably need to look further ahead than you normally would do.
New forks, wheels, a Ti seatpost and the 'right tyres' should sort it.......
*waves*
As above really mate, just hover over the saddle and use your legs and weight to pump the undulations. If you like we will have a practice session next time we are over and see what we can do.
O, and buy a Swift! 😉
EdO introduced me to proper pump technique last year. I've still some way to go but I can now pump sections of trail sufficiently well to gain enough extra speed to hardly need to pedal them now.
Pour cola over the computer and dont buy a new one until after october.
Hey,laugh all ye want. You know the benefits!
Look past things down the trail, not at specific trail features.
Stay loose.
Drop saddle an inch or two.
Slow down a fraction.
Smoothness is my middle name. Your arms and less should be doing the shock absorption not the bike, if you're on a hardtail you need to be mobile around the bike and look that little bit further ahead. forget suspension seatposts, they aren't necessary as long as you have the right technique.
loddrik whats your surname? loddrik smoothness.... has a catchy ring to it, i hope its something equally random.