I get thigh burn on my trailing leg on longer descents especially once tired.Doesnt matter if its a techy one or more low key.I wonder if I am too crouched in my attack position or just not putting as much weight on my leading foot?Have thought about swapping legs to lead with but that feels really alien.I am pretty fit so it is technique thats the issue, any thoughts?
As you say, probably squatting down to much for to long. Look for spots in the trail where you can stand up taller to stretch out, also a quick full pedal rev does wonders for taking the load off
It’s perfectly normal, swap your leading leg over occasionally and all will be well.
I will try that, but boy does swapping leading legs feel weird
Do you do any strength training? If not, do some.
No,I always thought doing a fair mileage in hilly terrain was good enough but its an idea
Try some wallsits and graduate to single leg wallsits
Yeah it doesn’t have to be much but doing some wall sits, squats and calf raises will do wonders for your descending endurance!
Used to have this problem, started strength training, now no longer have this problem.
Technique can be an issue too. If you’re crouching rather than hinging at the hips you are not using your knees range of motion effectively.
My mate started getting it really badly after he changed bikes to a modern HT with a steep seat tube. Put it down to the change of position?
Might be worth playing around with bar height / stack height. Lower stack will mean a more crouched position relative to the bars, which might result in more leg fatigue?
I remember reading/watching something (possible a Cathro article on PB?) where I think the advice was to stay ‘tall’ on the bike as much as possible short of having your legs completely straight. Having greater stack will help achieve that. At 187cm I run relatively high front ends: can’t remember exact stack figures but 170mm forks with long HTs (145-155mm), 20mm of spacers under stem and 38mm risers. All meaning I’m less crouched over on the bike in my natural descending position.
I do still get leg fatigue on longer descents but probably not as bad than if I was more crouched over on the bike.
Being able to lead with either foot is a useful skill to have in the armoury. Yes it feels weird, the more you practice it, the less weird it gets...
Are you sticking enough weight on your hands? Coming further forward on the bike and really driving the front end will take (some) weight off your legs.
Unless you're just straightlining down the hill, you should never be in a single position for much time - swapping feet for corners, pumping, hopping, just working the bike, that'll keep your legs active and blood flowing as you're never just gritting your teeth, holding on and letting the lactic build up.
...and obviously - ride more, bigger, descents to condition yourself for bigger descents!
Went to the pump track today for the first time in a very long time. First couple of laps noticed i was getting a bit of thigh burn. Went away when i thought about my technique a bit more and used my legs more rather than locked in one position.
Sounds like you are staying too static and fridged on the bike
I can’t think of any decent where I would stay one leg down for long, the general would be equal footed and moving around on the bike when needed, never 1 leg down for long
So difficult to say though with seeing your ride
Kasper Woolley has a nice vid about feet positioning on corners:
A mate of mine has recently done one about efficient descending:
I get this when I get tired or nervous on descents and starting 'crouching' too much on the bike, discovered during some coaching and now it's a good tell-tale for me that my quads will start to fatigue/burn when my position gets too defensive.
If I stand taller and hinge at the hips/drop my heels like I should, I don't get it whereas when I find myself crouching down and too far back on the bike I'm essentially riding in a squat and burn my legs out (as well as not having enough weight and control on the front of the bike which then makes it worse, a vicious circle!).
If you have a full suspension bike then stand up taller. If it’s a hardtail the toughen up 😉.
I get this - I didn’t use to. I think a combination of getting older and riding more difficult stuff / faster is probably the cause.
I try to consciously stand taller on the bike when I feel my trailing quad burning and I also do some specific leg training to try and help too.
I have tried switching legs and it does feel weird but can do it on easy stuff / for short periods of time. Something else I should probably practice more often.
I got bored years ago when I was riding with lots of slower, newer people and taught myself to ride switch, so I can pretty much ride left or right foot forward on all but the hardest stuff. A nice skill to have in emergencies but I hardly ever do it unless I force myself.
Just get stronger and fitter legs