Let’s face it – mountain biking can be an intimidating sport, even if you’ve been doing it a while. There are so many skills required in this sport, and the potential for injury can make it scary. For newer riders, this is even more true. Read on for tips that will keep you safer, improve your riding, and allow you to have more fun out on the trails.
1. Set your mountain bike up properly
First thing’s first, before you can even ride, you’ll want to make sure your mountain bike is set up properly. Keep these things in mind when it comes to mountain bike setup:
- Saddle height – make sure your saddle is set to a good height for you, low enough where you can still reach the ground with your feet, but not too low because that can hurt your the efficiency of your pedal stroke and can even cause pain to your hips and knees. This won’t be as important if you have a dropper post.
- Tire pressure – the proper air pressure for your mountain bike tires can depend on your own preference, but a general range for mountain bike tires is 20psi to 35psi. You should have a higher pressure in the rear wheel because that is where more of your weight will be while riding, and it will take harsher impacts. Lower tire pressure can help to keep your ride smoother but also makes it more likely you will get a flat tire while riding.
- Bar height – your handlebars, like your saddle, need to strike a balance between not being too high or too low. Try to set the handlebars up in a way you can grip them comfortably. Too low of handlebars can make it difficult to keep your weight back and low on descents, while too high will make it difficult to weight the front wheel for traction while riding uphill.
- Pedals – While pedals can be overlooked, you will want to get pedals that are comfortable for you and provide good grip. You can choose between clipless and flat pedals. Flat pedals are usually best for beginner mountain bikers.
2. Choose the proper gear kit
Helmet
The most important piece of equipment any rider owns is their helmet. Make sure to get a solid helmet, either full face or half shell, that meets ASTM F1952 certification, or EN1078 in Europe.
Mountain bike shoes
You will have to also choose mountain bike shoes that work with whichever pedals you have on your bike. Generally speaking flat pedals will work best for beginners, because if you have a background of riding bikes while growing up, they will probably be much more familiar. No matter which type of pedals you get make sure to get shoes that work with them (either flat pedal shoes or clipless ones).
You will want to ensure a good fit as your shoes are the primary contact point with your mountain bike outside your grip on the handlebars. And look for shoes that provide solid protection like a reinforced toe box, heal protection, and padding throughout.
Other gear
There is also other protective gear you can and should wear mountain biking depending on what type of riding you plan on doing. Gloves are a no brainer for most riders, and additional protection for your knees, elbows, chest, back, spine and neck can be important if you’re going to be pushing your limits.
The bottom line is to make sure the right gear kit that fits the riding you do.
3. Keep control on tight turns
Tight turns, including switchbacks and berms, are always more challenging for beginner mountain bikers.
Look where you want to go
This should be self explanatory but the old adage holds true. Your bike will tend to follow your eyes, and nowhere is this truer or more important than when riding a tight turn.
Keep your focus keenly on the line you want your bike to take through the tight switchback or berm, and you will be surprised by how well your wheels track that line.
Berms
Berms are tight corners where there is a slope built up to allow you to lean into your turn. These are easier to ride than switchbacks, and you can carry more speed into them by comparison. The key to riding berms well is to focus on your line and look where you want to go.
Remember, the angle of the berms will allow your wheels to stay perpendicular to them while you ride, and this pushes your force directly into the berm and helps you to keep traction.
Switchbacks
Switchbacks are basically 180-degreee turns, where you “switch back” to the direction you were just riding from. These are commonly found on steep ridges to prevent the trail from being too steep on the way down and to allow for the creation of longer trails.
Switchbacks refer to tight turns that don’t have a berm to assist you. While riding switchbacks, make sure you:
- approach with the right amount of speed – start slow if you’re not sure how fast you can handle a switchback. Unlike a berm, you won’t be able to lean your bike into the turn as much without losing traction.
- avoid leaning into the turn too much – keeping your body perpendicular to the ground as much as possible is important when riding a switchback. If your wheels get leaning over too much on a tight turn with no berm, it’s likely your wheels will lose traction. You want to turn the wheel still while not leaning over much, which can take some practice.
- stay loose – staying loose while riding switchbacks will give you more control and allow you to maneuver your bike more easily. It really makes a difference to being able to turn your wheel while not leaning over too much.
4. Position your body correctly
Steep descents
Positioning your body properly on steep descents is very important. If you have your center of gravity too high, your chances of being thrown over your handlebars will go up a lot.
A good way to think about proper body positioning on steep descents is to always keep your legs in a position where they are pointing straight up and down (perpendicular to the sky), regardless of the slope of the trail and angle of your bike. This means that on a steep descent, relative to your bike and the slope of the trail, your legs will look like they are leaning back.
Doing this correctly will keep your weight low and back when tackling steep downhill sections of trail.
Climbs
Using the same logic, you will want to shift your lower body forward relative to your bike and the slope on climbs. From a side view, your legs should look like they are close to being straight up and down, but leaning forward compared to the slope of the trail.
This will allow your front wheel to track the trail better, giving you better control and a traction while climbing.
For more on how to improve your climbing skills, check out our mountain bike climbing tips.
5. Practice at a pump track
Pump tracks are great places for riders to practice and work on their mechanics, and this is especially true for beginner mountain bikers.
What makes a pump track ideal for practice is it intuitively teaches you to shift your weight and position your body to “pump” off of the rolling slopes you find on the pump track and keep your momentum.
You will learn how to compress your weight and lean forward as you go up the incline, release this pressure as you roll over the top of the mound, and then recompress on the decline, to allow you to keep your speed and even pick up speed.
See for yourself in this video:
6. Use your weight properly
If you take our advice above and practice your riding at a pump track, you should be able to get a good feeling of how to shift your weight properly to propel yourself and your mountain bike over obstacles and keep your momentum going as much as possible.
Shifting your weight around properly, either back or forward, will allow you to ride much more efficiently.
Getting from point A to point B on a mountain bike isn’t all about pedaling, you’d be surprised by how far you can get just shifting your weight correctly to make use and keep your momentum.
7. Glide over rocks and roots and other obstacles
What makes mountain biking both fun and challenging is the fact that you usually are not riding perfectly flat trails.
Instead, mountain biking trails are typically filled with rocks, roots, and other uneven sections to deal with. Many riders refer to these as technical terrain. Sometimes these obstacles are on their own, but often times, you will hit whole sections of trail that have lots of roots, rocks, and even rock gardens.
One of the first things to keep in mind with any obstacle you are riding over is to keep your body loose. Being tense as you hit obstacles will make it more likely you get bounced around and loose control.
Alternatively, by keeping your body nice and loose, your arms and legs act as a natural form of suspension as you ride over this rugged terrain.
You’ll be able to put the skills learned at the pump track to good use as you hit rocks and roots.
You will want to compress your front suspension and shift your weight forward just before you hit an obstacle, de-weight your front wheel as it makes contact, and then move your weight forward again to de-weight your rear wheel when it contacts the obstacle.
Rock gardens are a bit different since they usually consist of a lot of rocks all together, and some of the time they can be loose and move on you while riding over them. Its super key to keep loose on these sections and not make any sudden moves, like sharply turning or braking.
Remember to keep your body position back on descents, with your legs straight up and down but back relative to your bike and the hill (as we mentioned in tip number 4).
8. Time your gear shift
After finishing a descent or flat section of trail and approaching a climb, you probably won’t be in the optimal gear for that climb. You want to time your gear shift properly, and as a rule of thumb, you want to shift early rather than late.
Shifting early can allow your pace of pedaling to pick up and give you the momentum you need to power up the climb. Shift too late, and your chances of stalling out and having to push your bike up the hill go way up.
Keep in mind that there is still such a thing as shifting gears too early. You want to maximize your momentum from the descent or flat section of trail, which means getting as many pedal strokes as you can in the stronger gear before shifting to an easier one for the climb ahead.
9. Learn from better riders
One of our favorite beginner mountain biking tips. As a new rider, you should try to ride with better, more experienced riders whenever you can.
By riding with better riders, you will feel the need to push your pace more than you would if you rode alone. Better riders will be able to carry their momentum better through a trail, partially through better weight shift, but also through better line choices.
If you’re able to follow a more experienced rider you will be able to pick up on their line choices and figure out some of the things that make them better and faster than you.
Another huge benefit of riding with better riders is trying new features. A big hurdle mountain bikers face when considering trying a new jump or drop is not knowing the right speed to hit it with.
If you’re riding with someone who already hits that feature, you can get them to “tow” you, meaning you follow them and match their speed, to ensure you aren’t hitting a jump or drop way too fast or too slow.
10. Gradually increase difficulty level
As with any endeavor, you won’t see much improvement in your mountain biking unless you push yourself to improve and try new things. If you’re serious about improving your MTB game, make sure you try new, more difficult trails and features.
If you start out on flat trails, try to mix in some steeper ones. If you’re learning to hit jumps, and you’ve mastered the smallest one at your local trails, try to move up to the next hardest one.
Using an app like Strava to time your rides is another way to push yourself. You can monitor how long a section or trail took you, and try to beat it next time you ride there.
Frequently asked questions
While this might seem like a simple answer, the most important thing any mountain biker can do to improve is to ride a lot. Getting lots of trail time will help you to develop the skills you need to ride at a higher level.
Beyond riding a lot, you need to be willing to push yourself. This can mean hitting more difficult trails, trying to beat your fastest time on trails you already ride, or hitting that new jump you’ve been thinking about.
Beyond setting up your bike properly, you will want to focus on learning proper weight shift and body positioning needed for different sections of trail, including tight switchbacks, steep descents and riding over obstacles like rocks and roots.
Mountain biking can be as hard or as easy as you make it. There are a wide variety of trails out there to suit many different skill levels. Learning some of the basic bike handling skills such as proper cornering and body positioning can go a long way to making the sport not only easier for you, but much more fun!
Conclusion
If you’re just getting started in mountain biking, hopefully these tips will give you the confidence you need to get out there, push yourself a bit and have more fun. MTB is an awesome way to get some exercise and some thrills all while enjoying beautiful scenery. Have your received any other tips that really helped your riding? Be sure to share your favorite advice for beginner riders in the comments below!