Mountain Bikes

Top Mountain Biking Tips

Top Mountain Biking Tips

Mountain Biking is a wonderful activity which can be enjoyed by the majority of the population in some form or another. Here are a few more tips and an introduction to the wonderful world of mountain biking.

Top Tip #1 – Make sure your mountain bike is a good fit!

Top Tip #2 – Always inspect your mountain bike BEFORE you set off up (or down) a mountain!

Top Tip #3 – Don’t forget a little routine maintenance of your mountain bike

Top Tip #4 – Now you’re really on your way, so it’s time you learned about shifting . . . it can be a little confusing at first and you don’t want to select the wrong shift when you’re halfway up or down a big hill . . . trust me on that one!

Top Tip #5 – Up and down big hills on a mountain bike, that sounds kinda tricky . . .

Top Tip #6 – Just so long as you know how to slow down and stop your mountain bike . . . aaaarrghhh!

Happy Biking!

 

How to Buy a Mountain Bike Helmet

How to Buy a Mountain Bike Helmet

Mountain biking is fast, it’s fun and it’s dangerous. OK, there might not be many cars about for you to crash into like when you’re riding your bicycle on the roads, but there are still plenty of trees (watch out for low branches on those narrow tracks) and rocks to help you to “dismount” in an undignified fashion. You can get up to some incredible speeds whizzing along those tracks and trails, so it’s really important that you always wear a suitable mountain bike helmet, after all, you only get one head so you’d better look after it.

Why You Need a Mountain Bike Helmet?

It’s definitely a fine line between bravery and being just plain stupid. I would have probably died of fright long before I even got to that part of the track, but then that’s just me. I do take my hat off (but not my helmet!) to these guys and gals, major respect there people, major respect!

Anyway, now you know why you need a mountain bike helmet, but how do you buy one?

Well, you can buy your mountain bike helmet online, or at any of the sports stores. You’ll find lots of friendly help and advice there. Let’s just run one or two things passed you which you need to remember:

  • you can pay around $10 at a discount store, or from around $30 upwards from a sports store (and the rest) but it doesn’t necessarily follow that a helmet will be safer if you pay more for it, it’s the fit that’s the most important thing to remember. As long as your helmet has a CPSC sticker to show that it’s passed the minimum safety requirements, then you’re on the right track – get it? Right track, I don’t know where I get them from! The fitting is, as I’ve just said, the most important thing. Make sure that it’s nice a snug on your head, not too loose to wobble about but not tight enough to give you a headache. It should come well down over your forehead but also cover the back of your head, and the side straps should form a nice “V” shape around your ears.
  • if you look after if properly your mountain bike helmet should last you for up to five years, as long as you don’t have any accidents. Bicycle helmets are designed to withstand one single impact, so even if your helmet looks ok after an accident it won’t be able to do the same standard of job it was designed for and will need to be replaced.

Don’t forget your mountain bike helmet, it could save your life one day, really!

Make Sure That Your Mountain Bike Helmet Fits Properly

That’s the way to do it . . . .

 

What is MTB Orienteering?

Mountain biking in Arizona desert, USA
Mountain biking via Wikipedia
What is MTB Orienteering?
 
Imagine being set down in the middle of some desert somewhere, for example, with your trusty mountain bike for transport and a map in your hand, and being told that you have to finish up at a point on that map, in a certain time limit. Well, that’s MTB Orienteering.
You get on your bike, you read your map and hopefully you end up in the right place quicker than anybody else does. 
Now, don’t underestimate the skills involved in this popular and growing pastime, it’s not a map like us mere mortals know, with road numbers and street names, second left, turn right at the traffic lights and you’re there type map, oh no, this is a map with contours and colors where you have to recognize peaks and escarpments, valleys and viewpoints. There are no street signs to give you a clue that you’re heading in the right direction, only the sun and the stars to guide you (crikey, you must be taking your time, best pedal a bit faster).
MTB Orienteering – Mountain Bike Orienteering
 
This is definitely not for the faint hearted. It’s an endurance race so you need to be fit, and unlike orienteering on foot you’re not permitted to leave the track, so you have to navigate your way in the right direction, sometimes at incredible speeds (these bikes don’t half get cracking down those mountain tracks) and pick the best, most direct, fastest route possible, all while not falling off or crashing into a tree.
The only special equipment you’ll really need (apart from a mountain bike of course) is a map holder, so that you can see the map easily while riding, you’ll also need a compass for navigation. You’re not allowed to carry a GPS or anything like that (cheater) but you are permitted to carry tools to repair your bicycle if necessary, (puncture repair kit and a pump then).
The maps that you’re provided with are generally on a smaller scale than the ones used for orienteering on foot, either 1:10  000 or maybe 1:30 000 and don’t have as much information but the tracks will be marked and classified as whether they are easy, slow or difficult. Any obstacles which might slow you up are also marked on the maps, to give you the best possible chance of choosing the best possible route.
MTB Orienteering is definitely gaining in popularity, with the first World Championships being held in 2002 in France. The sport has been steadily growing ever since.