This entry may be useful for those who want to comprehend descending technique so that you can do it without causing injury while having fun mountainbiking.
Photo 1: Photo of mountainbiker tackling descending section. The rest of this entry dissect piece by piece from this photo.
Photo 2: Checking 4 feet ahead of the direction you wants to go. Always find easy way out route.
Photo 3: Left arm a bit straighten, elbow close to abdomen to avoid hitting the tree.
Photo 4: Fingers on brake to micro adjust the traveling speed.
Photo 5: Coasting position with crank level to the ground. This is to avoid horizontal obstacles (e.g. roots, rocks & berms).
Photo 6: Firm grip on pedal & handlebar. Flex and relax muscle (no stiff join). Bend your knee & elbow to absorb vibration & impact. Curl abdomen and take the butt slightly behind (and below) the saddle to compensate center of gravity.
Spinning(some say "spinwork") - pedaling high RPM, lower gear at given uphill terrain Grinding(some say "speedwork") - pedaling in low RPM, high gear at given uphill terrain I'm a strong advocate of spinning. Recently, I tested out grinding. Grinding gets me faster compare to spinning at a cost... knee pain!
Last Sunday, me and 5 others climbed up Fraser Hill. It was 28km to gap from Kuala Kubu Baru and another 12km up to clock tower. With recently replaced crankset (Shimano 105, 53T & 39T chainring) on my Spesh, the temptation of getting faster was there. Especially "competing" with others riding a road bike with carbon between their legs.
I was grinding my way up to gap before I know, I developed a knee pain. Not a severe kind of pain but more like a pain that I can bear with. Things getting a little uncomfortable until I reached gap. I decided to change the pattern to spinning my way up to clock tower from gap. It came to the point I was using 39/34 gear combo (lowest gear possible for my Spesh) on some steep section.
Alhamdulillah, I made to the clock tower, non-stop in 3 hours despite being the last person to reach there.
My first participation was in 2007 and earned myself a bragging rights :) . The event did not take place in 2008 and has given the organizer an ample time for bigger fun (read: enjoyable suffering) this year!
I was thinking of taking the ride like I did in 2007. Finished the ride within stipulated time, offering help to those in need, and socializing. Yeah.. sounds like a fun ride :)
Photo 1: Photo of mountainbiker tackling descending section. The rest of this entry dissect piece by piece from this photo.
Photo 2: Checking 4 feet ahead of the direction you wants to go. Always find easy way out route.
Photo 3: Left arm a bit straighten, elbow close to abdomen to avoid hitting the tree.
Photo 4: Fingers on brake to micro adjust the traveling speed.
Photo 5: Coasting position with crank level to the ground. This is to avoid horizontal obstacles (e.g. roots, rocks & berms).
Photo 6: Firm grip on pedal & handlebar. Flex and relax muscle (no stiff join). Bend your knee & elbow to absorb vibration & impact. Curl abdomen and take the butt slightly behind (and below) the saddle to compensate center of gravity.
