Trials and Mountain Biking

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How Bike Trials helps out with mountain biking (September 1998)

Want to read the foreword to this story? I went on a 47 mile mountain bike ride through Catalina Island interior... Read about it...

I got to use my improved sense of balance on the extreme uphill parts of Empire Road and on the way to Starlight beach. The trail was dirt at these two spots, providing much less traction than even regular hard-pack fireroad, so I not only had to maintain side to side balance going pretty slow in my granny gear, but I had to find the spot balancing forward and backward where I'm not so far back that the front wheel lifts, or so far forward that the rear tire spins from lack of grip. I had no problems at all, except for a couple hills (or should I say walls?!?!) on the way to Starlight beach, where I didn't have enough power to get up the hill (and I prided myself in having NEVER stopped while riding up a hill).

I had the chance to use my better balance again coming down those hills that I had to hike-a-bike going up... I locked up the rear wheel, feathered the front brake, kept my arms locked, weight back, but still on the seat, and steered, well, with my balance, keeping the front wheel pointing down the hill. This was by far the most fun I've ever had coming down a hill... It was like trackstanding while stopped, except the wheels could move side to side independent of eachother (and I was moving...). It was a beautiful in-control out-of-control. Without the level of balance I'd learned from trials, I would've just fishtailed to a stop and had to slide down on my feet, instead of making it all the way down without problems.

I also got to use some bunnyhopping when I came across a river with boulders to get across, which was very handy (it was not rideable, you had to hop it..).

My balance again came in handy (noticing how I'm stressing balance so much? well, it's not intentional...) when I was riding the singletrack on the way down to parson's landing (after my endo). There were parts where, if I had lost my balance, I would've fallen maybe 3 feet or so. Handily, trials prepares you for that, too... I could've easily landed a 3 foot unexpected drop if I needed to (which I didn't, and wouldn't, because of my good balance from trials).

Anyway, as you can see, learning basic trials skills made my mountain biking much more enjoyable (since i could ride more stuff) and safer! Hooray for bike trials! (hahaha sorry, I just felt I had to say something hokey with all that hype in order to poke fun at my own bias towards bike trials) Hey, while I'm at it, go check out my trials page!