Alright, I'm out here in Joaquin Miller Park today with my buddy Ian Massey. We're going to do a little coaching session This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time Get better fundamental skills on the bike I know, I'm not the best Mountain biker And I have no problem saying it. So what are you going to have me do today Ian? (Ian): The idea is to be ready beforehand You want to be offensive not defensive, and that's what we're going over today And that's how everything from drops, jumps, corners - it all progresses from this process So if you're going into something and and wondering what you're supposed to do You're making your job much harder for yourself than it needs to be (Brian): First thing is we wear our helmets So we're always safe. (Ian): Yes exactly safety first So if you see someone go downhill like this yeah rectus adonis lower abs are turned off. That's falling Yes, what we do is. We what I call a butt link.
We squeeze our butt Locate our lower abdominals, and we're falling straight down so a bicycle position is the same thing as a front squat yes, so I want you to come a little bit farther forward and drop those heels there we go, so Deep broken ankles all the time , and that's what I want you to apply your clip-in pedals okay? So your ride clips like flats until you consciously cheat. Yes I want you to keep your heels down and drop it to a 180 with your pedals keep the heels down Oh see how you got off stable you didn't have your heels down. Now try it again with your heels down. See how stable you are? You kept weight on the back of your body So if we start by loading the back axle via the pedals and recruiting our bike is always stable whether we're going uphill or downhill We keep maximum grip, and when we turn we rotate off the back axle not off the center of the bike (yeah) So by having weight there the bars can do whatever they don't want and it doesn't negatively affect us Okay, one two three thrust - no, so see you're pulling with your arms (Yes) We start with our legs (okay), so drive our weight into the bike then pull your arms - one two three So that was still pulling with the arms.
(Okay) And see how your toes went down (yep yep) So that's those habits. (Yes) Commit to the butt and abs and drive So that's forward okay drive back and down (okay) so one two three So that's what we do, but with a little arm pull drop the heels (okay) Straight, hang the arms Okay, so feel that weight. Feel how you're pushing the bike in front of you. Just start that way We're so used to pulling and tugging and shifting our body and see how it made the bike jerk? You felt that jerk Yeah, the bike feels that on the trail That's a loss of stability so simply drive the bike. So we're just going to - so, standing I'm loading the back of my body, and I'm simply going to thrust The front end up (cool). One two looking ahead, proud stance, one two three thrust heels down Almost, so if you just keep the heels now, it'll be perfect. (I think so) So this is hard to do on flat ground (It's just bad habits, yeah) I'm going to put an obstacle in front of you And you're going to do it right because you're not - you're not feeling so well you have no gyro right? Yes Not very stable.
So now We're going to do it over an obstacle. So I don't want you to try to clear all these obstacles I want you to just commit to the load, and you'll see that nothing bad happens. There we go perfect See? You ran right right into a 4-inch log, and absolutely nothing happened. (Brian): And it was like the worst possible timing. (Ian): And it doesn't matter (Ian): So your foot came off. (Brian): I scared myself with how much I pulled up. (Ian): Well that was a little too much pull. So but the fact you had your heels down and your ass back, do you see the bike didn't turn? Alright, so this time I want you to not pull at all.
I want you to come in super hot and just sit on the back wheel See it doesn't matter! (Brian): Then we moved on to bunny hops and this was super frustrating for me because I always cheat with clips so I'm always pulling up my back wheel and Actually having to do a legit bunny hop is going to be a tough thing I'm going to have to practice it. After the bunny hop we just did a bunch of different skills Just all kinds of different stuff It was a really good couple of hours that we just practiced Downhill and hitting big obstacles and rolling over roots and rolling over some really big stuff There's a big log that we eventually did with we had some cheater Logs underneath at first and then eventually we moved to doing it just straight over the top and it's something that would have really Intimidated me before.
I'm really happy with Ian and his coaching and his style and everything so it was definitely worth the time and effort and Like like his business card says: "So you've got a nice bike. Now what?" whoo Alright, Ian's really kicked my butt today did all kinds of different skills and it all comes down to loading up having a plan and if you want a plan talk to this guy How do you think I did so far today? (Ian): You did awesome. We broke some some bad habits Still have to work on others, but you have a process now Yeah, and you know it feels right when you do it right.
There's no questions You look back at me, and you were telling me what you did wrong. , which is what I want. So you can go out and get better on your own. That's the goal. Yeah, we were just doing turns and I had it down I was doing good, and then like okay turn the camera on we'll try to do some turns Then I'm like totally discombobulated again, but at least I can know and feel like you said when it's wrong So a lot to work on I'm happy I'm really glad Ian brought me out here today, and uh - always moving forward; always getting better. That's what it's all about Thanks for watching you guys. I'll see you on the trail. There we go see how good that feels? .
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