Learning how to ride rocky terrain correctly is an essential technique that enables you to refine your technical riding skills, as well as prevent damage to your bike, as well as minimize the possibility of injury.

Rocks come in all shapes and sizes, but the fact remain that – if rocky terrain is ridden incorrectly – they can inflict damage to your bike and your body. Here are a few tips to enable you to refine your rocky terrain riding.

1. Increase your tire pressure: The advantages of running lower tire pressures off-road outweigh the disadvantages in most situations, but riding trails with a lot of sharp and/or big rocks can call for higher tire pressures (at least 35 PSI, but I don’t recommend you go over 40 PSI). Firmer tires will minimize the possibility of pinch-flatting and cuts to your tires’ sidewalls. When buying tires, choose ones with thicker sidewalls and more aggressive knobs, which work best on our dry and rough trails in Egypt.

2. Gear choice and pedalling technique: On long stretches of rocky terrain, pick a gear that will enable you to maintain a constant, smooth pedaling over the rocky sections. Pick too tall a gear and you’ll risk stalling. Try to stay in the saddle and focus on a smooth pedal stroke and let your suspension do what it is designed to do.

3. Choose a good line and commit to it: This last point seems to be common to advice in riding most situations. Keep your head up, scout out the trail as far ahead as possible and plan your entry and exit on various sections. If, for instance, you’re riding fast and flowy singletrack littered with rocky sections, pick up adequate speed, loosen up your elbows and knees and concentrate on “floating” your bike over the rocks by shifting your body weight and loading/unloading your suspension. With enough speed and good technique, you’ll be surprised at how you can quite easily ride through some very rough sections.

Do you constantly find yourself  having to get off your bike and push it uphill while watching the rest of your friends easily cycle to the top? If that is the case, then this article is for you. This article is also for you if you want to learn a few techniques to get you higher up that hill with less effort.

Contrary to the popular belief that it’s all about how powerful your legs are, in reality it’s 90% technique and 10% muscle. The name of the game is how to balance your weight on the bike far enough to the back so that the rear tire doesn’t slip and at the same time forward enough to prevent the front tire from doing a wheelie. That’s it.

Balance and Riding Position

The trick, then, is to get your weight back and keep your weight on the front wheel. To do this:

• Lower you chin as close as possible to the handle bar while looking forward, not down.
• Keep your elbows close to your side and flexible.
• Don’t pull on the handle bar. This achieves nothing.

This will lower your center of gravity and distribute your weight evenly between front and back. How far to lean forward is determined by the slope of the climb and the traction of the terrain that you are riding on. Another very important technique I learned is to:

• Shift your seating position (i.e your buttocks) to the very forward tip of your seat, almost as if you’re about to stand up. (I know that this hurts, but this is probably the most important tip in this article).

With practice, all of these will come together and your body will naturally fall into the right position.

It is important to remember that there is no such thing as a perfectly straight climb in mountain biking. You will have to keep on ADJUSTING your balance and riding position every few seconds to react to the climb.

Other things that will help:

• Don’t lower your seat. You only do that for downhill. Don’t have it too high either. Keep it in a position that allows you to pedal comfortably (maximum utilization of your muscles)
• If you have an adjustable fork, then drop your fork at the lowest travel. This will allows you to put enough weight on the front to keep it from lifting up on very steep climb and keep it going where you want it to go.
• If your have a full-suspension bike, switch on pedal platform or lock-out your rear suspension if your shock has that functionality. The bobbing motion from pedaling can result in significant energy loss (although many modern well-designed suspension designs and technologies mitigate this effect rather efficiently)

Pedaling and Shifting

• If you are starting a climb from a stationary position, then it is natural to start on the lowest gear possible.
• If you are approaching the climb with speed, then there are two techniques you can try:
  • Beginner: While coasting, shift to the lowest gear possible and then STOP pedaling. Let the bike go uphill on its own until you approach the point of zero velocity (otherwise you would probably spin out on the low gear). 2-3 seconds before that, you should start pedaling.
  • Advanced: As your pedaling and shifting techniques improve, you should work on attacking a climb in a way that preserves as much of your forward momentum as possible. While coasting, try to be on a gear that will allow you to comfortably do 1 rotation per second, then start your climb. Then start shifting down one by one until you reach the lowest gear possible. Never shift too many gears at once, or else you’ll hear lots of snapping and popping and could easily snap your chain.

Pick a Good Line to Climb

Scan the climb first and try to get a feel of the terrain and obstacles. Gauge how much traction you will have. Choose a line that has the following:

• Less obstacles, such as rocks. Trying to steer around obstacles just increases its complexity
• Avoid soft sand and loose gravel or anything that will make your tires slip, if at all possible.

Manage Your Energy

Try to manage your energy so that you have enough juice to make it to the top. Here are some tips:

• Pedal at a constant speed (rotations per second). Don’t pedal too fast during the first part of the climb or you’ll run out of breath before you reach the top
• Breathe!!
• Take a break before a steep climb and wait until your heart rate falls to a normal rhythm. I find myself having to do that more and more the older I get

Here is a quick guide that I put together that will help you boost your confidence on the trail and result in improving your riding skills. In my point of view, confidence is one of the most important factors getting better at Mountain Biking. Improved confidence will allow you to try out more challenging and more technical climbs and drops, also resulting in a more enjoyable ride ..

Here they are, not in any particular order:

1. Practice / Repetition: Knowing the trail is very important. When you keep on repeating the same trail over and over again your body will automatically adapt to all the corners, drops and climbs. You will easily anticipate where each technical section is and you will know when to slow down, when to speed up, when to shift in advance and when to drop or raise your seat post.
2. Protective Gear: Wearing proper protective gear gives you a strong feeling of confidence. A helmet is an absolute must. Knee and shin guards are optional, however I think that given the harsh terrain of Wadi Degla, they are absolutely necessary. Elbow pads are also important, but not as important as the knee pads.
3. Using the right bike / equipment: Not all bikes are created equal. Some are better than others in handling certain types of riding. In Wadi Degla, you can breeze through 95% of all the sections using a hard tail, however there are certain sections that will be a lot easier with a full suspension bike. If you have a fork with long travel (130mm – 160mm), it will give you a boost of confidence on drops. Make sure your tires are in good condition. Also make sure that you have the right tire for the terrain you are riding. See this post for more info: http://mtbegypt.com/guides/the-best-tires-for-riding-on-egyptian-trails/
4. Clipless Pedals: These are a double edged sword. Once you get used to them, they improve confidence and actually make your ride a lot more energy efficient. The problem is that they take a while to get used to, and during that period you actually ride with less confidence because you’re always too afraid that you won’t be able to release from your pedals in time. Personally, I use the Clip/Clipless pedals that gives you a 2-in-1. I found that to be the best option.
5. Good Brakes: Knowing that bike has good brakes is a reassurance that you can push your riding to the limits of your skills and know that you have adequate stopping power on tap. Disc brakes are better than V-brakes and a worthwhile upgrade if you have a basic bike. Whatever type of brakes you have, always make sure that your braking system is well maintained.
6. Ride in Groups: Group dynamics help boost confidence through competitiveness and encouragement. Try to join a group where there is an advanced rider among the group that coaches the rest.

One of the relatively new innovations in the mountain bike world, and arguably one of the best riding accessories/upgrades (especially when it comes to more aggressive styles of riding) is the adjustable seat post.

I have a KS i950 on my Marin. One of the best riding upgrades I made.

An adjustable seatpost allows you to change seatpost height “on the fly” without having to dismount and loosen/tighten a quick release lever, thus enabling the rider to quicly get in the most optimal riding position depending on the trail sections about to be tackled. Drop the saddle all the way down to get behind it and shift your center of gravity backwards on steep sections, or raise it to maximum extension (set according to your own bike fit measurment) for optimal climbing efficieny, or even set it midway through to cruise long flat sections in comfort between vigorous efforts on steep climbs and descents. All with a flick of a switch or a pull on a lever.

A remote-actuated Crank Brothers Joplin 4 (left) vs. a lever-actuated Crank Bothers Joplin 4.

There is already a smattering of seatposts on the market, varying in technology from mechanical to hydraulic mechanisms (Gravity Dropper and RASE are mechanical, while the KS i950 and CB Joplin shown in the pictures above are hydraulic, for example), different remote/lever actuation methods (an under-the-saddle lever, cable-actuated remote or hydraulic-actuated remote), varying drop styles (infinite adjustment, where the post can be dropped at any point along its travel, or multiple preset saddle positions like the Specialized Command Post).

The Rock Shox Reverb adjustable seatpost uses hydraulic remote actuation system.

The technology is still being refined by manufacturers. Newer posts have better sealing technologies, smoother actuation mechanisms, and the weights are getting lighter every year, but there is still a lot of room for improvement, especially in maintenance intervals and weights. These posts are still relatively heavy at 500+ grams, and most of them need frequent service, especially in harsh weather conditions. This summer while riding in wet/muddy conditions in the Alps, my KSi950 stopped working completely and I had to strip it down and do a service to get it functioning again.

The Specialized Command Post has a mechanical 3-position locking height adjustment.

Many bike manufacturers now incorporate built-in cable guides for adjustable seatposts on many of their high end mountain bikes. Some, like Trek, have come up with clever internal cable routing for the remote cables, which gives the frame a much cleaner look and when using an adjustable seatpost. More importantly, as the technology becomes more mainstream in the mountain bike world, adjustable posts are becoming cheaper.

In a future post we will compare different adjustable seatpost specs side-by-side so that you can easily make a choice if you’re in the market for one.

About a year ago, team MTB Egypt sat down and discussed riding plans for summer 2011. A few ideas were considered: Colorado, USA, Spain and the Alps were shortlisted. It was not until May 2011 that we decided we were going to the Alps for our first MTB Egypt riding trip abroad!

So, on June 25th 2011, we found ourselves on a plane heading to Geneva, Switzerland, where Darren of Mountain Bike Breaks was going to pick us up and take us to Chatel, France.

About to board the flight in Cairo. Left to right that's me (Hani Morsi), Sheif Taymour and Samer Behnam. Mohamed Kandil is behind the camera.

Waiting impatiently at the luggage carousel in Geneva, hoping the all the bikes arrive in one piece!

I was the designated slave for the way out of Geneva airport, check out how many bike boxes I am pushing.

We haven't even seen any mountains yet, but we're already too excited!

At the Chalet in Chatel, we wasted no time unpacking and putting together our bikes.

All bikes survived the flight in cardboard boxes, thankfully. (But not all survived the riding in the Alps, more on that in Part II)

Sherif's new ride was already waiting for him in Chatel...

Bikes ready for tomorrow, we finally took the time to enjoy the amazing view from our Chalet. Then again, anywhere you look in the Alps is an amazing view

This is my room. very nice and super cozy, but I can't count how many times I have banged my head on the "ceiling". Made me contemplate putting my helmet on at all times

Team MTB Egypt, ready to rock! (we were still missing Neal Afifi, who would join us two days later)

Part II coming soon!

Part I

Part II

Dear Fellow enthusiasts,

We  will be organizing a group ride for beginners on Friday, June 10th at 7am at Wadi Degla.

Ride Type:  Mountain bike

Pace: Slow to medium

Where:  Wadi Degla Protectorate

Who: Beginners ages 16 and up are welcome, even if you are a first timer.

Description:

Here is your chance to try mountain biking!  Beginners ages 16 and up are welcome.

We will be rolling at 7:00am, so plan on arriving at around 6:45.  We will be riding on the short corporate loop (13.5km).  The terrain will be mostly flat, with a few uphills and downhills in the beginning and the end.  The pace will be slow to medium, and we will not leave anyone behind.

Neal and Hani, the ride leaders, will be going over some basic mountain biking skills during the ride.

You must wear a helmet on this ride, and you must have a mountain bike. Water is also certainly a must.

What to bring with you:

• A mountain bike in good condition
• Mountain biking Helmet
• At least 2 liters of water and/or other energy drinks and snacks
• Spare inner tube and tools to install it
• Cycling shorts
• Glasses with clear or light colored lenses
• Gloves

If you need help in organizing transportation from Heliopolis or New Cairo, please contact the ride leaders and they will try to assist you.

To Register or for any questions, please contact Neal or Hani, the ride leaders at nafifi@gmail.com and hani.morsi@gmail.com