Going fast?

[Deleted]

How do you do it off road?

I've entered an off road enduro at the end of November, but I find that off road I just bimble along.

How do I inject a bit of speed into my riding? On road I ride along at 90-100 rpm, obviously off road this is't an option, or ist it?

I ride a 15 year old steel hardtail (and that aint gonna change) so speed has to come from the soft squidgy part of the man-machine interface.

Any suggestions?

[andyw]

Step one - come along to the london league cross races between now and the enduro. If you want to get used to going fast, riding with others will show you what is possible, and you'll find yourself swept along.

You don't really give any clue why you just bimble along. Is it because you are scared of crashing? Can't get enough traction to pedal properly? Or just can't be bothered?

On the flat you'd normally find yourself pedalling at the same rate as you would on the road. 90rpm seems fairly normal to me.

[Deleted]

Step one, I'll have a look, but I'm down in Eastbourne, so could be a problem, the car is usally taken by the boys football on Sunday.

Fear of crashing, yes that's probably part of it, I'm going to start around a forest trail local to me, which has lots of secret single track, with rocks and roots. That should help.

Probably riding on my own too much, looking at the scenery and daydreaming, time to get my race face out of the cupboard! ;D

[Deleted]

I think with most roadies there's a tendency to consider offroad riding as time off, which is fine.

My mountain bike is a 15 year old steel hardtail with a rigid fork. What I have changed though are the tyres - modern ones a much lighter and give more control. Might be a place to start if you're looking at minor upgrades.

Most mountain bike chainsets have small rings on them. I'm not a spinner, so that means I just go more slowly. I've got a double chainset on my bike now with 46/32 on, and find I'm faster than the standard 42 (for heavens sake that's a middle ring!).

Anther major factor is confidence. Go at things slowly to start with and then build up your speed, knowing the point at which your tyres will lose grip and your brakes bite in and so on. Most of us don't ride our bikes to anything like the capacity they have in them - for various reasons, such as fitness, the need to earn a living outside of a full body cast etc.

R

[andyw]

I'd actually give the singletrack a rest for a while. For a start, i'd in and find some playing fields, preferably unpolluted with dog detritus, and just do laps of a football pitch, sprinting at the corners. Try and take them as tight as possible to give you a feel of how much traction you do actually have. If you run wide, that's fine as you won't have anything to crash into, and if you do slide out, well it's only grass, it won't hurt, and at least then you will know the limits of your cornering ability and the bike's.
I also kike to do off road intervals. I've got a 6 or 7 minute loop where the first half is a fireroad climb and the second half a singletrack descent. It's amazing how little you recover on the singletrack despite barely pedalling- if you're doing it right you should be using your upper body to pump the bike to maintain momentum and that is really hard work. If you're working properly your hr should be just as high on a singletrack descent as it is on a climb. Getting to that stage though will take practise.

[Deleted]

Some good ideas there, thanks, I'll try them out. Hope parkie doesn't mind me tearing up his greensward!

Just seen a couple of X races are doen this way, hmmm, maybe the boy could miss a match for his old dad?

[Deleted]

Why don't you do laps of his pitch whilst he's playing?

[Deleted]

Will running thinner tyres make any difference?

Many, many, many years ago, I used to run some 1.5" tyres that were great. Specialized something or other. Anyway people obviously don't believe in skinny tyres anymore, should I look a bit harder for skinny tyres? I thought they were better at cutting through the mud, am I wrong?

Also, I've got suspension on the front with a lockout and about 85mm of travel (yes, they're old) would it make sense to run them with the lockout on, or can that cause the fork to "blow" rather than the rider?

[andyw]

Oct 16, 2009 16:39:18 GMT @horta said:

Will running thinner tyres make any difference?

Yes it will make a difference. You can wave good bye to any form of cornering grip, but in a straight line you might be slightly faster (assuming there's nothing rough beneath the tyres).

Check out Specialized Sauserwind tyres, they're a good compromise of cornering grip, traction and speed, and not too pricey - £40 for two from Bikeplus in Croydon. www.bikeplus.co.uk/

Forks, again, depends what you want to achieve. If you're flailing about out of the saddle sprinting up a climb, then locking them out will feel more comfortable. In every other instance leaving them in the active mode is preferable - having your front wheel track the ground is remarkably useful for aiding traction, thus why pretty much every other wheeled machine uses some for of suspension.