How To Start Mountain Biking | Beginner’s Guide

Already decided to pick another adventure for your life? Learn how to start mountain biking! Mountain biking is a breath-taking adventure and risky too, but we humans have always thrilled by risk. That’s what makes us what we are, and choosing adventure like mountain biking, you already opt to stay special.

Mountain biking is not just paddling the bicycle; and it is about testing the high strength, endurance, excellent handling and balance, and more concentration; the picture might change in a blink if you lost your concentration. To experience amazing biking, one must have best of the mountain bikes. 

Generally, mountain biking is done on unpaved, off-roads with special gears and proper protection for adventure, entertainment, and socializing with people of their tribe. Mountain biking can be categorized in

1. Freeride
2. Cross country cycling
3. Trail riding 
4. Downhill biking
5. Dirt jumping
6. All-mountain or Enduro

These six categories of mountain bike different locations, tracks, ramps, and difficulty levels, in which downhill is most exciting. Aerial stunts and maneuver are performed during the trial that takes the sport to another level adding thrill to the sport. 

This beginner guide on how to start mountain biking includes basic knowledge about the sport, some facts, some queries, and most importantly, how to start mountain biking. 

How To Start Mountain Biking | The Ultimate Beginner Guide

To begin with mountain biking, you will need similar-minded people, proper mountain biking gears, lots of strength, and a dare to risk. 

A non-profit organization that governs mountain biking, the International Mountain Bicycling Association, organizes different events and sports for mountain biking lovers worldwide. 

And in the USA, the regulatory body is USA cycling that governs the discipline of roads, tracks, and ramps.  

Start With Making Friends – The First Step

The world has now become so small that everything can be found on a mobile screen; finding the proper people will not be difficult since one can quickly find people with similar interests on social media. Trailing with them will not only provide support but training and motivation. At the beginning of any thrilling sport like mountain biking, one should have constant motivation and proper training. 

Exert To The Extreme – Train Yourself

Before thinking of paddling a bike on unpaved terrain, one should better train himself, his arms, and his legs. One should stiffen its muscles by hitting the gym or opt for the exercises that will train the limbs for long, difficult trials. However, trails like downhill won’t need legs as the downward slope will pull down, but you need excellent bike handling in such trails. But remember never to stiffen your body to the extent that it creates difficulty for you to turn when a sudden curve arrives. 

Maintain A Proper Posture – Ready And Neutral Posture

One should never forget the importance of maintaining an athlete’s posture while riding a bike; it helps you have great control over your ride. One can maintain a neutral posture in normal trails, but one should be ready to suddenly shift to attack or ready posture in the technical section of the trail. Eyes should be focused on the track and ramps, deep body bed, back almost parallel to the earth, and equal weight on the paddles.

One should try to mold his body posture in a ready position for a long time and practice it at the beginning of mountain biking. It would help if you learned to adjust to different segments of trails. 

Choose The Proper Gears To Start Mountain Biking 

When choosing the best gears that suit our bodies, we all make some mistakes. We should always look for the right product for our body type, according to our size, shape, height, and, of course, what we are comfortable with. Even different trails need different gears.

You can also look out saddles that would be suitable for your bike.

There are different type of mountain bike that one should know before starting mountain biking and choose the right one,

Choosing the Right Mountain Bike

• Cross country or Xc Trail/Race bikes- for beginner mountain bikers: Designed for the long run and speedy peddling. Most commonly available in shops.

• Downhill mountain bikes: Designed with wide type and rim for speedy and smooth descending the slop.

The Most Expensive MTBs (Mountain Bikes)

• Freeride mountain bikes: Designed to fly with compact design and high endurance.

• Enduro or all-mountain: Designed with the best suspension and strong frames for the difficult, harder trails.

Extra Accessories

Gears are the extra accessories that one should have with them while starting trail or learning how to start mountain biking. These will protect you from injuries that are very often in mountain biking. Be it a helmet on your head, pads on the knees, or a water bottle for hydration. Of course, you won’t need all the professional gear at the beginning of the mountain biking, but it is advisable not to trail without proper safety measures. 

1. Clothes-  it is advisable to wear shorts during mountain trails as it will be much easier to peddle in shorts rather than full lowers. 
2. Helmet– it is one of the most important gear, and you would never want to forget it before you take your bike off the road. Choose the right helmet that fully protects your head from any unforeseen event. The helmet should be of perfect size to one’s head that reduces the irritation to a minimum. 
3. Glasses – for the eyes are important as you never know what comes next, and you don’t want to fall just because you blinked at the wrong time. Hence you must have suitable and durable glasses!
4. Pads for elbow and knees– pads protect the vital joints of the body; nobody ever learned anything without being hurt. These protective gears will minimize the casualties. 
5. Hydration bag/water bottle- it is important that one keeps himself/herself hydrated all the time during trials. 

When To Start Mountain Biking?

It’s not about age; it’s about love for adventure, so there is no age bar as such. You can start with the age when you can afford to let harm yourself. Better always be equipped with proper gears to save your teeth and chin. 

Mountain biking can be expensive, to begin with, as bikes and other gears could cost much, but you can do one thing, Don’t rush for the professional gears at the beginning. You won’t be trailing mills peak on the first trail. We all have our bikes at home, and we can start with that. Try normal off-roading near your homes with your old bicycle for the starters, and don’t rush for professional gears at the starting of mountain biking. 

Conclusion

As the name suggests, mountain biking is all about nature adventure, off the roads, in the dirt. And it’s a lot different from road biking which is done on street roads.  And hence it is necessary to learn how to start mountain biking before you get your hands on mountain biking. Once you are familiar with the adventure, you are all set to go! Happy biking! And yeah be very cautious!