No-Handers, still a great trick

Hello beautiful people. I promise this is still a mountain biking blog. I won't force my fiction writing on you very often. I have a lot of stories that I start and then they just fizzle out. So I though if I posted the first chapters on here I would have to commit to finishing it.

Since I spent my weekend mornings writing, and not hiking into the woods for trail maintenance, I'm very out of shape. Mountain biking is sort of like a deal with the devil. It will keep you healthy and happy, but the catch is you can never stop. Any time I break from mountain biking physical fitness, the years come flooding in and I begin to feel my actual age.

I'm trying to get back at it. The smart thing to do would be to start with a strong cardio base and work from there introducing new challenges. Instead I wanted to make sure I could still dirt jump and do wheelies. Each new year I worry if I've lost any dirt jumping tricks. So I'm always happy to throw the first no-hander of the year.

This year it was at Erie Singletrack. We had made several runs and it was quite windy. Then as the sun sank to the horizon the wind quit. Aki was dropping in right behind me and a few people were hanging out at the top. I knew it was time. I'm telling you it is such a great feeling to be approaching a jump and confidently tell yourself, I'm going to pinch the seat with my knees then take both hands off and swing them way out to the side.

I bet Brandon Semenuk has his own version of that thought process. Except his is more like, I'm going to pull hard to initiate the backflip, then do a tailwhip clockwise, after that one, I'll stop the rotation and tailwhip counterclockwise, by then the flip will be completed and I can still toss in an bar spin.

Whips are cool, tabletops are cool. But I promise they are a dead end to your trick bag if they are all a dirt jumper focuses on. Taking off your hands or feet are the first step to all the bigger tricks. You can't bar spin with out no-handers. You can't tailwhip without no-footers.

Do yourself a favor make '24 the year you learn a pinch no-hander. I say pinch-no because they are easier than tuck-no. Pinch is only two ingredients, 1 pinch the seat, 2 no-hands. A tuck is three ingredients, 1 pull bike up, 2 tuck into your chest 3 no-hands.

If a trick has less ingredients it;s easier to make it a go-to trick. Also the pinch allows more room for variations. Happy '24 everyone let's ride!

Comments

The White Room (a short story)

FRIDAY After a short struggle I located Cliff at the airport. It was good to see him again. I had my bag packed and my skis on the rack of my Audi. Instead of going back to my house, we blew past the exit and cruised through Denver. We made a quick stop at a dispensary, then started climbing into the mountains. Five hours later we rolled into the town of Crested Butte. Matt had driven out from Arkansas the day before and we all converged on Kevin’s house. This was a reunion almost thirty years in the making. We pulled into Kevin’s driveway, kid’s bikes and other toys were poking out from the snow in the yard. A master bedroom had been added to the house, but it still lacked siding, leaving the insulation exposed. Kevin came out to greet us wearing slippers, jeans and a tee shirt. He gave us each a hug. Nice addition Kev, that’s new since the last time I was here. Cliff said. Yeah I started it four years ago, maybe in another four I’ll finish it. Kevin’s just doing what he can to

Spectator Sports

I’m not good at ball-sports, or really, team-sports all together. In little league I once tried throwing the ball from right field to first base. Instead I threw the ball out of the park and hit a guy sitting in the bleachers. As a high school freshman I tried out for soccer and qualified for the sub-sub-JV team. The cross country team needed runners, so I quit soccer after a week and I ran. I ran in the fall, and then I ran again in the spring for track. I wasn’t good, but I could do it. All that really mattered was that I crossed the finish line. Running helped me develop the mental state that I use nowadays when I’m tackling a long climb. I don’t need to enjoy it, I just need to zone out and keep putting one foot, or pedal, in front of the other. My state had one professional sports team, a hockey team called the Whalers. But they broke up, or moved on a few years after I moved to Colorado. I love the atmosphere of a Rockies game or watching the Eagles. But I have nothing at

Lucky or Good?

The darkness comes quickly after work, the mornings are really cold. I think it's time to look back and say that was an awesome mountain bike season. I get a little banged up every year, some more than others. This is my fourth crash of the 2023 season and the first one to bring some pain. Maybe I can learn something if I run through them and try to determine if I'm getting good or just lucky. The frequent heavy rain kept trails at Left Hand constantly changing. This led to my first debiking incident. I was taking some friends down Ginger Booty. We had sessioned the big booter and were riding out the rest of the single track. Cody came up fast behind me right as I reached a section of deep rut, filled with loose fist size rocks. My brain analyzed the possible line choices and came up empty as my front tire wedged against a rock. With the front tire stopped my mass started a slow motion arc over the bars. I'd like to think that I tucked my chin and pulled my hands into my c

3CogBlog.com

Search This Blog