Want to Get the Most out of your Mountain Bike? Slow Down
From Will Harmon

The mountain bike industry sure spends a lot of time and money trying to convince us that this sport is one long downhill thrill ride-magazine covers, videos, even the general trend in mountain bike design all feed the need for speed. I'll admit that I enjoy the wind in my face, the hum of the knobbies (and the fear in my gut) as much as the next adrenaline junkie…a big part of why I ride is the feeling of the bike coming alive beneath me when the tread runs smooth and the speedometer jumps over 30 mph.

But there's another side of mountain biking that doesn't get it's share of coverage-slow riding. By slow riding, I mean crawling along in your granny gear, hovering between rolling and falling over at a dead stop. Most of us are initiated to slow riding when we're pedaling up some ridiculously steep pitch stained with climber's chalk, lactic acid flooding our pores, heart hammering, and abruptly we're not riding. Or rolling up to a red light that's about to change…any second now…just another inch to the bumper of the car ahead…and thud, we're on the pavement, shoes still clipped to the pedals. (And then the light turns green…..)

Thanks to an abundance of steep terrain, Helena is a natural training ground for slow riding. You just can't spin up some of these mountainsides. One of my favorite local hill climbs is the singletrack switchbacks up Waukina Sky Gulch, heading southwest from the clearing just before the lower gate where the road bends east to the two private residences in the gulch. It's a lung-popping climb, and you have to sprint right up the fall line through most of the turns, so it's a good test of how much torque your legs can generate at slower speeds.

In my experience, one of the keys to riding this trail clean is feeling relaxed at a crawl or near-standstill on the narrow, tight switchbacks. And the key to that is practicing "track stands" at home.

What's a track stand? It's the ability to balance on the bike, feet on the pedals, without rolling appreciably forward (or backward). With practice, you can learn to balance like this for minutes, hours even. And you will have mastered slow riding, bringing new ease to hard climbs, tight switchbacks, and procrastinating traffic lights. It's called a track stand because track riders do it at the start of a race.

Here's how to do a track stand:

Find a piece of smooth ground or pavement, safe from traffic, and with an obvious but gentle slope. Shift down to your lowest gear. Ride around in small circles, gradually slowing down to a crawl with the bike pointing uphill.

Come to a full stop with your handlebars turned right or left so the front wheel is at a 35 to 45 degree angle to the bike frame. If you favor your right foot when kicking a soccer ball, you'll find it easier if the wheel is pointing right (lefties should point the wheel left). Whichever side the wheel is turned to, bring that pedal up and forward so it's at the start of the power stroke-at about one or two o'clock.

Now relax (hah!). Use a little pressure on that high pedal to keep the bike from rolling backward down the slope. If you start to lean to the side the wheel is turned to, you can either turn the wheel a little tighter or pedal an inch or two forward. If you start to lean the other way, either straighten the front wheel out a little, or ease off the pedal pressure and let the bike roll backward just a little. Make small, smooth adjustments-try to use as little motion as possible to correct your balance.

It also helps to let your weight settle on the seat, relaxing your legs, feet, arms, and hands so they can feel every minor wiggle in the bike. Keep your eyes focused on the top of the front wheel, or pick a spot on the ground about ten feet ahead. When you're first starting out, keep your feet out of the clips so you can put a foot down quickly if needed. It might help too, to have a light grip on the rear brake lever-but try to use the slope rather than the brake to keep you from rolling forward. You can also experiment with letting the bike roll backward-how far can you let it go without losing your balance?

Granted, mastering a track stand takes practice-maybe days or weeks until it becomes comfortable. Once you get it with the wheel pointing right, be sure to learn it with the wheel kicked left too (switchbacks tend to come in rights and lefts :-). Also try track stands on steeper slopes, flat ground, rough terrain, and finally on the trails. Challenge your friends to a slow race-draw a ten-foot diameter chalk circle around each bike. The last person to ride out of his or her circle (without putting a foot down) wins. Focus on staying as relaxed as possible. At some point, a surprising thing happens-the bike will start to come alive underneath you, similar to the feeling of lightness and agility you get when you're bombing downhill. I guarantee the resulting slow riding skills-climbing the steeps, curling through tight turns, finding extra time to unclip a foot when you do stop-will be worth it.