How To Accelerate On A Mountain Bike Video

Sometimes all bikers feel the need for speed. Learn how to accelerate on your mountain bike in this free video clip.

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Keep weight on rear wheel
Lean forward to gain power
Balance of weight is key
Select an appropriate gear

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Pancho Herrera is passionate about cycling. Pancho races for the SLO Nexus Club on road and mountain bikes. Pancho also has 25 years cycling experience as a competitor and pro shop mechanic.

PANCHO HERRERA: This is Pancho. Let me show you how we can accelerate the bicycle in an uphill condition with limited traction. It's important to keep the weight on the rear wheel, so you don't lose traction. But at the same time, you need to lean forward to get a little extra power. So, we're going to try to balance the bike front to back. Remember that when you're up off the saddle and you've got your knees bent, you can move your weight forward or aft. The further forward you go, the more power you can put in to resist the wheelie action. But, the less weight you have on the back wheel and the more likely it is to spin. Your job is to balance your weight. Listen to the back wheel. Is it beginning to spin under your power? If it is, shift your weight fractionally back. The idea is to find that sweet spot fore and aft, so you can maintain that balance on the steepest climbs. Accelerating in climbing also requires that you select an appropriate gear. Find a gear that's easy enough to spin comfortably on the hill, but not so easy that you over rev and spin out. So you want to find something in the middle range that's comfortable, comfortable for an easy cadence.

How to Accelerate on a Mountain Bike Video

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