New to the sport and with TONS of questions

[roanchasan]

Hello Everyone.
As my subject says I am new to this sport and I have TONS of questions, let me start by introducing myself.

I am a 40 years old man, from South Florida that never practice MTB, I do know however how to ride bicycle and when I was a kid did a couple of crazy things around my neighborhood, but I never thought that riding a bicycle at this level needed so much knowledge, if you want to do it right of course, is not just pedal and move forward.

My interest about MTB started because a friend got me interested, I want, I need and I am very but very compromised with losing weight, I am actually over 100lbs and I really don’t want to die yet, so, I bought a bike for me, my wife and my little girl and we are going everyday to a park called Amelia Earhart for those who live in SoF and usually ride about 1 hour plus, sometimes I ride from my home to the park and back, day after day I am falling in love with this sport, so for the last month I’ve been reading stuffs online and checking websites after websites trying to find out the right information about MTB.

The thing is that I am completely ignorant about this sport and I really want to learn and want to do this the right way.
For now I want to learn how to set up my bike, I read a couple of site that explain about how far the saddle should be, or how the handlebar should be set and so on, but as a computer engineer I rather get my hands dirty instead of reading.
Therefore, first question, how do I set up my bike? Or configured if we use PC terminology LOL.
One of the guys at the park told me to go to a bike shop and asked for a “fit in” but boy I went to 3 places and they charged an arm and a leg and I am going to need them to ride the hell out of the trail, lol.
So, here I am and I hope with your guys help I can do this my new pastime and my new hobby for me and my family but most important I can do this sport my new tool for a new life.
I am putting all my effort to drop those pounds, if you can do your part by help me to educate myself, I will always be thankful.

Thanks

[Syd Patricio]

First off welcome.

Great sport your in.

Well I have previously posted in our beginners section on how to fit yourself on a bike.

Basically this is what your paying for at a shop so here is the link:

http://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-tr … ike-a-pro/

Cheers

[roanchasan]

Thanks my friend.
I am going to print it and follow all that stuffs.

[Syd Patricio]

Your welcome

Enjoy and good luck.

[roanchasan]

What is your comment on Clinics?
Do you like them?
Have you ever tried one?
Is it worth it?

Thanks.

[Syd Patricio]

As in riding? Or fitting?

If it’s riding, and your really new to the sport sometimes it’s a good idea. Best to find out who is conducting it and what kind of riding. Sometimes they have free ones usually from a bike shop where you go out and they teach you how to do features on a trail.

Now at resorts they have pro lessons which I recommend.

[Syd Patricio]

I personally been riding mountain bikes since 89 so I have a decent body of knowledge to dig through. I do on ocasion ask a few pros a tip or two but mostly on line choice or speeds at hitting features and jumps and such.

I don’t do flips….Least intentionally

[Dyno_Don]

I’ve lost 25 to 30 lbs this year and most in the last month that I’ve been riding on the trail, I rode the mountain bike on the road before that, trails are a better workout for me, there is alot of information on Youtube for maintance, set up and even some trails in your area. This site seems a better place to get answers to questions.
I have a computer on my bike, it helps me keep track of my lap times, average speed and that helps me judge my progress, that seems to help with weight loss. It’s nice to see progress,, good luck and happy trails..

[roanchasan]

"element22" wrote

As in riding? Or fitting?

If it’s riding, and your really new to the sport sometimes it’s a good idea. Best to find out who is conducting it and what kind of riding. Sometimes they have free ones usually from a bike shop where you go out and they teach you how to do features on a trail.

Now at resorts they have pro lessons which I recommend.

The site I checked is bikeskills.com, I dont know how helpful can be for you, but maybe you want to check it out.

I am going to take sometime this weekend to see some of the stores around my area and see who has information about clinics and free seminars.

Thanks for your suggestion.

Have a nice evening

[roanchasan]

"Dyno_Don" wrote

I’ve lost 25 to 30 lbs this year and most in the last month that I’ve been riding on the trail, I rode the mountain bike on the road before that, trails are a better workout for me, there is alot of information on Youtube for maintance, set up and even some trails in your area. This site seems a better place to get answers to questions.
I have a computer on my bike, it helps me keep track of my lap times, average speed and that helps me judge my progress, that seems to help with weight loss. It’s nice to see progress,, good luck and happy trails..

Dyno.

Congratulation for those pounds you got off so far keep it up, my goal is 100 in one year, I started riding MTB July 5th and I don’t want to check my weight yet, I hope we can be in contact in a year from now to celebrate, in regard to the computer, I have one that I can afford right now, but I saw some serious computer for biking, I am just going to take one step at the time.

For now what I am doing is riding around the park on the pavement and go around an area around a lake that is muddy-no pavement, this is a suggestion from a friend that told me that will help me to develop some kind of control on a different terrain and I usually pick 3 days to go from the pavement to the trail, I also feel that in the trail I workout more and once a week I go from my home to the park ride around the park twice and then back home, is around 15 miles and I love it, kind of scary because people drive like crazy.

Anyway I am going to keep searching, trying, blogging and anything positive that ends in ing until I nail this MTB right on the big head.

Thanks for your help as well as all those guys that take the time to educate me, I really appreciate it; if there is anything I can help PC related, please shoot me an email, I will be more than happy to help you.

Have a nice evening.

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