00:00Are you missing out on a whole other world of cycling? It's long been known that leaving the
00:09road bike in the shed and taking out a mountain bike does have quite a few benefits to us roadies,
00:14but what are they and how can your road riding benefit from mountain biking? Well, I've been
00:19joined out on the trail by Chop, who, if you don't know, is a Lapierre ambassador and has
00:24been at the forefront of the UK free riding scene for nearly two decades. A long time.
00:29That's not too bad. So with the help of Lapierre, Chop is going to give me all of his tips and
00:34tricks. He's going to teach me about mountain biking and I'm going to see how that can help
00:38my road riding. And hopefully I'll be able to answer the question, should a mountain bike
00:42be the next bike I buy? So Chop, what's your first tip?
00:47I would go with technique. So for example, the road is always consistent. It's super flat,
00:53but with mountain biking, you do need a lot of techniques. The terrain is forever changing.
00:58There's a lot of loose surfaces. So learning how to brake and understand your grip. You
01:02can take these techniques to the road, which is going to make your road riding a lot easier.
01:06So for example, it's also last minute decisions as well. So there could be a pothole there.
01:11There could be a vehicle or there could be a curb where you need to jump up and with mountain
01:16biking, you will learn all of these different techniques to be able to overcome all those problems.
01:19So I guess one of the key things you're going to be able to do when you're out here on the
01:22trails is actually learn the limits of the grip and what the tires are capable of, right?
01:26Exactly that. So with my mountain bike compared to a road bike, the pressure is more than half
01:32less. Yeah. So there's going to be a lot more softer grip. So you can go into these corners a
01:37lot harder and you can really put your trust into the tires and this is where it's going to benefit
01:43your road biking. So I guess another really important thing is braking as well, because that is,
01:47again, it's very different to how you brake on the road than as you do out here, right? So how does that
01:53differ and how could we learn from mountain biking into the road world?
01:57So with road, you have a lot of time to decide when to brake. You know, there's lots of things
02:01coming out and there's cars going past you, not coming towards you. With mountain biking,
02:05you've got a tree right there. You've got endless amounts of corners, so it's non-stop split second
02:10decisions and you need to brake a lot. But the more you learn about braking, the better your riding
02:16becomes. Yeah, because I guess what it's going to allow you to do is make sure that you're not going to
02:20lock up. You're going to be making sure that you're coming to a controlled stop and basically that's
02:24what you want because that's going to keep you safe. Exactly. So like if you are out on the trails,
02:28the last thing you want to do is go too heavy with your front brake because there's loose ground
02:33and the main thing that we do need to know is that we've got good tyre pressure and we're relying on
02:37how our bike is set up in order to brake better as well, if that makes sense. Absolutely.
02:44I think one of the key differences that I've noticed straight away though actually being a roadie is
02:47this is a lot, this is a lot quieter than the roads. Oh, it's amazing. It is pretty good. So again,
02:53tell me about that because actually this is quite nice, isn't it? It is really nice. That's the whole
02:59reason why I love mountain biking is because you're in the woods. It's dead quiet. The only thing that
03:05you've got to contend with is maybe a dog walker. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, this is nice and chill.
03:09I mean, it's what eight o'clock at the moment, the roads are packed and here, absolutely dead,
03:14we've got the place to ourselves. So I mean, I think really. The dream. Exactly. If you want to
03:19avoid the roads, come here. I guess actually in a bike park like this, you're not just stuck to one
03:25route. You've got so many different ways you can ride this place, right? Oh, absolutely. That's what
03:29I love about it. Like if you're bored of one line, you've only got to aim that way and you're on a
03:34total different line and you're out in the woods, you've got to worry about absolutely nothing apart
03:38from your bike handling skills. Absolutely. And I guess that's, I mean, it's always going to be good for the mind
03:43after a long, hard day at work or even before work. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like the whole reason
03:47why I come out and why I'm into mountain biking in general is because no matter if I've had a good
03:51day or a bad day, if I go out on my bike, I'm going to have fun and I'm going to clear my mind.
03:57What's better than that? Now, there was one thing as we were coming out here,
04:00there were some pretty steep ramps that we had to ride up or I had to ride up to get out here.
04:05I imagine and I really hope I must have seen some power benefits there, right? Absolutely. So
04:11with mountain bike parks, they always tend to be on the side of a hill. So you let gravity
04:16take you, but most of the starts are at the top. So you have to look for a lot of different ways
04:20up there and that's also very fun in itself. But the main thing I like about mountain biking is flow
04:25and there's lots of trails where you will need to go uphill every now and again and you'll need to go
04:30up there pretty quick and you're going to have to get these beefed up as well. And the benefits from
04:34this is explosive power, which you can then replicate on the road. So say for example,
04:40you're at the traffic lights and you want to get up to speed as quick as possible.
04:43Yeah. You can use that technique.
04:45Absolutely. And I guess on the flip side though,
04:48having a good high-end power is going to help me in sprints, attacking on climbs.
04:52There's basically no end of benefits to just having a high-end power.
04:58So Chop, what's your next tip? I would say anticipation. There is so much going on in the mountain
05:06bike trail that you can take to the road. So when you're riding on a road bike, you can be a bit
05:12complacent and you just take it for granted and you just find yourself just being a robot.
05:15Yeah, too right. But with mountain biking, you can't. So whatever's in your vision,
05:19your peripheral vision, you've constantly got things constantly going. So you need to take in
05:24every small detail. So I'm talking about the weather, I'm talking about the ground, I'm talking about the
05:29trees, your bike setup. What line did I choose before? Is that still going to be available? Because it could have been
05:34blown out from the previous rider. So it's forever changing. And I guess there's one other thing,
05:39which is actually gearing as well, because that's one thing that I've been able to learn from today
05:44is actually just being able to prepare myself with my gears. And actually, that's directly
05:49applicable to the road, isn't it? Yeah, exactly that. So with biking in general,
05:52you always need to look forward. So whatever's coming up, there could be a hill. So you need to
05:56start thinking about sinking your gears for that section. With mountain biking, you're off road,
06:01so there's going to be a lot of bouncy terrain as well. So that's when you need to start thinking
06:04about having your chain nice and tight to avoid any slap and things like that. So there's lots
06:09to take in with kids. So Chop, what's the next tip? The next tip would be give something else a try.
06:17There's so much variety with mountain biking. You know, you've got dirt jump, slope style, free ride,
06:23enduro, e-biking, gravel. That's listing only a few things to do. And that's all off road. So there's
06:30lots of things that you can try. There's bike parks all around the world, and especially in the
06:34UK, there's loads. So within a couple of hours of a journey, go with your mates, enjoy yourself and
06:40push yourself. Because if you don't push yourself, you don't learn those extra I almost crashed skills.
06:46And that's what I thrive off, living on the edge. If you just look at what we've got in the UK,
06:51there is quite a good variety of different types of riding at all these different bike parks, which
06:56we can learn a lot from. I think it'd be very easy for us roadies to ride the same routes over and
07:01over again and actually just fall into a bit of a lull of just doing the same thing constantly.
07:06Whereas here, you're really pushing yourself and actually, you're taking yourself out of your
07:10comfort zone, aren't you? And that forces you to learn those valuable new skills.
07:13Exactly. So you've got places like Swinley, for example, where you can do a nice gentle loop
07:17and then push the edge a little bit, you know, go out of bounds there. But then you could go to the
07:22complete opposite and you could go up to Wales, where it's full of sharp, big rocks everywhere. So
07:27test yourself. Absolutely. All right then, Chop, any more tips?
07:31So more tips. When I look at a road rider, they're shaped like a Dorito. So huge legs, small torso.
07:39However, with mountain biking, it's the opposite way. So bigger shoulders and a more stronger core.
07:44And the reason why mountain bikers have a stronger core is because the amount of
07:47pulling and pushing and manhandling the bike. These skills you can use on the road. So going back to what
07:53I was saying earlier, having to hop up a curb in a split second, it's much easier to do.
07:57It's much easier to do. And that is, that's great. Well, absolutely. And are there any sort of
08:05kind of position benefits or power benefits? What about that? Because having a strong core is pretty
08:09key, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. So with road, you're going to be over the front of the bike and
08:12you need to hold that position to be in those aero positions. And whilst your legs are acting as the
08:17motor. So being in that position is very key for road as well. And I guess actually, I know from
08:23experience that having a strong core actually really helps with climbing as well, because it means
08:27you can kind of keep your upper body kind of fairly relaxed. And again, just let the legs do their
08:31thing, be the motor of the bike. Yeah, let the body do the work and let your core just be the structure.
08:35Yeah, exactly. Exactly that. So there we have it. I hope you found loads of those tips really useful.
08:41I know that I did. And if you've got any tips or tricks that you found in mountain biking that have
08:46benefited your road riding, then do drop them down in the comments. I want to say a big thanks to you
08:50Chop. Thank you very much for all your knowledge. Big thanks to Lapierre as well for supporting this
08:54one. And if you enjoyed the video, drop a like, subscribe to the channel for more content,
08:58and we will see you again very soon.
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