- 4 months ago
It’s long been known that us road cyclists may not have the greatest abilities on the bike, and those of us that do may have learnt it off the tarmac. The most likely is from riding off-road. So, with the support of a Lapierre ambassador, Grant ‘Chopper’ Fielder showed me what I should be doing off road and how it can benefit my road riding. Maybe a mountain bike should be the next bike that we all buy as it clearly has a lot of benefits to our road cycling.
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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
01:19problems. So I guess one of the key things you're going to be able to do when you're out
01:22here on the trails 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
01:37a lot harder and you can really put your trust into the tires. And this is where it's going
01:42to benefit your road biking. So I guess another really important thing is braking as well,
01:47because that is, again, it's very different to how you brake on the road than as you do out
01:51here, right? So how does that differ and how could we learn from mountain biking into the
01:56road world? So with road, you have a lot of time to decide when to brake. You know, there's
02:01lots of things coming out and there's cars going past you, not coming towards you. With
02:04mountain biking, you've got a tree right there. You've got endless amounts of corners,
02:08so it's nonstop split second decisions and you need to brake a lot. But the more you learn
02:14about braking, the better your riding becomes. Yeah, because I guess what it's going to allow you
02:18to do is make sure that you're not going to lock up. You're going to be making sure that
02:22you're coming to a controlled stop. And basically that's what you want because that's going to
02:25keep you safe. Exactly. So like if you are out on the trails, the last thing you want to do is go
02:29too heavy with your front brake because there's loose ground. And the main thing that we do need to
02:34know is that we've got good tyre pressure and we're relying on how our bike is set up in order to
02:39brake better as well, if that makes sense. Absolutely. I think one of the key differences that I've
02:45noticed straight away though, actually being a roadie is, this is a lot, this is a lot quieter
02:49than the roads. Oh, it's amazing. It is pretty good. So again, tell me about that because actually
02:55this is quite nice, isn't it? It is really nice. Like that's the whole reason why I love mountain
03:00biking is because you're in the woods. It's dead quiet. The only thing that you've got to contend
03:06with is maybe a dog walker. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, this is nice and chill. I mean, it's what,
03:10eight o'clock at the moment, the roads are packed and here, absolutely dead. We've got the place to
03:15ourselves. So, I mean, I think really. The dream. Exactly. If you want to avoid the roads,
03:21come here. I guess actually in a bike park like this, you're not just stuck to one route,
03:26you've got so many different ways you can ride this place, right? Oh, absolutely. That's what I
03:29love 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
03:42for the mind after a long, hard day at work or even before work. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like the
03:47whole reason why I come out and why I'm into mountain biking in general is because no matter
03:50if I've had a good day or a bad day, if I go out on my bike, I'm going to have fun and I'm going to
03:55clear my mind. What'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've seen some power benefits there, right? Absolutely. So with
04:11mountain bike parks, they always tend to be on the side of a hill. So you let gravity take you,
04:16but most of the starts are at the top. So you have to look for a lot of different ways up there. And
04:21that's also very fun in itself. But the main thing I like about mountain biking is flow. And there's
04:26lots of trails where you will need to go uphill every now and again, and you'll need to go up there
04:30pretty quick and you're going to have to get these beefed up as well. And the benefits from this
04:34is explosive power, which you can then replicate on the road. So say, for example, you're at the
04:40traffic lights and you want to get up to speed as quick as possible. Yeah. You can use that technique.
04:46Absolutely. And I guess on the flip side though, having a good high-end power is going to help me
04:49in sprints, attacking on climbs. There's basically no end of benefits to just having a high-end power.
04:56So Chop, what's your next tip? I would say anticipation. There is so much going on in
05:05the mountain bike trail that you can take to the road. So when you're riding on a road bike,
05:11you can be a bit complacent and you just take it for granted and you just find yourself just being
05:15a robot. Yeah, do right. But with mountain biking, you can't. So whatever's in your vision,
05:20your 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
05:28talking about the trees, your bike setup. What line did I choose before? Is that still going
05:33to be available? Because it could have been blown out from the previous rider. So it's forever
05:37changing. And I guess there's one other thing, which is actually gearing as well. Because that's
05:42one thing that I've been able to learn from today is actually just being able to prepare myself
05:47with my gears. And actually that's directly applicable to the road, isn't it? Yeah, exactly that. So with
05:52biking in general, you always need to look forward. So whatever's coming up, there could be a hill.
05:55So you need to start thinking about sinking your gears for that section. With mountain biking,
06:00you're off road. So there's going to be a lot of bouncy terrain as well. So that's when you need
06:04to start thinking about having your chain nice and tight to avoid any slap and things like that.
06:08So there's lots to take in with gears. So Chop, what's the next tip? The next tip would be give
06:16something else to try. There's so much variety with mountain biking. You've got dirt jump,
06:22slopestyle, freeride, enduro, e-biking, gravel. That's listed in only a few things to do. And
06:28that's all off road. So there's lots of things that you can try. There's bike parks all around
06:33the world. And especially in the UK, there's loads. So within a couple of hours of a journey,
06:37go with your mates, enjoy yourself and push yourself. Because if you don't push yourself,
06:42you don't learn those extra, I almost crashed skills. And that's what I thrive off, living on
06:48the edge. If you just look at what we've got in the UK, there is quite a good variety of different
06:53types of riding at all these different bike parks, which we can learn a lot from. I think it'd be very
06:58easy for us roadies to ride the same routes over and over again. And actually just fall into a bit
07:03of a lull of just doing the same thing constantly. Whereas here, you're really pushing yourself and
07:08actually you're taking yourself out of your comfort zone, aren't you? And that forces you to
07:12learn those valuable new skills. Exactly. So you've got places like Swinley, for example,
07:16where you can do a nice gentle loop and then push the edge a little bit, you know, go out of bounds
07:21there. But then you could go to the complete opposite and you can go up to Wales, where it's
07:25full of sharp, big rocks everywhere. So test 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.
07:38However, 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 pulling and pushing
07:48and manhandling the bike. These skills you can use on the road. So going back to what I was saying
07:53earlier, having to hop up a curb in a split second. It's much easier to do when you can actually move a bike
07:59around. Yeah. And that that is that's that's great. Well, absolutely. And are there any sort
08:05of kind of position benefits or power benefits? What about that? Because having a strong core is
08:08pretty key. Yeah, absolutely. So with road, you're going to be over the front of the bike and you
08:12need to hold that position to be in those aero positions. And whilst your legs are doing that
08:18motion. Yeah. So being in that position is very key for road as well. And I guess actually,
08:22I know from experience that having a strong core actually really helps with climbing as well,
08:26because it means you can kind of keep your upper body kind of fairly relaxed. And again,
08:30just let the legs do their thing, be the motor of the bike. Yeah, let the body do the work and
08:34let your core just be the structure. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So there we have it. I hope you found
08:39loads of those tips really useful. I know that I did. And if you've got any tips or tricks that you
08:45found in mountain biking that have benefited your road riding, then do drop them down in the comments.
08:49I want to say a big thanks to you, Chop. Thank you very much for all your knowledge.
08:52Big thanks to Lapierre as well for supporting this one. And if you enjoyed the video,
08:56drop a like, subscribe to the channel for more content, and we will see you again very soon.
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