00:05Are 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
00:34and
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 be the next
00:43bike I buy? So Chop, what's your first tip? I would go with technique. So for example, the road is
00:51always
00:51consistent. It's super flat, but with mountain biking, you do need a lot of techniques. The
00:57terrain is forever changing. There's a lot of loose surfaces. So learning how to brake and
01:01understand your grip, you can take these techniques to the road, which is going to make your road
01:05riding a lot easier. So for example, it's also last minute decisions as well. So there could be a
01:11pothole there, there could be a vehicle, or there could be a curb where you need to jump up. And
01:15with
01:15mountain biking, you will learn all of these different techniques to be able to overcome all
01:19those problems. So I guess one of the key things you're going to be able to do when you're out
01:22here on
01:22the 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
01:31less. Yeah. So there's going to be a lot more softer grip. So you can go into these corners a
01:37lot harder,
01:38and you can really put your trust into the tires. And this is where it's going to benefit your road
01:43biking. So I guess another really important thing is braking as well, because that is, again,
01:47it's very different to how you brake on the road than as you do out here, right? So how does
01:53that
01:53differ and how could we learn from mountain biking into the road world? So with road, you have a lot
01:58of time to decide when to brake. You know, there's lots of things coming out and there's cars going
02:02past you, not coming towards you. With mountain biking, you've got a tree right there. You've got
02:07endless amounts of corners. So it's nonstop split second decisions, and you need to brake a lot. But the
02:13more you learn about braking, the better your riding becomes. Yeah, because I guess what it's
02:18going to allow you to do is make sure that you're not going to lock up. You're going to be
02:21making
02:21sure that you're coming to a controlled stop. And basically, that's what you want, because that's
02:25going to keep you safe. Exactly. So like, if you are out on the trails, the last thing you want
02:29to do is
02:29go too 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
02:39to
02:39brake better as well, if that makes sense. Absolutely. I think one of the key differences
02:45that I've noticed straight away, though, actually being a roadie is this is a lot quieter than the
02:50roads. Oh, it's amazing. It is pretty good. So again, tell me about that, because actually,
02:56this is quite nice, isn't it? It is really nice. That's the whole reason why I love mountain biking
03:01is because you're in the woods. It's dead quiet. The only thing that you've got to contend with is maybe
03:07a
03:07dog walker. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, this is nice and chill. I mean, it's what eight o'clock at
03:11the
03:11moment, the roads are packed. And here, absolutely dead, we've got the place to ourselves. So I mean,
03:16I think, really, the dream. Exactly. If you want to avoid the roads, come here. I guess actually,
03:23in a bike park like this, you're not just stuck to one route, are you? You've got so many different
03:27ways you can ride this place, right? Oh, absolutely. That's what I love about it. Like, if you're bored of
03:31one line, you've only got to aim that way, and you're on a total different line, and you're out in
03:35the woods,
03:35you've got to worry about absolutely nothing apart from your bike handling skills. Absolutely. And I
03:40guess that's, I mean, it's always going to be good for the mind after a long, hard day at work,
03:44or even before work. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Like, the whole reason why I come out,
03:48and why I'm into mountain biking in general is because no matter if I've had a good day or a
03:51bad day,
03:52if I go out on my bike, I'm going to have fun and I'm going to clear my mind. What's
03:57better than that?
03:58Now, there was one thing, as we were coming out here, there were some pretty steep rams that we had
04:02to ride
04:02up or I had to ride up to get out here. I imagine, and I really hope, I must have
04:08seen some power
04:09benefits there, right? Absolutely. So with mountain bike parks, they always tend to be on the side of
04:14a hill. So you let gravity take you, but most of the starts are at the top. So you have
04:19to look for a
04:20lot of different ways up there. And that's also very fun in itself. But the main thing I like about
04:24mountain biking is flow. And there's lots of trails where you will need to go uphill every now and
04:29again, and you'll need to go up there pretty quick and you're going to have to get these beefed up
04:32as
04:33well. And the benefits from this is explosive power, which you can then replicate on the road.
04:39So say, for example, you're at the traffic lights and you want to get up to speed as quick as
04:42possible.
04:43Yeah. 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
04:50sprints, attacking on climbs. There'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
05:05a 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
05:15robot. 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,
05:28I'm talking about the trees, your bike setup. What line did I choose before? Is that still
05:33going to 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 with
05:47my gears. And actually that's directly applicable to the road, isn't it? Yeah, exactly that. So with biking in
05:52general, 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. So
06:08there's lots to take in with gears. So Chop, what's the next tip? The next tip would be give
06:16something else a try. There's so much variety with mountain biking, you know, you've got dirt jump,
06:22slope style, free ride, enduro, e-biking, gravel, that's listing only a few things to do. And that's
06:28all off road. So there's lots of things that you can try. There's bike parks all around the world.
06:33And 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 the edge.
06:49If you just look at what we've got in the UK, there is quite a good variety of different types
06:53of riding at all these different bike parks, which we can learn a lot from. I think it'd be very
06:57easy
06:58for us roadies to ride the same routes over and over again, and actually just fall into a bit of
07:04a
07:04lull 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 learn those
07:12valuable new skills. Exactly. So you've got places like Swinley, for example, where you can do a nice,
07:17gentle loop and then push the edge a little bit, you know, go out of bounds there. But then you
07:22could go to the complete opposite and you can go up to Wales, where it's full of sharp, big rocks
07:26everywhere. So test yourself. Absolutely. All right then, Chop, any more tips? So more tips. When I look
07:32at a road rider, they're shaped like a Dorito. So huge legs, small torso. However, with mountain biking,
07:40it's the opposite way. So bigger shoulders and a more stronger core. And the reason why mountain
07:45bikers have a stronger core is because the amount of pulling and pushing and manhandling the bike,
07:50these skills you can use on the road. So going back to what I was saying earlier,
07:54having to hop up a curb in a split second, it's much easier to do when you can actually move
07:58a
07:59bike around. Yeah. And that is, that's great. Well, absolutely. And are there any sort of kind
08:05of position benefits or power benefits? What about that? Because having a strong core is pretty key.
08:09Yeah, absolutely. So with road, you're going to be over the front of the bike and you need to hold
08:13that
08:13position to be in those aero positions and whilst your legs are acting as the motor. So being in
08:19that position is very key for road as well. And I guess actually, I know from experience that having
08:24a strong core actually really helps with climbing as well, because it means you can kind of keep
08:28your upper body kind of fairly relaxed. And again, just let the legs do their thing, be the motor of
08:33the
08:33bike. Yeah, let the body do the work and let your core just be the structure. Yeah, exactly.
08:36Exactly. So there we have it. I hope you found loads of those tips really useful. I know that I
08:41did.
08:42And if you've got any tips or tricks that you've found in mountain biking that have benefited your
08:47road 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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