Thank you to everyone who gave their input to both Craig and I, It was great to see so much interest.

Here’s my Hopping feature for this week and with the current hot weather Craig has decided to go with a Hydration question. Looking forward to your suggestions for next week.

Hopping

The more I’ve thought about how to write or explain this, the harder it has become. Hoping should be as easy as crouching down and pulling up, right? In theory yes, but in practice that simple technique is very limited in distance and height; your tires are the highest point off the ground. Wouldn’t it be great if you could gain the extra distance between the bottom of your wheels and the height of the chain rings by just changing your style? Or gain an extra half a bike length on takeoff AND landing? With some co-ordination and practice, hopefully you won’t be dismounting to get over the log, rock or hole out on the trails any more.

To start with, visualize your chain rings as the lowest point of the bike while going over an obstacle, to do that you pull your front wheel up to a height that will exceed the obstacle, (initially coasting on the rear wheel for half a bike length) as the chain rings approach the obstacle the front wheel will be directly over the top of the obstacle, at this point lean you’re your wrists forward and start pushing the bars down, while, tilting your toes to the ground, pushing your feet towards the back of the bike and pull the rear of the bike up while the front is dropping, the front wheel has now passed the obstacle heading in a downwards direction, while the chain rings are directly over the obstacle with the rear wheel in an upwards direction. As the chain rings pass the obstacle your rear wheel should be at a height that too will pass the obstacle, with your front wheel heading towards the ground. Very important to change your body position at this point (your weight is forward from lifting the rear wheel) transfer your weight from forward to back, as you will have a front wheel landing and don’t want your weight forward as you will go over the bars. If co-ordination is perfect by the time you move your weight backwards, your rear wheel should be directly over the obstacle, momentum is your friend when landing, with your weight back and your rear wheel over the obstacle, you will land doing a nose wheelie with your rear wheel following your front wheel, continuing on your ride.

To put that into basic step, as the technique is the same no matter how big or small the obstacle or gap is. To start with no risk I’d suggest drawing a line on the ground rather than finding an obstacle.

I’ll break this into: front wheel / back wheel, then combining the two.

Part 1-

Front Wheel- commonly known as a wheelie (don’t worry about rear wheel at this point)

1. Approach the line/obstacle at a comfortable speed to allow for perfect co-ordination.

2. On approaching lean your body weight forward

3. Before hitting the line transfer your weight from forward to back to lift your front wheel.

(If you are worried about flipping the bike, sit your finger on the rear brake, if you feel uncomfortable a quick touch of the rear brake will drop the front wheel)

Part 2-

Rear Wheel- commonly known as a nose wheelie (don’t worry about front wheel)

1. Approach the line again at a comfortable speed for co-ordination, let the front wheel roll through the line.

2. As the front wheel has crossed the line, lean forward, tilt your toes to the ground, push the balls of your feet back ward and start lifting your rear wheel over the line as the chain rings are vertically over the line. (nose wheelie- start small)

3. If feel like you are about to head over the bars, lean backwards and push your handlebars forward (just don’t let go)

4. As the rear wheel start to drop, lean back, point your toes to the front of the bike and use your legs to guide rear wheel onto the ground.

Part 3-

Combine the two movements, still will take practice and co-ordination. Start small and work your way up, remember to visualize what I explained above. You can also use these steps to gain extra distance when hopping a gap.

Summer hydration & fueling by Craig Hopps @ Efficiency Coaching:

Welcome to Summer and the associated seasonal heat it brings. Many of you are enjoying riding in the heat, and some of you are really wishing Spring weather would just come back. Regardless of whether you enjoy the heat or not, you have to stay hydrated. People have survived without food for weeks or even months, but go without fluids for even just one day you will be in immediate trouble. Water is by far the most important nutrient for the human body (besides oxygen). Your body is 61% water by weight and it is needed for circulation and other bodily processes including respiration and converting food to energy. If you are losing more fluids than you are taking in, dehydration will occur. Bottom Line; drink before you are thirsty. Whether you like it or not! Do not come home H2O depleted. It can take up to 48 hours to rehydrate once you have run the tank low! This dramatically slows your recovery process. In fact, it has been shown that if you lose just 2.5% of your body weight from fluid loss, you will lose 25% of your efficiency in recovery. For a 160 pound man that is only about four pounds of water! As you dehydrate, your blood becomes thicker and loses volume. This causes the heart to work harder and circulation of blood to be less efficient. Water is required to process your recovery fuels (think protein, carbs, & fat here).

So how much should you be drinking? Drink a minimum of one bottle per hour on the bike. REMEMBER this, go by time, not by thirst. One bottle per hour while training as a base line minimum even if you are not thirsty. If it is hotter, you will likely need to drink more.

Ever wonder if you are drinking enough? Test yourself! Do what the pros do; weigh yourself prior to your ride, and then immediately after. Ideally, your “before & after” weight should be the same. This test may surprise you however. Many riders have days where they drank a bottle per hour and come home 4-6 pounds lighter. Ouch! Check yourself with this simple accurate test of how much you should be drinking.

For sustained training and recovery efficiency, the key is staying topped off with fluids and fuel. In addition to drinking a bottle per hour (or more), eat one of the packable fuels (think gels, bars, shots, etc…) starting at one hour into the ride, and every 45-60 minutes after that. So all rides under an hour only require one bottle of water or sports drink. If you are going on 1-2 hour ride, pack two large bottles and a fuel. If you are going on a 2-3 hour ride, pack your bottles and think a refill point, or pack a full Mule pack plus your bottle(s). Also, you’ll need 2-3 fuel shots as well. So force that bottle down your throat each hour during the ride.

Additionally, keep drinking a glass of water an hour and you’ll stay hydrated. One word here concerning coffee and alcohol, both are diuretics (make you lose water) so moderation and balance is key. If you indulge in diuretics, it should make sense to you that you’ll have to drink extra water to stay hydrated.

We will continue to pick one technical topic and one training question each week:

To suggest a topic for next week: question4sid@yahoo.com

Ask Craig a training question for next week: efficiencycoaching@cox.net

Until next week, Happy Riding