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.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
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 be the next
00:43bike I buy? So Chop, what's your first tip? I would go with technique. So for example,
00:50the road is always consistent. It's super flat, but with mountain biking, you do need a lot of
00:56techniques. The terrain is forever changing. There's a lot of loose surfaces. So learning
01:00how to brake and understand your grip, you can take these techniques to the road, which is going
01:05to make your road riding a lot easier. So for example, it's also last minute decisions as well.
01:10So there could be a pothole there, there could be a vehicle, or there could be a curb where you need
01:14to jump up. And with mountain biking, you will learn all of these different techniques to be able
01:18to overcome all those problems. So I guess one of the key things you're going to be able to do when
01:22you're out here on the trails is actually learn the limits of the grip and what the tires are capable
01:25of, right? Exactly that. So with my mountain bike compared to a road bike, the pressure is more than
01:31half less. Yeah. So there's going to be a lot more softer grip. So you can go into these corners a lot
01:37harder and you can really put your trust into the tires. And this is where it's going to benefit your
01:43road biking. 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 that differ
01:54and how could we learn from mountain biking into the road world? So with road, you have a lot of time
01:59to decide when to brake. You know, there's lots of things coming out and there's cars going past you,
02:02not coming towards you. With mountain biking, you've got a tree right there. You've got endless
02:08amounts of corners. So it's nonstop split second decisions and you need to brake a lot. But the more you
02:14learn about braking, the better your riding becomes. Yeah, because I guess what it's going
02:18to allow you to do is make sure that you're not going to lock up. You're going to be making sure
02:21that 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 to do
02:29is go too heavy with your front brake because there's loose ground. And the main thing that we do need
02:34to know 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
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 a
03:07dog walker. Exactly. So yeah, I mean, this is nice and chill. I mean, it's what eight o'clock
03:11at the moment, the roads are packed and here absolutely dead. We've got the place to ourselves.
03:15So, I mean, I think really the dream. Exactly. If you want to avoid the roads, come here. I guess
03:22actually in a bike park like this, you're not just stuck to one route, are you? You've got so many
03:26different ways you can ride this place, right? Oh, absolutely. That's what I love about it. Like if
03:30you're bored of one line, you've only got to aim that way and you're on a total different line
03:35and you're out in the woods, you've got to worry about absolutely nothing apart from your bike
03:39handling 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.
03:56What's better than that? Now, there was one thing as we were coming out here, there were some pretty steep
04:01rams that we had to ride up or I had to ride up to get out here. I imagine, and I really hope,
04:07I must have seen some power benefits there, right? Absolutely. So with mountain bike parks,
04:12they always tend to be on the side of a hill. So you let gravity take you, but most of the starts
04:17are at the top. So you have to look for a lot of different ways up there and that's also
04:21very fun in itself. But the main thing I like about mountain biking is flow. And there's lots of trails
04:26where you will need to go uphill every now and again, and you'll need to go up there pretty quick and you're
04:31going to have to get these beefed up as well. And the benefits from this is explosive power,
04:36which you can then replicate on the road. So say, for example, you're at the traffic lights and you
04:41want to get up to speed as quick as possible, you can use that technique. Absolutely. And I guess on the
04:47flip side though, having 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.
04:56So 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 a
05:15robot. Yeah, do 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 every small
05:26I'm talking about the weather. I'm talking about the ground. I'm talking about the trees,
05:29your bike set up. What line did I choose before? Is that still going to be available? Because it
05:34could have been blown out from the previous rider. So it's forever changing. And I guess there's one
05:38other thing, which is actually gearing as well, because that's one thing that I've been able to
05:43learn from today is actually just being able to prepare myself with my gears. And actually,
05:48that's directly applicable 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,
06:00you're off road. So there's going to be a lot of bouncy terrain as well. So that's when you need to
06:04start thinking about having your chain nice and tight to avoid any slap and things like that. So
06:09there'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,
06:21slope 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.
06:48If 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 easy
06:58for us roadies to ride the same routes over and over again and actually just fall into a bit of a
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 a
07:58bike 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 that
08:13position to be in those aero positions and whilst your legs are acting as the motor. Yeah. So being
08:19in that position is very key for road as well. And I guess actually, I know from experience that
08:23having a strong core actually really helps with climbing as well, because it means you can kind
08:27of keep your upper body kind of fairly relaxed. And again, just let the legs do their thing,
08:32be the motor of the bike. Yeah, let the body do the work and let your core
08:34just be the structure. Yeah, exactly. Exactly that. So there we have it. I hope you found loads of those
08:40tips really useful. I know that I did. And if you've got any tips or tricks that you found in
08:45mountain 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, drop a like,
08:56subscribe to the channel for more content, and we will see you again very soon.