Today I went mountain bike riding after a long time. I spent the evening of thanksgiving setting up and maintaining my bike. Getting rid of annoying creaks etc.
It was a foggy day today but pleasant enough to ride. Although I have been riding for a season, I have felt that my fundamentals are not strong . So today, I just did the same section over and over again.
It was a downhill incline of about 70-80 feet drop with challenging rock gardens . So it was enough to test me.
I focused on two things:
1. Jumping
2. Controlling speed on downhill.
I got the hang of jumping, timing the loading of the suspension just before clearing the crest. After two jumps, the section picks up speed and descends through some rough terrain.
Here It took me while to get the hang of it. I was getting kicked off my bike when I hit some trail features. I realized what I was doing wrong. I was braking with my front brakes, as I approached the bumps. This pushed my weight to the front and made me very unstable.
I did the last couple of runs with the back brakes only. And that gave me much better control.
A second chance? 