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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Are you missing out on a whole other world of cycling?
00:08 It's long been known that leaving the road bike in the shed
00:10 and taking out a mountain bike
00:12 does have quite a few benefits to us roadies,
00:14 but what are they?
00:16 And how can your road riding benefit from mountain biking?
00:19 Well, I've been joined out on the trail by Chop,
00:22 who, if you don't know, is a La Piera ambassador
00:24 and has been at the forefront of the UK free riding scene
00:27 for nearly two decades.
00:28 - A long time.
00:29 - That's not too bad.
00:30 So, with the help of La Piera,
00:32 Chop is gonna give me all of his tips and tricks.
00:35 He's gonna teach me about mountain biking
00:36 and I'm gonna see how that can help my road riding
00:39 and hopefully I'll be able to answer the question,
00:41 should a mountain bike be the next bike I buy?
00:43 So Chop, what's your first tip?
00:47 - I would go with technique.
00:49 So for example, the road is always consistent,
00:52 it's super flat, but with mountain biking,
00:55 you do need a lot of techniques.
00:57 The terrain is forever changing,
00:59 there's a lot of loose surfaces,
01:00 so learning how to brake and understand your grip,
01:02 you can take these techniques to the road,
01:05 which is gonna make your road riding a lot easier.
01:07 So for example, it's also last minute decisions as well,
01:10 so there could be a pothole there,
01:12 there could be a vehicle,
01:13 or there could be a curb where you need to jump up.
01:15 And with mountain biking,
01:16 you will learn all of these different techniques
01:18 to be able to overcome all those problems.
01:20 - So I guess one of the key things
01:21 you're gonna be able to do
01:22 when you're out here on the trails
01:23 is actually learn the limits of the grip
01:24 and what the tyres are capable of, right?
01:26 - Exactly that.
01:27 So with my mountain bike, compared to a road bike,
01:29 the pressure is more than half less.
01:33 So there's gonna be a lot more softer grip,
01:36 so you can go into these corners a lot harder,
01:38 and you can really put your trust into the tyres,
01:40 and this is where it's gonna benefit your road biking.
01:44 - So I guess another really important thing
01:45 is braking as well, because that is, again,
01:48 it's very different to how you brake on the road
01:51 than as you do out here, right?
01:52 So how does that differ,
01:54 and how could we learn from mountain biking
01:56 into the road world?
01:57 - So with road, you have a lot of time
01:59 to decide when to brake.
02:00 You know, there's lots of things coming up,
02:02 and there's cars going past you,
02:03 not coming towards you.
02:04 With mountain biking, you've got a tree right there.
02:07 You've got endless amounts of corners,
02:08 so it's non-stop split-second decisions,
02:11 and you need to brake a lot.
02:13 But the more you learn about braking,
02:15 the better your riding becomes.
02:16 - Yeah, 'cause I guess what it's gonna allow you to do
02:18 is make sure that you're not gonna lock up.
02:21 You're gonna be making sure
02:21 that you're coming to a controlled stop,
02:23 and basically, that's what you want,
02:24 because that's gonna keep you safe.
02:26 - Exactly, so if you are out on the trails,
02:28 the last thing you wanna do
02:29 is go too heavy with your front brake,
02:31 because there's loose ground,
02:33 and the main thing that we do need to know
02:35 is that we've got good tyre pressure,
02:36 and we're relying on how our bike is set up
02:39 in order to brake better as well, if that makes sense.
02:41 - Absolutely.
02:42 I think one of the key differences
02:45 that I've noticed straightaway, though,
02:46 actually, being a roadie,
02:47 is this is a lot quieter than the roads.
02:50 - Oh, it's amazing.
02:52 - It is pretty good.
02:53 So again, tell me about that,
02:54 because actually, this is quite nice, isn't it?
02:57 - It is really nice.
02:59 The whole reason why I love mountain biking
03:01 is because you're in the woods.
03:03 It's dead quiet.
03:05 The only thing that you've gotta contend with
03:06 is maybe a dog walker.
03:08 - Exactly, so yeah, I mean, this is nice and chill.
03:10 I mean, it's what, eight o'clock at the moment?
03:11 The roads are packed, and here, absolutely dead.
03:14 We've got the place to ourselves,
03:15 so I mean, I think, really--
03:18 - The dream.
03:18 - Exactly, if you wanna avoid the roads, come here.
03:22 I guess actually, in a bike park like this,
03:24 you're not just stuck to one route, are you?
03:26 You've got so many different ways
03:27 you can ride this place, right?
03:28 - Oh, absolutely, that's what I love about it.
03:30 Like, if you're bored of one line,
03:32 you've only gotta aim that way,
03:33 and you're on a total different line,
03:35 and you're out in the woods,
03:36 you've got to worry about absolutely nothing
03:38 apart from your bike handling skills.
03:40 - Absolutely, and I guess that's,
03:41 I mean, it's always gonna be good for the mind
03:43 after a long, hard day at work, or even before work.
03:46 - Oh, absolutely, yeah.
03:47 Like, the whole reason why I come out,
03:48 and why I'm into mountain biking in general
03:50 is because no matter if I've had a good day or a bad day,
03:52 if I go out on my bike, I'm gonna have fun,
03:55 and I'm gonna clear my mind.
03:57 - What's better than that?
03:58 Now, there was one thing, as we were coming out here,
04:00 there were some pretty steep ramps that we had to ride up,
04:03 or I had to ride up to get out here.
04:05 I imagine, and I really hope,
04:08 I must have seen some power benefits there, right?
04:10 - Absolutely, so with mountain bike parks,
04:12 they always tend to be on the side of a hill,
04:15 so you let gravity take you.
04:16 But most of the starts are at the top,
04:18 so you have to look for a lot of different ways up there,
04:21 and that's also very fun in itself.
04:23 But the main thing I like about mountain biking is flow,
04:25 and there's lots of trails where you will need
04:28 to go uphill every now and again,
04:29 and you'll need to go up there pretty quick,
04:31 and you're gonna have to get these beefed up as well.
04:33 And the benefits from this is explosive power,
04:36 which you can then replicate on the road.
04:39 So say, for example, you're at the traffic lights,
04:41 and you wanna get up to speed as quick as possible,
04:43 you can use that technique.
04:46 - Absolutely, and I guess on the flip side, though,
04:48 having a good high-end power is gonna help me in sprints,
04:51 - Absolutely. - Attacking on climbs.
04:52 There's basically no end of benefits
04:55 to just having a high-end power.
04:56 So, Chop, what's your next tip?
05:01 - I would say anticipation.
05:03 There is so much going on in a mountain bike trail
05:07 that you can take to the road.
05:09 So when you're riding on a road bike,
05:11 you can be a bit complacent,
05:12 and you just take it for granted,
05:14 and you just find yourself just being a robot.
05:16 - Yeah, too right.
05:16 - With mountain biking, you can't,
05:18 so whatever's in your vision, your peripheral vision,
05:20 you've constantly got things constantly going,
05:23 so you need to take in every small detail.
05:26 So I'm talking about the weather,
05:27 I'm talking about the ground,
05:28 I'm talking about the trees, your bike setup.
05:30 What line did I choose before?
05:32 Is that still gonna be available?
05:34 'Cause it could have been blown out from the previous rider,
05:36 so it's forever changing.
05:38 - And I guess there's one other thing,
05:39 which is actually gearing as well,
05:41 'cause that's one thing that I've been able
05:43 to learn from today,
05:44 is actually just being able to prepare myself with my gears,
05:48 and actually that's directly applicable to the road,
05:50 isn't it?
05:51 - Yeah, exactly that.
05:52 So with biking in general,
05:53 you always need to look forward,
05:54 so whatever's coming up,
05:55 there could be a hill,
05:55 so you need to start thinking about syncing your gears
05:58 for that section.
05:59 With mountain biking, you're off-road,
06:01 so there's gonna be a lot of bouncy terrain as well,
06:03 so that's when you need to start thinking
06:04 about having your chain nice and tight
06:06 to avoid any slap and things like that.
06:08 So there's lots to take in with gears.
06:13 - So Chop, what's the next tip?
06:15 - The next tip would be give something else a try.
06:17 There's so much variety with mountain biking.
06:20 You know, you've got dirt jumps, slopestyle,
06:22 freeride, enduro, e-biking, gravel,
06:26 that's listing only a few things to do,
06:28 and that's all off-road,
06:29 so there's lots of things that you can try.
06:32 There's bike parks all around the world,
06:33 and especially in the UK, there's loads.
06:35 So within a couple of hours of a journey,
06:38 go with your mates, enjoy yourself,
06:39 and push yourself,
06:41 because if you don't push yourself,
06:42 you don't learn those extra I almost crashed skills,
06:46 and that's what I thrive off, living on the edge.
06:49 - If you just look at what we've got in the UK,
06:51 there is quite a good variety of different types of riding
06:54 at all these different bike parks,
06:56 which we can learn a lot from.
06:57 I think it'd be very easy for us roadies
06:59 to ride the same routes over and over again,
07:02 and actually just fall into a bit of a lull
07:04 of just doing the same thing constantly,
07:06 whereas here, you're really pushing yourself,
07:08 and actually, you're taking yourself
07:10 out of your comfort zone, aren't you?
07:11 And that forces you to learn those valuable new skills.
07:13 - Oh, exactly.
07:14 So you've got places like Swinley, for example,
07:16 where you can do a nice, gentle loop,
07:17 and then push the edge a little bit,
07:20 you know, go out of bounds there,
07:21 but then you could go to the complete opposite,
07:23 and you could go up to Wales,
07:24 where it's full of sharp, big rocks everywhere.
07:27 So test yourself.
07:28 - Absolutely.
07:30 All right then, Chop, any more tips?
07:31 - So more tips.
07:32 When I look at a road rider,
07:34 they're shaped like a Dorito.
07:36 So huge legs, small torso.
07:39 However, with mountain biking,
07:40 it's the opposite way.
07:41 So bigger shoulders and a more stronger core.
07:44 And the reason why mountain bikers have a stronger core
07:46 is because the amount of pulling and pushing
07:49 and manhandling the bike.
07:50 These skills you can use on the road.
07:52 So going back to what I was saying earlier,
07:54 having to hop up a curb in a split second--
07:57 - It's much easier to do
07:58 when you can actually move the bike around, yeah.
08:00 - And that is, that's great.
08:03 - Well, absolutely.
08:04 And are there any sort of kind of position benefits
08:06 or power benefits?
08:07 What about that?
08:08 'Cause having a strong core's pretty key, isn't it?
08:09 - Yeah, absolutely.
08:10 So with road, you're gonna be over the front of the bike
08:12 and you need to hold that position
08:14 to be in those aero positions.
08:15 And whilst your legs are--
08:17 - Doing their thing, yeah. - Acting as the motor.
08:18 So being in that position is very key for road as well.
08:22 - And I guess, actually, I know from experience
08:23 that having a strong core
08:24 actually really helps with climbing as well
08:26 because it means you can kind of keep your upper body
08:28 kind of fairly relaxed.
08:30 And again, just let the legs do their thing.
08:32 Be the motor of the bike.
08:33 - Yeah, let the body do the work
08:34 and let your core just be the structure.
08:35 - Yeah, exactly, exactly that.
08:38 So there we have it.
08:39 I hope you found loads of those tips really useful.
08:41 I know that I did.
08:42 And if you've got any tips or tricks
08:44 that you found in mountain biking
08:46 that have benefited your road riding,
08:48 then do drop them down in the comments.
08:49 I wanna say a big thanks to you, Chop.
08:51 Thank you very much for all your knowledge.
08:52 Big thanks to La Pierre as well for supporting this one.
08:55 And if you enjoyed the video, drop a like,
08:57 subscribe to the channel for more content,
08:59 and we will see you again very soon.
09:00 [Music]