The holy grail of mountain biking: Finding Flow...

If I had to point a finger on what makes a day in the trails fun is flow. What is flow? To me is the connection between the rider and the bicycle and how they interact  with the terrain on the trails. If you have flow you have rhythm, there's a dance you are performing with the trees, logs, turns, dips, rocks and whatever is on your way. Ever heard of the term "don't fight the mountain?" Well, that sums up what flow should be about, it is about not fighting the mountain. Making every obstacle of a choreographed routine.

Everything has a particular timing aka rhythm. Say that you are riding and you see a rider pass you at twice your speed. If you give chase the first thing you will notice is the inability to catch up to him and the futility of chasing someone much faster than you. So to use the video on the right as a point of reference, it's really hard to match the steps of someone dancing salsa at an advanced level just by trying to imitate the timing on their steps. It's not going to feel right because you are not following the beat of the music and rather you are wanting to copy the timing of the rider's steps. You will always be one second late and never get the rhythm. Same thing in mountain biking, when you are going into a turn you will see his bike getting closer to yours and just as soon he will soon be pulling away again. Rhythm then is the first step to getting flow.

Rhythm and how it applies to the trails

Looking at the video above ask yourself the following questions. Did you think of riding the section that particular way? Did you know you could pump (the act of pushing and pulling the handlebar to get speed from the terrain) to gain speed? I think is hard to imagine riding a pump track that way but it shows that is doable. Most importantly you could see the relevance of timing, push or pull at the wrong time and you are guaranteed to eat some dirt.

How do you find rhythm? 

This is probably one of the hardest thing to do. The first thing you need to have is a clear head.  Having a bad day at work or thinking about stuff that's happening in your life is not very conducive to great mental state. This of course is the reason why we ride but you should not be thinking about work stuff while you are riding or any other problems. You have been waiting to ride your bike for a long time and now you have the chance. Put all your concentration into it. Be glad that you are there. If it is raining and you don't like mud, learn to love mud. If you hate branches hitting your face, make a game out of dodging branches. If your bike is making a noise, fix it or learn to avoid it. Anything that gets your attention away from actually riding and enjoying the trails is potentially ruining your ride.

Notice that I have not mentioned anything about what to do in the trails as far as turning, jumping over logs, braking, accelerating and so on. I still think that even when riders know exactly what to do certain things get in the way. It is a not a case of not having the skills  but a matter of not having fun. So the most important thing to think about fun. If you like jumping, jump...If you prefer bunny hopping, hop. Whatever you do, have fun!