I’m riding about three weeks and I started practising hopping. The problem is that after practising my wrist (the one I hold my saddle with) hurts. I practised hopping just two times, because at first a wasn’t sure that the pain was caused by hopping. But then I used my other hand and found out that that’s it.
Where’s the problem?
I have one more question. I’m riding on a forrest road where some humps and roots are. Sometimes I fall of the uni because of my mistake, sometimes because of root. I want to ask if it’s helpful to hold my saddle holder, because i noticed that most of muni riders do that, so I wondered if it can protect me from some falls.
I don’t know much about hopping, but I can answer this.
The reason you see MUni riders holding their seat handle or bars is the added stability. In a way, it will help you out… but it’s not going to save you from a lapse in focus.
You’ll get better at it as time passes as well. What is difficult now will be second nature in due time. Eventually, you’ll be able to roll over your trouble spots no problem.
Give yourself a break from hopping for a few days or a couple of weeks - whatever it takes. Then when you practise that again, start with shorter sessions and only practise every other day. Gradually lengthen sessions as your body adjusts to the new excercise. I had a similar problem with hopping and only noticed soreness after I’d stopped. So force yourself to stop after, e.g. 15 mins because you may not be able to tell that you’re hurting yourself while you’re doing it.
Holding the seat over roots, bumps, etc. helps for a few reasons. There is a tendency for your feet to come off the pedals when you hit a bump or drop off something, holding the seat helps keep your feet positioned. Another reason is it allows one to transfer more power to the pedals, which is rather useful when you hit a bump and the cranks are not horizontal (the position of maximum power transfer). Furthermore most people unweight the seat going over bumps and absorb the bump into their knees, holding the seat provides more control when you stand off the saddle.
If you can’t ride holding the saddle just yet, don’t be too concerned. It will take practise, but its definitely worth it. Once I could balance holding the saddle, I found it more comfortable riding, going over bumps, dropping off curbs, climbing, etc. pretty much all riding became easier.
Maybe you׳re trying to hop mainly by pulling the seat. If this is the case, try to compress your tire (and your Body :)) like a spring, and add the seat pull just when you going up…
