Well I wanted to go for a long ride and make a bigger movie today, but my coordination just wasn’t there and and I couldn’t find many good lines nearby. I’m having to travel furthur to ride new lines these days.
Still, I did film these two rail rides which I was happy with. I really wanted to try the 90 degree corner in the first rail, but didn’t have the guts. There’s about 3m of rail to the right of the frame leading up to the corner, so it’s a beautiful rail to try. It’s frustrating that I didn’t have the guts to commit to the corner because I know I can do them on narrower rails than that. Maybe later some time I’ll do it…for OWA2 I guess. I also just barely missed landing straight on my testicles on that rail. I had a very uncoordinated dismount resulting in having one leg each side of the rail, but luckily I reacted quick enough to only land on my upper thigh. Somehow that lead to a sore muscle in the lower leg.
The second rail is another that I’d attempted before (the green rail). This time I had some more success. At the end I don’t ride directly off because of the roof of the shelter above the camera. What you see and what I ride in the video is only about 2/5 of the whole thing. One day I’m going to be able to ride it all…not for some time though. The curviness of the green rail makes it much more difficult than I anticipated.
…and yes, those very attractive curvy sloped silver rails behind the one I’m riding in the first clip are a BIG goal of mine. The dorp to the right scares me though.
see, there’s that balance thing. You kick ass at freemounting on rails. I always need help up. The big drop would scare me shitless, so I don’t blame you at all for not taking that rail. Overall, you rock.
I’ve been trying to work on skinnies and it’s TOUGH!
For skinnies, what tire pressure do you run compared to doing other things like hopping and gapping? This is mostly about rails where I can see the tire folding over easily with all the pressure on a small area.
There’s something incredibly surreal about the way you ride skinnies…like watching a dream. Your tire just seems to be glued to the rail and you look so controlled. Its amazing.
Overall your AWESOME at rails
TheoELind,
When you say you always need help up, are you talking about getting up onto the rail or up onto the uni once one the rail? I think I’m getting the hang of it now but I used to really struggle with just balancing on the round rails before mounting. The technique I used for the green rail was…
Put the uni on the rail with the pedals in the desired orientation.
Hold the uni with one hand and keep the other out for balance.
Put one foot up at about 30 degrees to the rail (this angle works best with the shoes I wear, but I think generally it’s easier to balance up there with the foot on that sort of angle rather than parallel or perpendicular to the rail).
Step up, and as soon as you can (although you shouldn’t rush too much) get the seat in position and free foot on rear pedal (I’ve found it’s easier to balance up there with the seat in position rather than out).
Take a short moment to gain balance and composure, but not too long or you’ll lose it again and tire yourself out as well as lose confidence in riding the rail.
Be SURE that you have your weight directly over the rail no matter what is either side of you. It’s easy to mount with all your weight to the right if there’s a garden or bigger drop to the left, but this way you’re never going to complete the line.
Mount the uni and try to get going reasonably soon after. Riding rails fairly slow is something I like to do, but go too slow and you’ll end up in a stillstand (something I can’t hold for long :)).
Not sure if that’s any use to you, good luck either way.
Bob22b,
Today I really struggled with lines I was attempting involving hopping…I’m going to take the easy option and blame it on a low tyre pressure ;). I’m not sure of the exact pressure, but generally speaking I use the same pressure for all my trials riding. The pressure I run is just enough that it won’t bottom out on 7’ drops or so, and fold when gapping. Basically I get as much play in the tyre as possible without it hindering any of the areas of my trials riding. I think for round railings like this one (a bit under 2" diameter) and smaller ones like the one from the “Ashgrove trials” video (about 20mm diameter) this pressure allows the tyre to fold around a little and I really do think this helps. So rails that size are small enough that the tyre with wrap around without having to run a really low pressure, and for wider rails the tyre won’t wrap around as much, but I don’t think it’s as necessary for those anyway.
Thanks for the help, but when I free mount on rails, even in the order of your steps provided, I still woble a bit to get my bearings. These wobles usualy end badly. I think I also need a fatter tire. Mine doesn’t allow for low pressure, and it has a rounded shape to it, making it all the more challanging to ride a round rail.
First off… I really love watching you ride rails. Like everyone else on the forum, I am completely blown away by it. I also appreciate your making the great videos for us to view!
Regarding your not having the guts to try the 90 degree corner… well I think we can all be fairly certain that we’ll be watching you nail that corner in an upcoming video in the not too distant future! Sometimes it’s best not to attempt something if you don’t feel 100% right about it at the time… there’s always another day to come back.
When it comes to aggressive riding, I have realized that one of the most important things you can learn is how to bail out in time to avoid a nasty spill (plan A) and… if that doesn’t work out according to plan, to have a wipe-out strategy (plan B) that will enable you to avoid or minimize injuries. So, I’ll analyze the course or the obstacle, determine what types of mistakes are most likely and then try and think what my “exit strategy” will be for each possible mistake. I would guess that you probably employ a similar strategy.
