And now we come to our last installment from Lessons from the Deschutes River Trail. These are all the tips I received and put into practice. It’s sort of a primer for new mountainbikers.

Shift your body back on the downhills

I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly care to do an endo. As a kid, I did an endo on two separate occasions: one was on my way to school when I discovered it’s not a good idea to slam on your front brake, and the other time was my first and only road racing crash. I decided on both of those occasions that I would try to avoid flipping over my handlebars. The best way to do that while mountain biking, other than riding headlong into a boulder, is to shift your weight back. On mild downhills, you might want to simply extend your arms and curve your back a little. On the more hairy downhills, it’s best to get off your saddle and stick your butt behind your seat. On some occasions I have basically moved my stomach directly over my saddle, so I wouldn’t get tossed. This combined with not slamming on your front brakes should be all you need. I hope this helps on your next ride.

Before I sign off, I’d like to make the comment that these suggestions work best after you have begun to get a little tired, but you haven’t lost your edge. On my last ride, I found that the most rewarding part of the ride was after I got tired enough to stop worrying about everything. I found that I relaxed more and stopped staring at rocks and roots as objects to be avoided and started having fun jumping and bumping around the trail.