FREE RIDE MOUNTAIN BIKING

What is free ride mountain biking?

Free ride is a new discipline combining downhill riding and dirt jumping. Today, this discipline is the most recognized of mountain biking.

There are many reasons people love to free ride. It's fast and fun!

Free ride bikes are similar to the downhill bikes, but have less suspension and they are much lighter for maneuverability.

The head angles on a free ride bike are slightly steeper. The wheelbases are also shorter which allow for better maneuverability on technical sections of trails and courses.

Why free ride mountain biking?

Many people love to free ride bike because it gives them the freedom to be creative on their bicycle. It is very similar for people who love to snowboard and skateboard.

You can have the ability to control your bicycle on hard to maneuver obstacles.

In addition you can learn tricks that are reallysweet. Free riding includes riding over hard courses like slender trees and maintaining balance.

When you go free riding on a difficult course you have a major feeling of accomplishment when you are finished. It is a lot of fun and not like normal mountain biking on regular trails.

Where can you do free ride biking?

Today there are many places you can go free ride mountain biking. Many ski areas around the world have started to embrace free riding.

They have added bike racks to the chair lifts to allow free riders access to the top of the mountain with their bikes. This gives the ski area the opportunity to stay open year round and continue to be making money by selling lift tickets.

When free riders have the ability to take a chair lift to the top of the mountain then they have the ability to ride their bikes on more runs in less time if they do not have to ride their bike to the top of the mountain. Now that's cool!

What skills do you need for free ride mountain biking?

There are a few skills you should know when you are freeriding. Some of the skills include just getting used to your pedals. Be familiar with them. You don’t want to be on a steep terrain and have your feet slip off the pedals.

Play with the pedals on your bike and become very familiar with them. You should sit and spin your bike for the appropriate fit and position also.

You need to know when and how to shift the gears on your bike. The last thing you want is to shift into the wrong gear when you are heading downhill.

You should learn how to pedal well while you are standing also. This is a skill and it is tougher than it may sound. You should teach yourself to drop properly off of curbs and other obstacles.

The best place to learn this skill is on a curb. In addition to dropping off of a curb you should be able to jump on the curb. This will help you learn maneuverability of your bike.

Free riding is a different style of mountain biking on a much lighter bike that allows you to maneuver through obstacles, up steep terrain and down steep terrain.

You should become extremely familiar with your bike and some of the basics before you attempt to go free riding. You can check out some of your local ski areas if you are interested in going down one of the runs.

Check out out our mountain biking techniques
page for tips on descending quickly and effectively.

Another good resource with even more in depth information on tackling obstacles is Mastering Mountain Biking.

For Free Ride equipment try Jenson USA. We just found this company and they have low pries daily even when there is no sale and no membership cards.

Have fun free riding it is a blast!

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