The beginner’s guideto mountain biking in the Toowoomba

region

If you’ve just moved here, or have been around the traps for a while and always wanted to try your hand at mountain biking, here are a couple of things you need to know to go faster and clear every obstacle the Toowoomba circuits can throw at you.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of going over the handlebars in your youth, you’ll know how important the subtle art of braking is. To make sure you don’t ‘endo’, practise shifting your weight over each wheel and apply just enough pressure to your front and rear brakes to find out what will work for you, before you take on an epic downhill.

1Braking

Now that you’ve practised braking, it’s time to go downhill. If it’s particularly bumpy or rocky, stand on the pedals and lift above the seat so your knees and legs absorb the impact, not your rear.2

The downhill

Like any vehicle, know your bike’s limitations and how much pressure you have to give to get it going in the right direction. Don’t overthink it, your bike will respond to your body, so lean into it and it will follow. 3

Oversteering

Now’s not the time to be thinking about what you’re going to have for dinner. Until it becomes second nature and you are ‘at one’ with the track, stay focussed and notice all the grooves, rocks, holes and bumps.

4Concentrate

Where is just as important as how and there are plenty of awesome tracks across the region for you to cut your teeth on. Jubilee Park has a number of tracks for beginner to advanced bikers, check out our website for more info www.toowoombaRC.qld.gov.au/jubileepark 5

Know where to go

Stay loose and have fun! The best mountain bikers in the world still have epic spills. Mountain biking is an excellent workout and it will take practise to ride with the pros.6

Have fun!

Now that you know the basics, it’s time to get out there!

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