Tips to get started in Mountain Biking (MTB).

If you love adrenaline on two wheels, you want to exercise and you also love nature and the mountains, mountain biking is what you need.

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Getting started in mountain biking can be the beginning of a true passion that will lead us to live beautiful experiences on our bicycle in the form of fun, health and new friendships. However, there are some very common mistakes between beginners and people who start in the Mountain Bike that can make our beginnings on two wheels are not as pleasant as we would like, and can even turn a future hobby into a bitter memory of the that we just want to forget.

To learn, you have to make mistakes, but learning a little before you start is not too much, to forge a true cyclist to roll and roll for hundreds of kilometers, it is not necessary to fall into the most common mistakes that many beginners of mountain biking commit. in its beginnings.

For that reason I have listed some of the most frequent failures that we usually commit:

Use an inappropriate bicycle or equipment

While there are many models of bicycles, not all are ideal for the mountain or terrain "hard", since this type of environment is usually made up of slopes, potholes, mud, puddles, among many other difficulties, and therefore, we need a bike that can survive all this without leaving us halfway down; for which the usual bikes of walk that we have in house, would not support the level of exigency that is required to pay for this type of routes.

In addition, we must always be provided with tools that allow us to quickly solve unforeseen issues in mechanics (keys, screwdrivers, air pumps, patches and others); Likewise, we must not forget our physical integrity, for this reason it is essential to carry a mini first aid kit when you do extensive routes, in it you must always include gauze, disinfectant and adhesive tape for the frequent scrapes that we may end up suffering.

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In this same order, we must not forget the use of a helmet, since this is our main protection during the falls, we must procure one that is light and aerodynamic, also that adapts to the measurements of our skull, that does not mistreat our ears and that it does not unzip easily, of this last one our life could depend.

Start pedaling with too much energy

It is true that going quickly on the bike is exciting and fun, but do not forget that the waste of energy charges a high cost, and you lose the fun if before doing half the route you have to get off the bike and throw yourself to the ground because you can not take a pedalada more.

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Therefore you must take the bike intelligently, distributing the pace as you complete your route. During the first third of it you can take it as a warm-up, this means that we should roll gently so that our muscles adapt to the physical effort gradually, without unnecessary efforts that can consume the energy we will need later.

Roll the second third of our route at a constant pace, appropriate to our physical capabilities and our performance. Each cyclist must find his own rhythm to follow and with which he must be able to roll for many kilometers without falling into exhaustion.

Roll during the last third of our route harder. Squeezing the pace or choosing a harder development during the last kilometers of our route, learning to push harder even if we are tired, something vitally important to gradually improve our performance on the bike.

Not supplying our fuel body correctly

Every vehicle has an engine, although in the case of the bicycle our body is that engine that determines the pace of travel, consuming fuel as we move forward, so that our body consumes the energies that we have stored, until we exhaust them completely if we do not replenish them properly. The physical exercise, the heat, the sweat and our own physical condition will mark the way in which we must replace the fuel that our body needs while we ride with the bicycle.

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We should avoid going out with the bicycle on an empty stomach and should hydrate in moderation before rolling. Once on the fly, the ideal is to take a few drinks of water or isotonic drink every 10 minutes and eat a few bites every 15 minutes. In general terms and as approximation measures, we should drink a hydration can and eat an energy bar for each hour that our bicycle route lasts.

Therefore forget about that silly idea of "if I eat before I get off the bike I'll get fat", it's true that the excess of heavy meals or scrap directly affects performance when doing any physical activity, so we must consume high-fat foods. fiber, glucose and nutrients, to help reduce the muscle and organic wear that our body suffers when exercising.