Summary of today's riding: shit!

Two hours and some 100 pedal ups (or pedal shits!) and I still didn't manage to get up the wall I got up during last session so easily. I don't know why...

Again "Pedal Ups". I just can't get enough of them. The funny thing is that my "Pedal Kicks" got better as well, and I'm more stable on the back wheel. Got a little higher today and my technique, if not brilliant, has gotten a little better.

Unfortunately, I was forced to end my practice earlier than I wanted to. The brand new Tensile Tocco failed me... :(

Before that happened I managed to get up another wall, which is a little higher than the one from last time. I also worked a little on my pedal up technique (again).

Not a very good looking bike but it's a lot of fun.






By the way: I got the Tensile Tocco Lever. So far I'm not that convinced by it's performance. It's better than the Carbotechture one of the HS33R but  moves back rather slowly which makes the lever rattle for a short while. I hope it's just temporarily as the lever is new.

Cannot ride because the 1 month old HS33R is faulty.... Ordered a Tensile Tocco lever to get myself the best HS33 out there but it'll take at least till Tuesday for the things to arrive. The "old" HS33R goes back to the dealer who will check what's wrong with it.

Yesterday I tried some backwheelhops on my 26'' MTB but it didn't work. The wheels just felt soo huge compared to my 24'' on the Marino. I was trying to imagine myself on a 26'' trialbike but couldn't quite see the advantages of it.

I guess I will do some normal mountain-biking then.

Have to take back 5cm. I measured again and it's only 50cm but still, it's getting easier every day. Today I practiced 4 hours and yes, I did something else besides pedal ups. :)

Summary of today's riding:

- 3hours of pedal ups (at least 200 tries)
- new personal best = 55cm

Nothing special but I'm happy...

I got permission to practice again. Only 2 hours but oh well... I basically did what I did yesterday with "slight" improvements. After having conquered the 25cm high platform, I went on to a 45cm high bench and was able to get up there pretty constantly.

Today I found out that once you learn some technique the wrong way, it's pretty hard to change it. Still, I got better at my pedal hops. As I only had 2 hours, I didn't do anything else...

Went out and tried the "Pedal Up" again. From the last video I know that I lift the front wheel up too early too high so that I don't have any more movement left for the Pedal Kick. Today I tried to lift it up later but wasn't successful. It's harder than I thought and I will have to practice the lifting up part separately I think.

What went well was the jumping down the stairs. I think it will not last very long before I can get down w/o setting a foot down. Almost made it today. :)



p.s.: 1.50m drop is the goal for 2014


Nachtrag von niconj2 - mehr Mountainbike-Videos

Unfortunately, I haven't had any time to practice more and just when I have some it is raining. I still went out today and tried to do some "Pedal Ups". From what I figure comparing the video to all the tutorials on the internet the technique isn't all too bad especially after having practiced it for only a couple of hours. Still, there's something missing at the very last moment for I couldn't get all too high even though in the end I managed to get up the stairs from the beginning w/o hitting my rear wheel on the edge.

Too bad that I didn't have my camera with me today. I practiced pedal ups and was able to do some nice ones onto the curb I have been using for my pedal kicks. As I went home to get the camera I saw my wife's face and didn't want to risk my life asking her for yet some more time. Videos will have to wait...

Today I did two things. First, I went back to the 50cm drop and did it about 100 times, just to get the timing right. In the end it worked pretty well. On my way home I saw another drop with about the same height but with almost no space to move sideways (the first one I did off a very wide platform) which made it harder. The first 20 times or so I lost my balance and went down with the front wheel first (out of a backhop) realizing that you couldn't do this off a higher platform or at least not w/o hurting yourself. I guess I will have to get my balance right before taking on higher drops. One thing I noticed though is that I was able to aim where to land and that I could jump at least 1 meter far.

The other move I tried to do was the "pedal up" which is way harder than it looks on trashzen. I managed to get the front wheel up with the "bad" foot and also got my backwheel up to a certain extend but it just felt wrong or at least weird. One time I went down on the first pedal stroke because I did it too hard. Sitting down on concrete this way is something I don't like to do.

Finally, I had time (and the shin guards) to go out and ride again. The cuts have healed alright and don't hurt anymore. It was pretty cold today but after only half an hour I was sweating a lot.

I don't know if you can see it but the pedal kicks were easier and cleaner than the last time I did them. I guess it's the "more trialish" stem I put on the bike. It's pretty ugly but who cares...

Due to the cold weather (2°C) the battery of my camera went out and I couldn't record all the things I wanted to. For example, I managed to do 3 pedal kicks down the stairs in the end. I know it's not much but for me it's yet another achievement. The same goes for my highest drop so far. I dropped 50cm today and it felt very good and easy. I would've tried more but couldn't find anything that wasn't too high.

It's bleeding through the bandage, which is kinda annoying. I hope it'll stop over night for I have to work tomorrow (bike messenger).

Due to the 'incident' I asked the guys over at the mtb-news and trials-forum for help on some shin guards and have ordered SixSixOne Riot Shin Guards. It'll take over a week for them to arrive in Germany but I won't be on my bike w/o them. I've hit my shin before but never that hard so now I'm afraid of not using some protection. I also ordered some JT Racing Evo Protek Fader Gloves to avoid any more blisters.

Today I wanted to try something new and see my improvements on the pedal kick. I have improved a lot since last week. The first pedal kick looks much better than the ones I did only a couple days ago. Unfortunately, the second try sent me straight into hospital as I crashed the pedal into my shin, which opened up right away. They cleaned the wound, put some Betaisodona on it and sent me home telling me that I should buy some shin guards for this kind of activity. Will do that tomorrow...

https://videos.mtb-news.de/embed/player/32446

There are two rather big cuts, the lower one went right to the bone. Now, back from the hospital it doesn't hurt anymore.

Tomorrow is gonna be a good day. I will mount the new HS33R with TNN LGM green pads and go out riding. I'm not gonna take my video camera with me because I won't be doing anything new, I guess. I will just try out the new brakes... I'm so exited.

I also ordered new grips (see the blisters post) and a 100x25° stem to see whether it will be more comfortable than the one I'm using now. Quite frankly, I don't know nuttin' about trial bike geometry. That's why I asked in a forum and got this tip.

Summary of today's riding: an utter disaster! 

The first 30 minutes or so it took me to get used to the pain in my right hand. I know those are only tiny blisters but they can be a pain in the ass when you're trying to grab the brake lever properly. 

As soon as this was done I tried to get up these damn stairs and the best I could do you can see in the video. If you've ever read Garth Nix you know what I mean by "improbable stairs". I just couldn't do any better, in part because my hand was annoying me but also because I kinda feel uncomfortable on my bike. I think I have to change the setup, I just don't know how.

Ich war heute wieder im Park und dreimal dürft ihr raten, was ich gemacht habe... Auch wenn ich die erste halbe Stunde nichts hinbekommen habe und schon dachte, dass das heute garnix wird, wurde es dann immer besser. Langsam schaff ich es auch, nach dem ersten Sprung das Vorderrad so weit abzusenken, dass ich beim zweiten Sprung weiter komme.

Leider musste ich heute vorzeitig abbrechen, da ich an der rechten Hand blasen bekommen habe; dort wo man die Hornhaut hat. Die sind dann aufgegangen und haben irgendwann angefangen zu brennen. Schade eigentlich. Nun muss ich mal sehen, was ich mach. Mit dem Lenkerband, welches ich gerade dran habe geht es nicht weiter und die Schaumgummigriffe die vorher dran waren, waren auch nicht gut. Ich werde wohl mal härtere, aber dickere Griffe ausprobieren.

Erinnert mich daran als ich 15 war und meine ersten Dunkings beim Basketball geschafft hatte. Das hat mir so viel Spass gemacht, dass ich immer wieder gedunkt habe und mir so auch die Finger aufriss. Leider ist es beim Trial ja nun so, dass man beim Bremsen immer wieder diese Stelle beansprucht. Beim Basketball kann man auch mal aufhören zu dunken und einfach nur spielen.

Da an anderer Stelle die fehlende Dynamik in meinen Pedal Kicks bemängelt wurde, musste ich heute noch einmal in den Park. Ein ehrgeiziger Sportler kann so etwas ja nicht auf sich sitzen lassen.

Als ich ankam dachte ich mit trifft der Schlag. Der gesamte Platz war mit Glasscherben voll und ich hatte keinen Besen mit. Ich habe dann die gröbsten Stellen mit den Schuhen weggescharrt, sodass ich wenigstens ein wenig fahren konnte. Kurz darauf kam ein Mann mit Besen und Eimer bewaffnet, machte den Platz sauber und verschwand wieder (an einem Sonntag Morgen). Vielen Dank dafür!

Ich weiß nicht ob man es im Video sehen kann aber ich habe versucht mehr Dynamik reinzubringen und auch wenn die Unterschiede zu gestern marginal ausfallen, kann ich doch einen Fortschritt dokumentieren, besonders dadurch, dass ich jetzt auf eine Kante springen kann mit dem Pedal Kick.

Leider war am Ende der Akku meiner Kamera leer sodass ich nur einen unsauberen Hop von der Plattform zeigen kann. Ich war überrascht, wie einfach das doch plötzlich mit dem Pedal Kick geht und kann jetzt sowohl aus dem Back Wheel Hop, als auch aus dem Trackstand dort runterspringen.

Ich freu mich.

Von Nichts kommt Nichts, wie man so schön sagt und daher zeigt dieses Video nichts wirklich Neues, da ich auch nicht viel machen konnte in letzter Zeit. Dennoch bin ich ganz zufrieden, dass die Pedal Kicks (zugegebenermaßen nicht wirklich hoch bzw. weit) vom Bewegungsablauf immer einfacher werden. Das rechtzeitige Loslassen der HR-Bremse stellt kein Problem dar, dafür fällt es mir noch schwer die Hüfte im richtigen Moment nach vorn zu schieben.

Derzeit bin ich im Park ein wenig desorientiert. Ich weiß nicht genau, was ich machen soll. Da ich noch nicht wirklich viel kann, ist es auch schwer Sachen zu machen. D.h. irgendwo hinauf od. hinunterspringen z.B. Ich begnüg mich derzeit mit den Basics und versuche mir so, peu à peu, Sachen anzueignen, die mir dann den Zugang zum Streettrial verschaffen sollen. Im Moment wäre es einfach nur lustig, wenn ich in der Stadt versuchen würde irgendwelche Lines zu fahren. :)

Musik ist wieder aus dem Lande meiner Frau. Miki Gonzáles "Akundun".

(Für FHD oben links auf IBC klicken)

Heute habe ich herausgefunden, dass ich, wenn ich meine Füße etwas weiter nach vorn schiebe, die Balance besser wird. Ich hatte sie bisher immer an der Stelle wo sie bei Klickpedalen eingeklickt wären.

Heute habe ich (mal wieder) den Pedal Kick geübt. Der erste Sprung aus dem Stand auf das Hinterrad geht recht gut, leider schaffe ich es danach noch nicht, das Vorderrad so weit abzusenken, dass ich den zweiten Sprung gut hinbekomme. Ich kann aber, und darüber war ich heute überrascht, aus dem Back Wheel Hop das VR so weit absenken, dass ich einen Pedal Kick und den darauf folgenden Sprung schaffe; nicht weit aber immerhin ein kleines Erfolgserlebnis. Am Wochenende geht es länger in den Park und ich nehme auch meine Videokamera mit.

Ich habe schon viele Sportarten gemacht und nun bin ich vom Rennrad über das Cyclocross zum MTB und von dort auf Street Trial gekommen. Ich fahr nun schon zwei Monate und werde hier meine Fortschritte teils schriftlich, teils durch Videos dokumentieren. In diesem Zusammenhang erhebe ich keinen literarischen Anspruch und konzentriere mich nur auf das Wesentliche: meine (Miss)Erfolge.

Hier einige Videos, die meine allerersten Schritte zeigen: