Bad habits

It’s been a pretty good year so far, riding and racing wise. But there are more gains to be made.

That’s why, for the last month or two, I’ve been actively looking at, and trying to work on, some bad habits of mine, on both the road bike and the mountain bike. I thought it might be useful to put a few of them down in a blog post, and maybe ask readers (I know there at least a couple of you out there) what their bad habits are, if they share any of my bad habits, and how they might get rid of them.

First up, cornering – which I’m finding critical to fast times.

• I sit too high in corners generally

This is not actually a bad thing when commuting, and I think that’s where I’ve got the habit from in the first place. Sitting high into corners often gives an opportunity to see further round obstacles – and even over cars – but it also results in a higher centre of gravity and, consequently, slower cornering. In a race, this is bad.

• I feather my front brake too much in slow corners

This is really an MTB problem. In switchbacks I’ve noticed a tendency to lean into slow corners a little too steeply, then use the front brake to correct myself mid-corner. So I scrub off speed and have to pedal harder out of the corner. I took the MTB out to Ourimbah last weekend and spent a lap actively staying off the front brake. Surprise surprise, I popped more than a handful of PRs. I’ve considered swapping my levers around, but haven’t yet gone that far. We’ll see.

• I sit too far back on the bike in fast corners

My weight comes too far back in quick corners, and consequently, my front wheel gets unweighted. On dusty dry trails, this is a very, very bad thing, and it’s also self-perpetuating. The front wheel grips less, confidence drops, and the willingness to attack the corners goes away. Get forwards, push the wheel into the ground, attack.

• I run my saddle a little too low 

An old, bad habit. Going offroad, I drop my saddle by a couple of centimetres for better confidence on rough ground and in corners. But with the saddle low, even by only a cm or two, I lack the outright power I need in fast pedalling sections. I think better gains can be made in fixing the cornering problems I’ve already mentioned. If I can fix my bike handling, I won’t feel as unstable in corners, and I’ll be able to run the saddle higher. This one is a priority for me, since I just put a deposit on a Bianchi Methanol SL Hardtail, which comes with a seatmast – rather than a traditional seatpin – and a consequently small range of saddle adjustment.

• I run my pressures too high

On the mountain bike, this is a bad thing. It’s a hangover from the old pre-tubeless days, when a pinch puncture was almost certain if you ran too low. With tubeless, I can run mid-20s and fear little, other than occasionally pinging a rim. And I go faster if I do. The bike doesn’t batter me around as much, and it conforms to the trail better. On the road bike, I probably run my pressures a little low, in the 60s

• On the roadie, I don’t feel as confident in the drops as on the hoods

I’ve only been really hitting the road bike for a couple of months, and I’m relying too much on the hoods. This is related to the staying high in corners thing. I should be more stable on the drops, with greater braking power in my hands, so I’m telling myself to attack corners in the drops whenever I can, and trying to get used to putting down power in the power position. It’s getting there, though I’m still a big fan of getting low and aero while still on the hoods. The ideal outcome would be for feel equally confident in either position.

So that’s what I’m working on this spring and summer. What about you?