Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

Don't you know everyone's left thumb is basically withered and useless since 1x?

I can actually see that making a diff in a marathon XC race. I am pretty anti electronic gears as well but after the 12hr relay thing I did last year my thumb was too tired to push the shifter through for the upshift comfortably. So have now added the asterisk to my NOBODY REALLY NEEDS THIS "* unless you do marathon XC"

Or, possibly, are somewhat under 85kg?

The larger gentlemen on this thread may not be the only body type that rides MTB.

Absolutely. That's related to the breakaway force though, not the lever force (assuming they mean thumb lever there)?

Yeah, I was talking about the breakaway force.

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The longer I stay here the more faces I recognise from Morzine.

I think with having a modern geometry bike where it pays to be out the seat and weighting the front wheel, I’m noticing my legs are getting fucked before anything else really. Reckon there’s any exercises or anything I can do to strengthen them or is it just a case of the more I do it the easier it’ll get?

Full sus would likely ease it a bit eh?

Break a few fingers first? Then you'll maybe appreciate less lever force? ;)

I didn't think it mattered but then I did things like rode 24hrs with TT shifters and on MTBs my right thumb is never ok after a longish ride so anything that saves repetitive strain type injury is a benefit in my book. (Mostly I'm interested in things with #fuckinglongserviceintervals)

I'm seriously thinking about adding Di2 or even spits SRAM electronic to my MTBs for this reason.

I don't know how long a Marathon XC event is but I ride long enough for my thumb to hurt more than my legs.

Don't get out of the seat? You can move pretty far forward and still be seated, right?

Yeah I could try that.

Been thinking I should maybe try and find a way to limit the travel on my dropper as I feel like I can’t do anything from the seat when it’s all the way (200mm) down.

Gym stuff?

Thinking maybe front and back squats, romanian split squats, box step ups and jumps, deadlifts, single leg deadlifts, wall sits etc

I’m having a sports massage tomorrow as my calves are super tight, it’s down to standing on the pedals all the time and riding every day.

Nothing wrong, I’m just not used to it, and I suspect the only way to avoid it in future is to do this type of riding multiple times per week.

Shorter cranks helped my leg ache on long runs. Went from 170 to 155mm and haven't had any leg burning since.

This is mountain biking. Upgrades>exercise.

You know what solved thumb issues? Gripshift RIP

I’m already on 165s so not tons to be gained there.

Guess getting into a routine with some leg exercises would be good. There’s some gun in the infield at work so I’ll do something this afternoon evening, cheers for the recommendations @pascalo.

I suspect the only way to avoid it in future is to do this type of riding multiple times per week.

I’m wanting to do a lot more mountainbiking this year so hopefully as the weather improves it’ll get to the point where I’m doing it multiple times a week.

I know from experience that gym work is super beneficial but really I sorta hate that stuff, and when things are good I fall out of the routine very easily and just go riding instead.

Also, because I have such a dumb array of injuries it's easy to do a wrong lift and suffer with back ache or hip pain for weeks and fall out of the routine that way.

Just recently I have had to re-start strength training after arm break to counteract the muscle wastage. Incorporating some deadlifts and squats again and they just hit differently. Hoping for improved fatigue resistance on the road bike and less leg burn on MTB as well.

Promised myself to be smarter this time around and not go heavy and risk injury due to trying too much too soon.

My wrists are even worse than my thumb

it's not dead, I have it on my trail bike

Why are you trying to pedal when it's down?

Sore wrists instead.

But you do have the added bonus of the moto brrm brrm noises.

I stopped doing gym back before Covid. Keep saying I'll restart and then don't.

I guess it'll get worse as time goes on but my biggest issue is probably lower back with climbing. But mostly this is on the road bike with the higher gearing, less so on the 28/30x51 on the MTBs although you still need a lot of force to clear chunky steep uphill sections so maybe there is some impact.

Anyone get a weird bobbing when their dualie is fully locked out? What I want is to find someone who knows how a Spark is supposed to feel and let me know if something is off. As it stands, I much prefer riding it in Traction mode rather than fully locked out, which is annoying on road climbs.