View this post on Instagram BIG BOULDERS = PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT Whenever I see a big boulder around town now, I want to see if I can play on it. I recorded this video last week at the entrance to a park in town where #croctmtb has an #mtb trail. Track stands, backwards hopping, ratcheting, and the 3/4 pedal stroke make it possible. I learned all of these skills from the courses and mini-modules that are part of a @ryankleech Connection membership at: mtbskills.net/ryan A post shared by Griff Wigley (@mountainbikegeezer) on Apr 13, 2017 at 7:29am PDT
View this post on Instagram I'm still working on my hopping and rocking skills, with my garage and driveway as my practice turf since we've had a lot of snow and cold here in southern MN lately. Here's a 40-second video clip from last week in my garage when it was about -5 F outside. A post shared by Griff Wigley (@mountainbikegeezer) on Dec 23, 2016 at 10:24am PST
View this post on Instagram I'm getting confident enough in my hopping backwards that I'm looking for logs, rocks and ledges to hold a track stand against so that I can back up and THEN try to get up/over them… just for fun! Here's a video clip from last week. The skills sequence: 1) track stand against the vertical ledge of an old bridge; 2) hop backwards; 3) track stand; 4) pedal ratchet to get into position; 5) 3/4 pedal stroke to lift the front wheel; 6) pause in pedaling while unweighting rear wheel. 25-second vid, normal speed then 50% slowmo: A post shared by Griff Wigley (@mountainbikegeezer) on Dec 1, 2016 at 6:16pm PST
View this post on Instagram Earlier this week I placed these two railroad ties in our local skills park as a different type of skinny challenge — steep up and steep down. But then I discovered that it was a fun challenge to ride up, make a tight turn, and ride back down. It was a good way to practice my novice-level 'baseline balance skills' of track stands, hopping, and rocking. You can tell I'm a novice by how long it took me to get lined up for the descent — hence, the 4x speed for that segment, followed by the 50% speed for the hopping backwards segment. Now THAT was satisfying! 30-second video A post shared by Griff Wigley (@mountainbikegeezer) on Nov 19, 2016 at 6:36pm PST
View this post on Instagram I deliberately ran my front tire past the Y on the Camelback skinny at @lebanonhills today. I wanted to practice hopping backwards and rocking the front wheel sideways to try to 'recover' and exit the other direction. Out of about 20 tries, I only cleaned it twice, and even then with a slight shoulder dab on the tree. So hard but so fun. 39-second video. 50% slow motion A post shared by Griff Wigley (@mountainbikegeezer) on Nov 13, 2016 at 7:22pm PST
View this post on Instagram I've got my 29'er back together and it's about 5 pounds lighter than my fat bike. So last week I started working on my hopping skills (sideways, forward, backward) again. Yesterday, I tried to put them to use in one of the rock gardens at @morcpics @lebanonhills and at its skills park. So. Much. Fun. A post shared by Griff Wigley (@mountainbikegeezer) on Nov 10, 2016 at 10:51am PST
