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 Two different ways up a tight switchback at @morcpics @lebanonhills with a downhill slab after the turn. 1. Front wheel inside the round rock at the base of the switchback. A track stand at the start: A) gave me time to scope out my line up the incline as I ended up too close to the tree in previous attempts; and B) it gave me time to weight my rear wheel (19-second mark) before applying torque to the leading left pedal, as I was spinning out in previous attempts. After rounding the tree at the top, I rock the front wheel sideways to the left as I'd crashed on the slab in a previous attempt. I added 2 old photos to the video to show the slab. It's tricky because one's wheel is turned sharply left as contact is made. If you don't have time to straighten it by the time you ride off the end of the slab, it's OTB time. 2. Front wheel outside the round rock at the base of the switchback. I'd dabbed so many times to the inside as I pedaled up the incline in previous attempts that I wanted to see if 'straightening the turn' a bit would give me a more reliable route up. Rocking the front wheel sideways 3 times did the trick. It also enabled me to go wider around the tree which in turn allowed for a straighter route over the slab. 57 seconds, 50% slowmo A post shared by Griff Wigley (@mountainbikegeezer) on Nov 18, 2016 at 6:35pm 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
