Extreme Mountain Biking Adds Thrills and Excitement... When You're Safe
Extreme mountain biking can be a thrill a minute, adding more excitement to the sport of mountain biking than you ever imaged. If you try more than you can handle, though, or don't take safety precautions, you're liable to end up as another crash and burn video on Real TV!
There are enough people into extreme mountain biking, that there are now a handful of tricks with names that are well-known to those doing extreme mountain biking. I'll mention again, though, that you need to be an experience rider to even attempt these because you can be seriously injured.
The endo seems to be the basic skill of many extreme mountain biking tricks. To do the endo you need to stop extremely quickly with the front brake, then pull or yank up on the back of your bike. Once you learn this trick you can incorporate it into other extreme mountain biking tricks.
Another trick is the cradle. To perform this extreme mountain biking trick first do an endo. When your rear wheel comes back in contact with the ground, pull up on your handlebars to make the front wheel pop up. You will be rocking your bike with this trick, thus the name cradle.
Yet another extreme mountain biking trick is the catwalk. With this trick you come almost to a stop, then pull up on your handlebars and pedal furiously. You'll be doing what we knew in the olden days of "regular" bikes as riding through a wheelie!
Of course, any time you're attempting these extreme mountain biking tricks and others, you need to be sure you are very conscious of safety precautions. Always wear a helmet, and if you may fall off, consider wearing elbow, knee or wrist pads to protect you further. If you're learning a new extreme mountain biking trick, you may want to wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt to avoid road rash if you fall.
Extreme mountain biking can be a lot of fun for the right daring individual, just remember to never put looking cool in front of being safe.
