Newspirits.com has posted their Q&A with mountain bike racer Jill Kintner. She has some great advice for the beginner mountain bike racer. One of my favorite questions asked was…

Pretend you don’t make it to the local mountain bike 4-cross race on time for some reason. Because you don’t want to disappoint the spectators, you send your best friend to the start. She’s your spitting image - but has no racing experience. What three tips would you give her to avoid total disgrace?

I would give her a magical bike that rides itself. It’s not an easy task to ride down a hill and hit jumps at full speed if you have no experience. It’s better to build up to it. I wouldn’t do that to my best friend without at least a lesson or two on bike fundamentals. But if she had to show up I would tell her to learn how to use the brakes well, to lean back and be aware of balance, and to not try anything she hasn’t practised first.

Some more great advice…

Be in the right gear when exiting a corner to be able to power out. Brake in a straight line, when you brake all the way through a corner you loose traction. Have a goal during each ride, like a skill or a section to do better than the last time, and if you wanna get crazy with that, have your friend time you through a tough bit so you can try different things and know what works best.

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