How to Mountain Bike Like a Pro | Get Out: A Guide to Adventure

Hi, I'm Eric Porter. I'm a professional mountain biker, and I'm going to teach you how to get started with mountain biking.

I love mountain biking 'cause it's a great way to get away from everything, get out into the woods, ride your bike, challenge yourself, and have a great time. You want to check out your bike before you ride. You want to make sure you have enough tire pressure, make sure your chain is lubed and not squeaky, and then go through the gears and make sure it's shifting properly.

After your ride, it's a good idea to look over your bike as well. Make sure it's generally in good working order before you hang it up for the day. If you get in over your head with maintenance or don't know what you're doing, feel free to take it into your local bike shop, and they'll be more than happy to help you out and teach you a little bit more about it.

A pump track is a great way to improve your mountain bike skills when you're not on the trail. What that is, is usually a fairly small track that's rollers and berms, and you're going to basically push your bike through the bottoms of these rollers and pull them up over the top. You're working those rollers to gain speed. The reason pumping is so important is that you can transfer that onto a trail, pump through dips in the trail, and carry more speed, which means less pedaling.

The best way to find a place to ride your mountain bike is on MTBpro.com, and that's going to send you straight to all of the best riding places based on your current location. It has the full trail rating system, has pictures from most trails, a profile that shows how much you're climbing and descending, and a nice map that is downloaded on your phone as well.

There are a few things to talk about regarding trail etiquette. Always yield to the uphill rider; just pull over and let them on by. They're climbing, and they're working hard. You want to be respectful of the trail. You don't want to be skidding all over the place or cutting corners or anything like that. Stay on the trail, keep a single track. The trails don't build themselves; check out your local volunteer trail days and go help.

Now that you know a little bit about trail etiquette, how to find trails, and how to take care of your bike, go out there and have some fun!