Demystifying MTB

Everyone wants to be able to hit jumps on their bike, but not everyone knows how to do it the right way. Some have said that it's a skill you either have or don't have. But can you learn how to jump? What skills do you need to be able to jump? And what's the easiest way to get started? Well, fortunately Rohan has a ton of experience teaching jumping clinics and he's here to tell you the skills you need to master jumps. Like anything in MTB, doing hard, tehcnical movements is all about doing lots of easy things the right way at the right time. We unlock the skills you need and some of the techniques you can practice to have more fun out on the trails and #ownthemountain

This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain and unlock free speed with the world's first wireless brake sensor and powerful analysis app - ⁠⁠brakeace.com⁠⁠

Presented by: Matt Miller (⁠⁠MTB PhD⁠⁠) and Rohan Martin (⁠⁠Sweaty Techie⁠⁠)

We catch up with Taylor from Radic Performance, maker the Kaha - a New Zealand made hydraulic disc brake system. You may know Taylor from the world's first ever 3d printed MTB brake. Well now, he's created a whole new braking system from the ground up. Launched at Crankworx 2022, Taylor has been steadily building the best brakes possible - no limits! Listen in for more on the design of mtb brakes, what an engineer thinks about mtb rotor size, braided brake hoses, mineral oil versus DOT fluid, pads, heat and how much brake pressure we create! We've tested the Radic Kaha brakes on BrakeAce under pro rider Daniel Self at Crankworx, and he loved them so much that he's running them fulltime! We have the data from these brakes, and it looks great. We love Taylor's first-principles approach, and look forward to riding these brakes ourselves!

Learn more on https://www.radicperformance.com/kaha

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This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - ⁠brakeace.com⁠

Presented by: Matt Miller (⁠MTB PhD⁠) and Rohan Martin (⁠Sweaty Techie⁠)

This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - brakeace.com

Presented by: Matt Miller (MTB PhD) and Rohan Martin (Sweaty Techie)

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In the last episode, we talked about bigger rotors, and why you need them to manage heat and make your lever squeeze feel easier. Today we follow up with what to do when your brakes suck, and why your bad brakes and poor braking habits are making you slow. We also talk about bedding in brakes when you get new pads or rotors. Do you bed-in properly? It makes a huge difference, and can save your pads and make them perform better. Rohan mentions the time he had glazed over pads, and we also talk about our tips for cleaning brakes, using sandpaper, and using brake cleaner, and the right kind of rag to use on rotors and pads. We also touch on resin versus metallic pads and which option pros go for and why - this warrants further discussion!

This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - brakeace.com

Presented by: Matt Miller (MTB PhD) and Rohan Martin (Sweaty Techie)

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Now that we have learned more about braking with BrakeAce, there are a number of things we can do to improve the performance of our brakes.

One of the best things we can do to get better performance from our brakes is to have larger rotors.

The reason for this is that every time we use our brakes, we are removing energy from the combined kinetic energy of ourselves, our bike and our speed.

This energy is transformed *mostly* to heat, which builds up in our rotors and pads. Too much heat and we lose performance of our brakes, since beyond a certain point, the coefficient of friction between the pads and rotors will reduce. Beyond this, we get a boiling of the pad material or even brake fluid. These are obviously not ideal!

Larger rotors have a greater mass and allow for greater storage of heat. This is good because if there is a greater capacity for heat in the rotors, your brake pads and hose fluid can stay at operation temperatures. We have tested rotors from 180mm all the way up to 246mm and 2.3mm thick!

Furthermore, the larger rotors have a greater area, which means that heat can also dissipate more quickly.

Listen in now FIVE reasons to try larger diameter rotors. 

Original Article: https://www.mtbphd.com/post/2019/08/18/3-reasons-why-you-should-have-bigger-rotors/

Video: https://youtu.be/kykuJIoavnU

Smart trainers and gaming apps are roadie paradise. You can quickly log on, draft your mates, track your FTP, and really go full gas at 100rpm.

It's the exact opposite of MTB.

But does that mean it's not going to make you a better MTB rider?

Over the years I've collected hundreds of hours on the trainer, including 10 wintery years training in snowy Pennsylvania and a dozen highly controlled, month-long research studies. Training inside always kinda sucked, but I kept coming back for more. It was a love/hath relationship.

Years ago I swore I'd never try Zwift. Zwift was too hard, too lame, and certainly not MTB!

But recently I broke my own rule.

And I love it!

As a mountain biker and MTB coach who is obsessed with science, power and training principles, I really do think there are a number of ways Zwift can help us ride MTB better.

Zwift has burst onto the scene over the last few years and has gained popularity as an exclusive training app and social platform for cyclists. Generally, this has been reserved for roadies, but I believe Zwift can help get you to the next level on the trails.

Below I've compiled 5 ways Zwift can help you be a faster MTB rider in group rides and on race tracks.

As you read through these, I'd be interested to know how Zwift has helped your MTB riding or racing.

Link to Zwift article and MTB workouts: https://www.mtbphd.com/post/is-zwift-good-for-mtb-racing

Link to Free Speed eBook: https://www.brakeace.com/shop

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This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - brakeace.com

Presented by: Matt Miller (MTB PhD) and Rohan Martin (Sweaty Techie)

We all know the feeling of heavy legs, but how does it affect your riding? If you have a power meter, you can easily see the difference - all roadies do it. But what about with how you actually ride - on downhills?! Well, I took BrakeAce out to analyze my braking and see how this fatigue affects my Strava times on my local MTB descent. I started out feeling great, but ended up braking way more when I was fatigued compared to when I was riding fresh. Thanks to BrakeAce, I now know that I need a little more rest. Once I'm feeling better, I'll head back with BrakeAce again to test my riding and see how to improve for the summer season

YouTube link to analysis: https://youtu.be/CnPkLVpQt-8

Link to Free Speed eBook: https://www.brakeace.com/shop

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This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - brakeace.com

Presented by: Matt Miller (MTB PhD) and Rohan Martin (Sweaty Techie)

This is how Rohan got his PB on Strava. It was an awesome descending trail of about 1 min long, but he dropped 7 seconds from his initial time using this 4-step BrakeAce Method to get his fastest time. It's easy: ride the trail, find yours Key Opportunitiess, session your KOs, and ride the trail again. None of us have unlimited time, so we want to cut to the chase and get faster. The BrakeAce methods allows us to efficiently ride trail like we did when we were kids - find the trickiest bits, try them again, and PROVE with data that we've gotten faster. It is the 21st century, afterall! The FlowScore is like confirmation that it was Rohan's improvement that got the PB - not some tricky Strava glitch! And he can take the skills that he learned on this short session, and apply it to every trail in the woods for an overall safer and faster experience on his bike.

The Strava file: https://www.strava.com/activities/7999625187/overview

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This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - brakeace.com

Presented by: Matt Miller (MTB PhD) and Rohan Martin (Sweaty Techie)

Whether your next big ride is a holiday with the homies or a multi-day MTB stage race, there are 3 major aspects you need to consider to not only survive, but to thrive. It doesn't matter what level you're at - these 3 tips will help you. We mentioned before, that your biggest limiter is your engine. Well, these tips will help you improve your FTP and your endurance. We also know that the muscles use primarily glucose [sugars, carbohydrates] while riding MTB. So we have some top tips on how to time your carbohydrate intake during the ride to make it through without bonking, and after the ride to recover faster. Afterall, it's all about recovery! We also added some bonus tips on how to pace your intervals, your race day and race week. So whether you're riding the Cape to Cape, Whaka 100, Tran-Sylvania or EWS, tune in here to be the best you can on the day!

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This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - brakeace.com

Presented by: Matt Miller (MTB PhD) and Rohan Martin (Sweaty Techie)

The way your body works with your mountain bike is highly complex. You want to ride faster, but sometimes you hit your limit and simply can't ride smooth on the descents. Riding a mountain bike is a lot like riding a jackhammer - vibrations everywhere. Our muscles need more oxygen to do more pedaling or damping, and it's the heart's job to increase its rate and send much needed oxygen to your muscles. And if you do it all right, you can go faster! Today we discuss all of this and more, and finish with some secret tips on how to ride smoother and faster on your own trails. Try it today!

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This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - brakeace.com

Presented by: Matt Miller (MTB PhD) and Rohan Martin (Sweaty Techie)

Wireless technology is all around us and is increasingly growing on bike components. You've heard of ANT+, SRAM AXS, Bluetooth and BLE, and of course, Wi-Fi. But what are these? And how do they work? It's like magic that lines of code affect your shifting or dropper post, and how  a firmware update affects your battery life in your power meter. Well, we went to the horse's mouth for this one, and got the details from our own wireless expert, Rohan Martin. If your wireless device is yelling at you, or you ever wondered how they work, this one's for you!

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This podcast is brought to you by BrakeAce: Own the Mountain with the world's most powerful ride improvement tool and advanced riding analysis platform - brakeace.com

Presented by: Matt Miller (MTB PhD) and Rohan Martin (Sweaty Techie)