Mountain biking provides an amazing thrill, a chance to clear your mind, and the rewarding feeling at the end of a long ride can be addicting. 

With the onset of COVID-19, more people are rushing to the great outdoors, and we’ve seen a surge in new athletes hitting the downhills.

To help, we’ve put together some simple tips to guide riders, both new and experienced, to assist you as you prepare for the mountain.

• Make sure you develop a foundational level of fitness and endurance before jumping onto your bike. High-impact activities can be tough on ligaments, muscles, and connective tissues. It’s important to strengthen your core and build overall strength and endurance to support your ride.

• Stretch first! A warm body is a prepared body. Start with a warmup ride to get your muscles warm and fluid before attacking challenging runs. 

• Your upper body tends to take the brunt of injury, but your entire body is important to your ride. Wrist, arm, and shoulder strength are necessary to navigate trails at high speeds, but so is your core!

• Here’s a hard one: know your limits. We all want to get better but pushing yourself too far outside of your level and forcing the next step will usually end up in a visit to our offices – and we’d rather see you on the trail than in our clinic.

• Plan ahead and be thoughtful of what type of ride you plan for the day. Think about whether you need knee and elbow pads, or even a full faced helmet. 

• Don’t forget about recovery! Give your body the time it needs to properly recover between rides (this is different for riders of different levels).

• Assess the trail conditions before heading down the hardest run and always have enough water. I almost drank from a stagnant pond once because I didn’t prepare!

It’s our hope that you stay safe when riding, but should you need us, please know you have a place to go where the providers understand your passion AND your injuries. 

Happy Trails!

-Cameron Schick, MD & your team at Proliance Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine

At Proliance Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, we specialize in treating athletes, and many of our providers are mountain biking enthusiasts. We understand the urge to push to the next level and how upsetting it can be when accidents happen – all we want to do is to get back on the bike.

This personal understanding allows our team to help and treat our athletes with a different level of insight. We all know the inherent risks associated with mountain biking but, as athletes, we find ourselves willing to take on those risks. And even the most experienced bikers sometimes find themselves in unfortunate situations.