Hello, I have a question for you.

I own an Ironhorse Sunday with a Fox DHX 5.0 shock. It feels right when I’m on the bike, but for example if I’m in the parking lot and I do a bunny hop and then when landing I push down applying some force I can reach the shock bottom out bumper.

I’m running it too soft, hard, or its normal? (My sag is correct.)

Sorry if my english isn’t very correct.

Thanks, Manuel

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Lee,

I have a question about foot positioning when using flat pedals. I recently read that with flats you need to have your feet centered over the pedals for better balance and power. I converted to flats two years ago but after years of using clipless I automatically have the balls of my feet centered over the pedal axles. I tried the recommended positioning during my nightly drill session and it just didn’t feel right. Should I change my phantom clipless pedal position, or am I just going to break something that’s already been fixed?

P.S. Any chance of a clinic in Hawaii?

Mahalo,

Keoni

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I recently had a wide-ranging email conversation with our hero Mark Weir, and I thought I’d report the major findings:

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Lee,

Dunno who else to ask this question, if you’ve got a second, that’d be awesome.

I’m in Santa Barbara, CA on a family trip for the next week. I searched for the Tunnel Trail, since it’s the only one I’ve heard of and your site came up, like, 3rd on the search. Only got a 29er hard tail here (it lives at my parent’s house in Newport Beach). Was thinking of riding up Gibraltar road (since I guess that’s a pretty well known climb) and then down the trail. Will I die if I do this? I figure I can just be slow on the down. For comparison’s sake, I wouldn’t ride, say Keystone or Sol Vista with anything less than 6” of travel (and DH tires for that matter), but I can’t think of anything on the Front Range that I couldn’t ride with a hardtail (including Left Hand OHV area—at least last time I rode it like 7 or 8 years ago)

Thanks,

Scott

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Hi Lee,

How are the kids?

Going to Ashland this weekend for the DH and was thinking about running the SX Trail with lighter wheel set, 2.4 single ply Maxxis Ardent tires, 38t single up front, 12-26 tooth in back and clips opposed to flats. What do you think? Looking for some advice.

Christian Koblitz
General Manager
Carson Valley Country Club Restaurant & Bar

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Hi Lee,

My name is Juscelino, I’m from Brasil, and I’m riding a new specialized stumpjumper FSR carbon. The main soil condition here is gravel, rocky gardens and single tracks. My style of riding is trail, and since I read your book I’m getting better descend skills. Thanks a lot for that!

I and my friends are using Specialized purgatory 2.2 (23 psi – I’m 86kg) in front and specialized the captan control 2.0 (30 psi) in rear, I’ve liked the traction and cornering with these tires, but at my third ride I get a side wall cut in my rear tire, it also happen with my friends. Is this tire inadequate? What tire do you recommend? (weight is not my first concern).

Thanks.

Juscelino Castro Blasczyk
www.clinicafisiocorpus.com

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Logan, a coaching client and beginning rider from Colorado Springs, is rocking a $600 Kona Blast hardtail. He’s learning to Ride (capital R) before he buys his 6-inch dream bike. Here are the tweaks I recommended for him and his Blast.

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Hi Lee,

I have read elsewhere that handlebars should be 1” below or about even with the saddle height. On my 6” travel all mountain type bike the fork has adjustable travel. If I need to weight the front end while climbing I can lower the fork. Going downhill I can put the fork back up and stay more behind the bars keeping my hands light and feet heavy. I run a short 70mm stem and 1.5” rise bars which puts the bars about 1” higher than my saddle and seems to work great. I tried lowering the bars by removing spacers and felt like I was leaning too far forward going downhill which felt a little sketchy. Is it considered more of a personal preference thing or is this even important at all?

Thanks, Jeff

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Hi Lee!

I’m hoping you could help explain gear ratios and maybe shed some light on which gear ratios are unnecessary. Here’s the situation:

I have a customer that is using the Sram Red compact double (50-34). In the back she is using the new Sram Apex long cage rear derailleur. She is also using a Sram PG1070 10speed casettte in a 11-32. She is interested in switching out the 11-32 cassette to a 12-36. For some reason, I’m thinking that running a gear combination of 34 small ring to a 36 in the back doesn’t make sense. I think what that means is that she would essentially “spin out” OR her gearing in that given combination is too low. Her rebuttal was that her other bike was a road triple with a 22-32-52. However, she was running a 11-28 10sp to go with the triple. I’m wondering this:

Does she just not want to exert any effort climbing or is it useless to run a gear combination of 34-36?

Hopefully these questions make sense.

Congrats on the new book!

Daniel

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Tomorrow I’m coaching a young DH pinner at Keystone. Since I no longer have a downhill bike, I have to make sure the Enduro suspension is dialed. So off to Hall Ranch I went for a mix of turny turns and rocky rocks.

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