Michael Hanslip Coaching

If you want to go faster, you have to pedal harder

Riding cues #5

11/04/26 14:55 Filed in: Riding
One cue that PMBI repeats a lot is chin over stem. That ensures that the riders centre of mass is centred in the bike’s wheelbase - a stable position. It should be obvious that there is room for variation in this position - one can be centred and still not be optimally positioned.
 
Legs should, by default, be extended. And this is where the problems arise. Challenging terrain makes people crouch. Straight legs are more relaxed, more stable and provide better "suspension" (like a fork, you want your legs to absorb impacts and return to rest, not stay down in their travel). It is easier to keep chin over stem - centred - position when legs are straight. Most people bend their legs and either go directly backwards or find their way back. The cue, therefore, should be something about long legs. In challenging terrain the correct response is bent arms but long legs - hence the importance of the hip hinge in mountain biking (I'm sure I've written about hip hinges before and if I haven't I should as it is worthy of its own entry). Bent arms lower the riders centre of mass, increasing stability. And those bent arms can push the front wheel down which is generally more advantageous than being able to absorb the upwards movement of the front wheel (the fork can do that or the rider can lift up immediately prior depending on the size of the bump).
 
For 10 years I went to BC for a month of mountain biking and by day 3, no matter the prep prior to going, my legs were sore. That always settled after a couple more days and I just chalked it up to being unused to long days on bumpy trails. However! My recent trip to Thredbo for a week didn't generate sore legs at any point. I think the difference is my default straight legs has finally landed as an actual default position, and thus I'm not challenging my legs in the same ways as before. Between the elbow cue and the leg cue, I feel like I'm riding as well as ever, and in some ways better (despite being another chunk of years older).

Riding cues #4

04/04/26 18:02 Filed in: Riding
I used to have this cue printed on the long sleeves of my coaching clothing. If you want to go faster you have to pedal harder. While it is an obvious truth, it doesn't always occur to people in the moment. I remember riding up a hill with a friend on a ride and he kept shifting trying to stay with me on my singlespeed bike. The reality was, he had to do the work regardless of chosen gear. He just needed to pedal harder. (Incidentally, he rode his singlespeed the next time we went out and at that same hill he had no issues keeping up.)
To go faster on a bike requires either pedalling the same speed in a higher gear or faster in the same gear - either one is the "harder" I refer to.
 
The genesis of the saying was last minute advice to a rider going into a windy criterium race. At one point he thought about what I said, pedalled harder, and won. And so it became my thing.
 
In DH racing, sometimes to go faster you have to use the brake less. But that's a different cue!

Riding cues #3

24/03/26 15:12 Filed in: Riding
Many cyclists are only happy if they're going hard. The reality is that most of the time most people training are going way too hard. It makes you tired so you suffer for the rest of the day and suffer in the next training session (thereby not achieving what you hope to achieve in that session).
 
An easy ride should be so easy that you can sing while you are riding. I often talk about "the singing test" because a recovery ride should be ridden at the singing speed - slow enough that you can always have enough breath for a song. A zone 1 training ride then becomes the talking test. If you are unable to speak in whole sentences, then you are likely going too hard.
 
Think about those cues the next time you are training. Can you sing or talk? I'd bet not.

Riding cues #2

05/03/26 20:26 Filed in: Riding
One that I have a hard time convincing racers to believe is that the best time to attack in a race is when you are hurting the most. Unless you are an amateur in the middle of a pro peloton, the people around you in a race are of similar ability to you. If you're hurting, they're hurting. A convincing attack at that point can be ultra-demoralising. Make them believe you have more than they do!
 
But, sometimes, all you need is that little edge and you've taken the win. I've never understood trying for a podium when a different strategy could return the win. First or last is my approach. And it has been last a lot of times when my strategy backfired. But sometimes it doesn't. And those days are glorious, even if you only beat your mates.

Riding cues #1

02/03/26 16:37 Filed in: Riding
As a coach I like to use cues for my riders to help them remember what they are meant to be doing in particular situations. One is "scraping mud off the sole of your shoe" when climbing seated. That image of mud removal helps people to get a long and powerful stroke. Sometimes these things get ingrained so permanently that the rider need never think of them again. For me, after 40 years of racing and riding, there are many I don't give a second thought to.
 
But there is one that I have to revisit regularly. I have this tendency to let the mountain bike accelerate under me in corners so I end up with my weight too far back. You really can't do much from the back "seat" (like in a car, it's hard to reach the controls). I've used different cues over the years depending on what worked for me on the day. I recently spent a week on my MTB and on day 1 I was doing this again. My cue this time was assisted by a photo of Jackson Goldstone on one of the chairlift poles advertising the Fox Rampage RS. In fact, I see he's the home page photo of the new helmet. In the picture, he has his outside (left) elbow bent and held high. That has never been my style, but for this week I emulated Jackie and realised you absolutely cannot hold the elbow up high and also have the weight back.
 
Perfect.

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