1.  Study the terrain in advance to understand its condition. 2.  Be physically fit. If you fell sick, do not force yourself into mountain biking. 3.  Prepare necessary equipment, such as drinking water, bike lock, spare tire with air pump, small bag to keep personal necessities, small first aid kit, and raincoat. Use heavy-duty boots with coverage of the ankle and a firm sole to prevent foot injury. 4.  For long ride, prepare lunch and high-energy snack. 5.  Use easy-to-dry and not-stuffy clothes. Use easily fit pants. Bicycle pants are best, as they are padded at the butt to absorb shock.          6. Adjust the saddle to suit your height. You should be able to touch both toes on the ground while sitting in the saddle. In case that you can stand firmly on your feet while sitting in the saddle, the saddle is too low, which will make you tired after a long ride.          7. Put your distance gauge at number 00 when starting to bike.

Mountain bike has several gears to suit different terrain condition. You must learn how to use gear and its components before hand

- The shifter on the left handlebar controls the front derailleur, which moves the chain on the three sprockets near the pedal. There are 3 gears,the numbers of which are shown on the shifter. Number 1 is the smallest gear, number 2 the medium and number 3 the largest. To shift the gear up from number 1 to 2, press your thumb on the shifter while pedaling. To shift the gear down from 2 to 1, use your index to pull the shifter toward yourself.

- The shifter on the right handlebar controls the gears on the rear wheel. This shifter has number 1-8 on it, which represent the 8 sprockets from the smallest to the biggest ones. To shift the gear up from number 1 to 20, press your right thumb on the right shifter while pedaling. To shift the gear down from 2 to 1, use your right index to pull the shifter toward yourself.

- To bike on level terrain, use number 2 on the front derailleur and number 1,2,3,4 or 5 on the rear derailleur. To bike uphill, use number 1 on the front derailleur, and number 6,7, or 8 on the rear derailleur, depending on the steepness.

The brake on the left handlebar controls the front wheel, while the right one controls the rear wheel. To brake smoothly on flat terrain or downhill, grip the right brake softly to stop the rear wheel before softly gripping the left brake, Sudden grip of any brake in excitement may cause an endo.

1. Brake before going downhill. Softly grip the right brake to make the bicycle go downhill smoothly. Then feather pulse the left brake to avoid a lock-up and possible endo.

2. After gripping both brakes. Off the back of the saddle with your butt over the rear axle, while pressing your inner thighs against the saddle to prevent endo. Softly grip the brakes now and then until the end of downhill terrain.

3. If the downhill terrain is too steep or too difficult, brake before going downhill and walk down with your bicycle.

1. Check the tire pressure. The pressure should not be too high, since higher pressure means less rolling resistance.

2. Adjust the saddle down for about half inch, which allows more flexibility for the biker to dismount. Off-road terrain with many rocks and roots may compel biker to often dismount the bike.

3. On the forest trail, use front gear number 1 and rear gear number 6,7 or 8. This combination allows easy bunny hop over roots or rocks. Such terrain does not call for high speed.

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