MTB — Glossary

Every MTB term explained in plain language: technique, equipment, rules and slang – with tips on avoiding the classic mistakes.

Arm Pump (Slang): When your forearms turn rock hard on a descent and your fingers can no longer modulate the brake lever. Not a strength problem but constant tension without recovery.
Attack Position (Movement): The standing base stance: pedals level, knees and elbows bent, hips centred over the bottom bracket, eyes far ahead. Arms and legs become your second suspension.
Banking (Movement): The banked turn of a velodrome: 42–45 degrees on a 250-metre track, around 32 on a 333-metre one. Too little speed is the danger there, not too much.
Berm (Movement): A built, banked corner. In a berm the pedals stay level and you pump into the wall — only flat corners without banking call for a dropped outside foot.
Braking Point (Cheat code): Finish braking before you turn in. Measurements show this is what separates novices from skilled riders: short, sharp braking instead of dragging through the corner.
Bunny Hop (Movement): Jumping both wheels while rolling, with no ramp and no ledge. Not one simultaneous heave but two beats: front wheel up first, then drag the rear one after it.
Cadence (Movement): Steps per minute when running, or pedal revolutions when cycling. For most runners, 170–180 steps per minute sits in the sweet spot.
Carbohydrate Rate (Grams per Hour) (Cheat code): How many grams of carbohydrate you take in per hour. Over middle and long distance 60–90 g is the target — from a single sugar source only about 60 g is usable.
Dismount & Remount (Movement): Stepping off and back on while moving at an obstacle. The movement is identical at any speed — so drill it slowly until it's automatic, and only then add pace.
Drafting (Cheat code): Riding, running or swimming close behind another athlete to cut air or water resistance — on a bike, up to roughly 30% energy saved.
Even Pacing (Cheat code): Holding your output steady across the whole course profile instead of pushing on climbs. In Ironman World Championship data, low heart-rate variation was the strongest marker of success.
Fixed Gear (Rule): The sprocket is bolted solid to the hub: no freewheel, no brakes. You slow down purely by pushing back against the pedals — on the track that's the rulebook, not a style choice.
FTP (Functional Threshold Power) (Rule): The wattage you can hold for roughly an hour. Every training zone derives from it — estimated as 95% of your 20-minute average power.
FTP (Functional Threshold Power) (Rule): The power in watts you can hold on the bike for roughly an hour. Over middle distance the target sits at around 70–78% of FTP as normalized power.
Gearing & Gear Inches (Equipment): The ratio of chainring to sprocket, made comparable in gear inches: around 80 moves you a good 6 metres per pedal revolution, 123 almost 10.
Hand Sling (Madison Change) (Movement): The changeover in a two-rider team: your resting partner grabs your hand and slings you back up to race pace with arm and body swing.
Off-Camber (Slang): Course slang for a section tilting sideways across your line of travel. There you lean your body into the turn and deliberately keep the bike upright.
Pumping (Cheat code): Speed out of the ground instead of your legs: go light on the rise, press into the bike over the crest and down the back. In a race you're off the pedals about 40% of the time.
Sag (Static Travel) (Equipment): How far fork and shock already sink under your static weight, before any impact arrives. For downhill roughly 25–30% of travel, set through air pressure.
Snakebite (Pinch Flat) (Slang): Rider slang for a pinch flat: the tube gets crushed between rim and edge and tears. It needs a tube — on a tubeless setup it cannot happen at all.
Tubeless (Equipment): A tyre system with no inner tube: sealant closes small holes from the inside. It lets you run less pressure without pinch flats — on a road bike about 0.5 bar below your tubed value.
Zone 2 (Aerobic Base) (Cheat code): The easy endurance zone where you can still hold a conversation in full sentences. The base of almost every endurance plan.

General

Terms from training theory that apply in every sport.

1RM (One-Repetition Maximum) (Rule): The maximum weight you can move for exactly one clean repetition. The reference value behind almost every training plan.
BMR & TDEE (Rule): BMR is your basal metabolic rate at complete rest; TDEE is total daily expenditure including everyday movement and training. Nutrition targets always work off TDEE.
Core Tension (Movement): Active stabilisation of abdomen, back and pelvis — the bridge that lets force travel between legs and arms at all.
Deload (Cheat code): A deliberately lighter week with volume or intensity clearly reduced, so adaptation can catch up.
DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) (Cheat code): Delayed muscle soreness 12–72 hours after unfamiliar load. Not a measure of training quality.
Knee Valgus (Movement): The knees collapsing inward during squats, jumps and landings. One of the key risk markers in technique analysis.
Progressive Overload (Cheat code): The one principle no training works without long-term: the stimulus has to grow over time, otherwise adaptation stops.
RIR (Reps in Reserve) (Rule): How many clean reps you had left at the end of a set. RIR 2 means two more were available.
RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) (Rule): A scale for perceived effort. In strength training it usually runs 1–10, where RPE 8 means you had two more reps in the tank.