- Welcome back you beautiful people,
now we have a number of videos, skill videos,
from beginner all the way up to intermediate,
so here's another video, eight ways how
to progress your riding to the next level,
'cause everyone wants to step it up a level.
Let's kick it off with this one.
(punchy theme music)
Body position, yes, we do talk about this quite a bit
but it is quite crucial when it comes to:
riding trails, climbing trails, cornering,
going downhill, all of that.
So, we're going to kick it off, body position
on a steep climb like this
and then when it gets a little bit rough,
that's when your body position changes dramatically,
and I'm going to point these out to you right now.
(intense music)
Climbing, body position is key.
When you're moving up onto a steep climb,
I like to move up on the saddle, bring myself up onto
the horn, curl my arms in, drop my body position,
and then push, and when I'm pushing and pedaling,
I'm pulling and pushing into my bike.
Getting the weight all over the front end,
but quite central as well,
because you don't want to lose grip on the rear.
Especially when it gets tight like this one right here,
where it's a bit rocky, you want to just
pick your line way before you get to it,
because you want to get all the way up
the climb without putting your feet down,
'cause that's the challenge.
So body weight is down, elbows in, right up on the horn,
and you're just putting the power down
and looking for your line.
(upbeat music)
Right when it comes to a big obstacle like this,
after a huge climb and you need to get over this,
it's all about that quick responsive action,
about getting your back wheel over,
so it's like lean back, and pop forward.
Being clipped in it's super easy
because you can just rely on those clips
to keep your momentum going, you're pedaling,
but you're still lifting that real wheel.
Now when on flats, your want to curl your feet down just
to bring it up as well so
that means your weight is going to be going down
and shifting forward really quickly,
but it's all a quick motion through this section.
(music continues)
Right there's a fine line of having too much weight on
the rear, and too little weight on that rear wheel,
to gain traction.
When you're climbing on a steep section like
that where it's rocky, loose, and bit steep as well,
you got to find that line,
and you're always moving your body weight,
just to compensate when it comes
to a situation like an obstacle in the trail just
like that rock one there.
You want to move it back and forward, back and forward,
just to keep the traction going,
and your momentum over that obstacle.
It's all about body position when it comes to
that situation.
(music continues)
(presenter breathes audibly)
It's super easy to say, but man, breathing.
Your breathing exercise when climbing will
just chill you out as well,
'cause it's a long climb, you want to breathe properly,
and you don't want to get tired,
so through the nose, out the mouth.
Sounds really really weird,
and easy to say, but it is a key thing,
trust me, all sportsmen do it, and sportwomen.
(music continues)
Okay what you goes up must go down,
so when it comes to descending on body position,
it changes a lot as well, your weight is going to shift all
the way over the back end, now when you come
to a situation just like this is
a nice little worked step, a big step down,
your body weight's going to shift over the back,
'cause if you find yourself your weight's on the front,
it is going to feel very awkward,
and it's going to push your bodyweight over the front,
and feel like you're going to go over the bars.
So on a situation like this,
you're going to prepare when you're coming in,
you're looking ahead, you can see this is coming up,
so you're going to start moving your body weight slightly
backwards, and then when you get to it, you're going to
let the bike roll over, and you're going to push your
weight more over the rear.
That's going to help balance you out when it comes
to descending.
Nice!
(music continues)
When it comes to riding down the trail, it's key
to ride level pedals, all the time.
Even if you're coming down a flat bit like this,
you don't know what's going to be on the side of
the trail that can clip your foot,
when your feet are like this.
You want to keep level pedals and especially when it comes
to rough sections, get in level pedals,
you're in attack position, you're in control,
instead of your foot down like this,
you're just going to hit everything that's on the trail.
Rocks, roots, whatever, always ride level pedals,
it'll help you for sure.
(upbeat music)
Oh, breaking bumps, breaking bumps, oh my god,
oh, I don't like this trail!
Look, you're looking down like this,
you come you see all these roots,
you keep going your still looking down,
you actually don't know what's coming ahead,
because if you're still looking down you're saying like,
"oh my gosh, look how rough it is ah,
"look all these breaking bumps, breaking bumps."
Then boom!
You're introduced with this
and you didn't even know it was here
because you kept looking at your front wheel,
it's key to look ahead because when you come
to a situation like this, you want to know what's there!
'Cause there is an alternative line,
even though you were still looking down,
you wouldn't be able to see that either.
Always focus and look ahead.
Ah, yeah, ooh there's a drop, nice, woo!
(music continues)
Instead of sticking to the center of the trail,
it's all about looking ahead, like we've said,
but looking for little gaps, little jumps
to spice up that ordinary trail, I'm all about that.
Now that is a perfect lip for
a little bit of a hip transfer onto the side of
the trail there, so you using the whole trail,
not just the center of it.
So this is two things in one, you're looking ahead,
you're looking at spicing up the trail,
not sticking to the center,
and also using the whole trail ahead of you,
not just that little single path there.
It's all about being super creative, man.
Looking ahead, making that ride a bit more spicy.
(intense music)
Then when you come into this turn,
you want to keep that nice, strong body position,
that attack position, you don't want to be straight-legged
and up, and you don't want to be all crunched down,
because this is quite a g-arp turn,
so you want to be quite neutral,
bent legs, bent arms, looking ahead,
your body weight's going to be shifting out to
the side of the bike, so you're going to be dropping down,
your bum's going to be pointing out of
the turn, your outside leg's going to be dropping,
and you're looking ahead and your body weight's going to be
right about over your BB, especially when you're
coming into this g-arp turn.
(intense music)
All right, everyone loves to go fast,
but it's a progressive thing now
but when you fast down the trail, you need to
hone in all those skills you have
because it can be a little bit more intimidating,
the risk is a little bit high.
Also, you just got to do it within your means as well,
you don't want to go too, too fast down the trail,
and not understand how
to control your bike going down the trail,
so progress it, but it is always fun
to step out that comfort zone,
just to go a little bit faster down
that local trail of yours.
Now, I'm going to go as fast as I can down this trail,
within my means.
(music continues)
Look at that beautiful view, whoa!
That's Finale Ligure right there, we're in Italy,
so hopefully this video's helped you out,
progressed your riding to the next level
with these skills that we've shown you
throughout this video.
Now if you want to stick around and you want to continue
to binge watch GMBN, click this video right here,
it's another one, how to manual,
get those skills going out on the trail,
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Give us a thumbs up like if you love riding fast,
I'll see you next time, see ya!