- There's so many tools in the wood,
I wonder if these builders even know
where all their tools are.
Probably not.
(upbeat music)
Welcome back to you guessed it more corners.
We thought it'd be a good idea to build
on the basics to cornering video we made earlier
and offer up some more information to the riders
that are seeking harder and steeper terrain.
So I'm gonna finish getting kitted up
and then let's go, shall we?
The trailer I've chosen today is littered
with technical corners and every single one of them
has something unique going on.
However, with a few adjustments to our riding,
I'm sure that we can conquer them all.
In the last video I introduced the low look
and lean positions,
but I think we should dig a bit deeper into those.
Let's also talk about line choices, foot placement,
and apply them on the technical trails we have here.
Now, what I mean when I say to get low into the bike
is that your elbows are out,
you've got room to move side to side still
as you're cornering,
your chin is over your stem
and then your body weight is right here
in the middle of the bike.
If you find yourself cornering in one of these positions,
arms extended, weight over the rear wheel,
you've not got a lot of control on the front end there,
and the bike's gonna be taking you for a ride,
you're not taking the bike.
(upbeat music)
I've just made it to the first technical left-hander here
on the trail and I cannot stress to you how important it is
to look where you're going.
By looking with your eyes, where you're going on trail,
always trail scanning, it's gonna allow the shoulders,
the hips, the knees, and the toes
to really make a nice corner and follow suit.
On this particular section of trail, there's a lot going on.
There's slippery roots, slippery rocks,
so while it might be easy to kind of get hung up
on those features and look straight at those,
lift your eyes up and continue on down the trail.
It's gonna make a world of difference.
Third little piece of this puzzle is leaning the bike,
which is gonna be really helpful
on this slightly kind of off-camera banked corner here.
Also a little tip when it comes to leaning your bike,
lower your seat, it makes a huge difference in how much room
you have to move around side to side, front to back,
especially in steep terrain.
What you want to do is counterbalance
the really lightly weighted bicycle
by moving it to the inside of this turn here,
and then you're shifting your body weight to the outside
so that everything is balanced
everybody is riding downhill in control.
Alrighty, moving on.
We've got a couple of options right here,
so I think it's a good time to talk about line choices.
Now I've talked about this before,
but it's worth talking about again,
when you're approaching technical terrain like this,
it's a lot easier if you break it down into now
and then next.
So what am I worried about right here right now
on this trail?
Well I've got the run in here
to this nice right-hand corner,
but as you can see, it's quite slippery,
it's pretty damp today and we've got some rocks.
So rather than just following the main line,
like 99% of the other riders,
I'm actually going to enter the corner
on the rider's left line
and it's gonna make the whole corner
a lot wider, a lot smoother, and I'm not gonna get hung up
on all the features in the middle.
Alrighty, great success, we've made it into the line,
but what next?
Don't celebrate too early about making it
into that super sick high left line there
because we've got a lot of trail yet to navigate.
So always keep your eyes up.
Always do the trail scanning that we've talked about before.
Same goes with like skiing and driving.
It's just part of the game, because right here, right now,
I've got about three line choices to pick from.
So I think I'll try the middle one,
but we'll see how it goes.
Chances are in tighter and steeper corners,
there's not a lot of obvious line choices to choose from,
but we can always be more creative
and think outside the rut.
Try picking lines that open up the terrain.
You're gonna get a bigger turning radius,
which is gonna feel a lot smoother on the bike,
and it's gonna help in those jackknife situations.
If you're going for a speedy approach
than avoid teeing up the corner and skidding all about,
that actually creates a big sharp 90 degree corner,
and it kills all your speed.
Dedicate the section of trail
where you're gonna do your braking before the turn,
by throwing in a big fistful of brakes
right in the middle of the corner,
you're gonna drastically shift your body weight,
all that work we did on body position
is just gonna go out the window.
Because we're cornering and we're not just going down
a big shoot, a little bit more rear brake
can be really helpful,
but try not to lock up and start skidding.
Think ride don't slide.
Rather than using the front brake to really slow us down,
the rear brake is more for maintaining your speed
and it's a lot less intimidating
because you don't have the fear of washing out
your front wheel.
I'm nearing the end of the trail
and I have found a perfect opportunity
to talk about foot placement.
I know, right?
Super sensitive, very touchy subject,
but I think we're on that level now, right?
I've chosen this particular left-hand corner
because we've got this super sad looking little root here,
it's been smashed by a number of inside pedals already,
and we don't wanna add another scar onto this root.
So by lifting up ever so slightly that inside foot,
you're gonna skip over this little technical feature here.
It's gonna be a lot safer for the rest of your ride.
Typically with coaching or just in life in general,
I try to steer away from the, do this,
or don't do that method because as long as you're riding
and having fun, you're gonna progress
and you're gonna have a good time.
So don't worry about it too much, but now's a good example
of when you could switch things up a bit.
Now there are definitely some times when you might want
to drop the outside foot.
One, when you need to create more traction and grip
on the ground, especially in loose or flat terrain.
But be careful because the more pressure
you put on that outside foot,
the more the bike actually wants to stand upright.
So this is a very fine line.
And finding that line only comes with practice.
Two, when you're avoiding that tight inner berm,
and there might actually be some obstacles or features
on the inside of the berm
that you don't wanna get caught up on.
And three, when you're really given her
on that flat loose terrain
and you go full foot out, flat out, just fighting the bike
to stay upright.
Now, if you don't love doing those wheelies
and all those European switchbacks like myself
than what I actually do a lot of the times
is I unclip the inside foot, use the outside foot
to whip the bike around the corner.
And I know it's drastic measures,
but you gotta get around them somehow.
(upbeat music)
Well, there you have it folks, Cornering 102.
Thank you for joining us on trail today
and thanks for your comments
because they really help me know what you're interested in
and what you wanna learn more about,
so definitely keep them coming.
We're gonna do a couple more of these videos
over the season, touching on some bike skills,
so make sure to subscribe.
Don't wanna miss out on any progression sessions.
As for me, it's time to clean this dirty bike.
(upbeat music)