- Ah, corners.
Love 'em or hate 'em, corners are a crucial part
to mountain biking and something that nobody can say
that they've mastered.
I mean, even the best riders in the world
get coached on corners.
So, why shouldn't we do a little practice?
I mean, after all, practice makes better cornering
'cause I don't believe in perfection.
Today we're gonna touch on a couple
of basic styles of corners and how we can approach them
with confidence to level up our riding a bit.
But don't worry, we're gonna build
on today's lessons in the future.
We're gonna offer up some more technical tips
for harder corners, later on.
(upbeat music)
Now, I like to think of a corner
as something you're not physically turning the bars on.
You're rather leaning the bike left or right
to create a nice arc.
Now a great place to start feeling confident
separating yourself from the bike and getting
that bike, body separation is just some nice flat ground,
maybe a park or the road out in front of your house.
So you don't need any special equipment
for this little drill I'm about to do.
I just found some nice bright rocks
on the side of the trail
so I can distinguish them from the dirty ground.
And we're gonna lay them down in a nice little semi-circle.
Now I find I turn worse when I'm going to the right
so I'm gonna practice that one first today.
I'm gonna enter on the left side of the rocks,
practice leaning my bike to the right,
and I've got a nice little run out.
Play around with arm movements and pedal positions
because the more you practice here,
the better equipped you will be when you get out on trail.
Let's be clear, y'all.
Not all corners are created equally
thus different techniques can be implemented as needed.
But before we get stuck in, I want you to think about
where you ride most often so you can make the best use
out of these examples.
First up, we're gonna talk about flat corners.
Now they're my least favorite corners, believe it or not
because a lot of the times there's nothing to push against.
And you've got this kind of loose surface area
that's really sketchy, not confidence inspiring.
So these corners usually require
a lot more bike-body separation
because you don't want gravity
to pull the bike and the body into the berm.
Now with most corners, you're gonna wanna do your braking
before you actually get into the corner.
That way as you exit, you're picking up speed
and carrying it on to the next feature.
Now this corner in particular,
it's quite a narrow area.
So I'm gonna take my turn all the way out here
to the edge of the trail,
making my radius as big as possible,
least chance of jack knifing.
Up next, luckily we've just got
a straight little section of trail,
let's us to get neutral on our bike again.
Eyes are up, ready to send it.
All right I think it's time to go slap a couple corners.
But first, real quick, body position.
Three things I think about when riding all the time
are to stay low on your bike.
For me a good reference is chin over stem.
And that way we know
that our body weight's equally distributed
over the front wheel and the rear wheel.
Also, looking where you wanna go.
I know, it sounds crazy, but it actually helps.
And it will make a big difference.
And lastly, leaning the bike.
So corner's coming up,
we wanna make sure we're leaning the bike into the corner,
keeping our body weight separated.
Low, look, lean, it's as easy as that.
(upbeat music)
All right that's enough about flat corners.
Let's talk about berms because those are the corners
we all dream about.
And I'm pretty sure it's why bike parks are invented.
But don't quote me on that.
Let's do this.
Body position in a bermed corner is pretty similar
to what we just did in the flat corners,
but it's ever so slightly different because usually
in a berm corner you can enter with more speed.
You've got a nice wall here to push the bike
and the suspension into without the fear
of sliding out into the gravel.
Ideally when riding, the bike will be a similar angle
to the bermed wall and the rider will be more upright.
The bike-body separation's usually more subtle
with the more speed you carry,
thus the less aggressive the movements need to be.
Small, subtle movements can go a long way.
So when I'm practicing, I like to exaggerate the technique
so that when I'm just riding along it feels more natural.
All right y'all, if you're still struggling
with corners and finding traction after that little lesson,
then I've got a few pro tips on your bike setup.
The first place I'd start is
with a slightly lower tire pressure.
After that, you might opt for a wider tire
to provide more contact with the ground,
a softer compound tire to literally grip the surface,
and maybe even a knobbier tire to avoid those slick
and slide-y moments.
Thank you, guys so much for joining me on the trails today.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Those were a few little lessons in cornering,
some tips we can all use to practice and become better.
But take it from me,
cornering is a life-long learning process.
Stay tuned for a follow-up video
where we're gonna hit some corners
on steeper and more technical terrain.
And don't forget to subscribe
for more riding tutorial content.
(upbeat music)