Although cross-country bikes aren't designed specifically for technical
trails, one look at the very best cross-country riders shows they're more
than fast enough. So what are the secrets?
Well, here are five things for you to work at.
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Line choice is always critical in mountain biking, but on a cross-country hardtail,
perhaps even more so. You're going to have to choose different lines than you might
do on a bigger full suspension bike, because your bike is simply going to reach
the limits of its ability far sooner. So when it comes to line selection,
you can ride big rocks and big routes, but on a ton of repeated big hits that you
might find yourself getting a little bit overfaced, and then potentially
losing control. So for example, like a big, gnarly rock section.
And in those cases, it's simply a case of trying to pick the smoothest line that
you can to avoid the biggest hits.
To give yourself the best possible chance of finding the right line,
look ahead a good few meters down the trail. The faster you go, the further you
need to look, and looking ahead also keeps your head up, which helps put
your body in the right aggressive position and lead you through turns.
Just remember, don't fixate on obstacles, though, as you see them.
Focus on the line instead, and then move your gaze beyond that.
When riding out the saddle, you want to have your pedals level,
and then be crouching over the bike with your arms and legs slightly bent
to absorb the shocks, but maintaining clearance over your saddle.
Now, if you do drop your seat, then you also want to drop your heels.
But with your saddle in a fixed position like this one, then it's better to have
your feet closer to parallel with the ground to give you that little bit more
room to maneuver over the saddle.
Although, on climbs or on pedaling sections where you need to be seated
for efficiency, you can sometimes hover slightly out the saddle to give the bike
just a degree or two of movement underneath you.
Now, one thing that goes in the favor of hardtails is pedal clearance.
Generally, it's a little bit greater on a hardtail than on a full suspension bike.
So what it means is you can actually keep pedaling for longer through really
difficult sections. And I also find there's an extra bonus, that pedaling
through really rough or technical sections actually really helps to keep the bike
under a bit more control. Now, you'll see it if you try it, doesn't even have to be
a particularly rough section of trail, but do one run freewheeling through,
and then one run pedaling through. Compare the two, and you'll probably
find exactly the same.
Aside from pedaling, there is another way to conserve your momentum,
and it's a great skill to perfect. Without suspension, or just with less of it,
you have to absorb more of the shocks to keep your wheels rolling,
so you need to learn to ride light. Clearly, there's actually no way of making
yourself lighter, but you can unweight for key sections, and this means that you
bounce on the pedals just before a rough section of trail, and then effectively try
to float the bike over it. It's like a very primitive form of bunny hopping,
and anyone can do it, but to take it further, it is critical to learn to hop.
Hopping shouldn't just be reserved for bigger stuff, though. It's amazingly
effective on small imperfections in the trail, as well. Any tiny bump or rock
or root can be hopped in order to preserve your momentum, and you can actually do it
while pedaling, as well. It might seem a bit labor intensive at first,
to try and float over every lump or bump, but believe me, when you get comfortable
doing it, it will make a big difference.
Final trail skill to unlock your potential on technical trails is to get comfortable
having your wheels slide around underneath you
and doing unpredictable things.
Whether it's rocks or roots or mud or dust, when the trail gets tough,
often the only way through is to let the bike move around underneath you.
Generally, this comes from experience, but you can speed the process
up by finding a short patch of roots or rocks and riding it
over and over again, getting familiar with how the bike responds
and finds its own way. So there are five key ways to ride cross-country
technical trails faster. You've got to think about your line choice,
going around obstacles, not necessarily straight over the top of them.
You've got to think about your body position, conserve momentum,
and then, finally, just get comfortable with your wheels sliding
around underneath you. Now, we mentioned bunny hops as an absolutely
key skill, so why not click up there, and you can learn how to bunny hop
in just 60 seconds? Then, to do technical climbing, why not
click down there, and watch that video? And finally, you need to subscribe
to GMBN, if you haven't already done so.
So a shortcut is just to click on me, right now. Now then, if you'll excuse me,
I'm just going to go and ride some more technical trails, because I'm quite
enjoying myself. Just subscribe before I go. I'm waiting. All right, thanks.