Single track!
Nothing focuses the attention like trying to stay on a track
that is narrower than your handlebars at speed.
As with most aspects of dirt riding, we are no good at this.
So we have no qualifications to do a training vid about riding single track.
But that's never stopped us before. lol Body positioning.
Until it gets very tight and gnarly, you want to stand most of the time.
You can absorb bumps with your legs.
And most importantly, you can move your body from side to side as the
bike bounces around and stay on that narrow track.
A good sense of balance makes a big difference riding single track.
Get into our static balance training.
And of course you should be in the default body position.
This keeps the rear weighted for traction.
Keep your head up and look ahead.
It's very tempting to look down just ahead of your front wheel in single track.
But you need to prepare for what's coming and
trust your brain subconsciously to deal with the immediate stuff.
Stay smooth.
Deliberately ride in a higher gear with less revs. Often I
see riders trying to accelerate and brake hard in single track.
And they end up riding a lot slower and often crashing off the track.
It can feel fast because you hear the engine revving.
But until you become a skilled rider it will just slow you down and cause mistakes.
You can ride surprisingly tight single track in third gear if you
learn to slip the clutch through and accelerating out of corners.
When cornering, lean the bike but keep your body upright.
If the tyres slip you can suddenly pull the bike into an upright position.
Sometimes this can save the bike instead of crashing.
A good way to form this habit is by weighting the inside footpeg
into corners instead of turning the handlebars.
Top riders can blast along single track at ridiculous speeds by using
the edges of the single track as little berms when cornering.
Iti's impressive to watch but there is very little room for error.
Beginner riders will be better off in the middle of the track at first.
And only using that berm to save themselves if the bike slides out.
As with all aspects of dirt riding, think outside the box when it comes to line selection.
You don't have to stay in the middle of the single
track especially if there are puddles of water, tree roots or ruts in the middle.
Sometimes it pays to do a slalom action across the
single track and ride up and down those little walls at the edge.
And when there's a boggy patch it may be safer to
just head bush instead of getting stuck in the mud.
Learn to 'leg paddle' while standing on the footpegs.
When it gets rutted and nasty, you will often need to put a foot down.
If you can do this while standing, you'll get through faster.
When it gets nasty and you have to sit,
remember your traction control tips for getting over obstacles like tree roots.
You can rock the bike.
Or do a seat bounce with a controlled drop of the clutch.
See our video on traction tips when you are stuck.
One of the reasons a lot of riders don't tell others about
their single tracks is because you get unskilled riders getting stuck.
And they think that wheelspinning on the rev limiter will get them through.
Suddenly a beautiful single track becomes a rutted eroded nightmare.
So learn to ride properly and look after the tracks, ladies and gentlemen.
Amen.