it has to be said that writing with your
buddies is one of the best parts of
mountain biking but it's just having
banter out on the trails or pushing each
other to go faster ascend the jump
bigger if truth be known
following your friends can be one of the
best ways to improve as a rider
especially if there are a similar speed
or slightly faster another great way is
to watch your friend ride a section that
you are unable to ride and you'll learn
a lot you need to make sure that the
person that you follow is a similar
speed or slightly faster the last thing
that you want to do is follow a rider
that is far faster than you and that put
you out of your comfort zone and
therefore you will not gain from the
benefit of following another rider so
how do you do it well it's very simple
you want to just follow that person down
the trail when I do it I tried to follow
with enough gap I can just about see
them most of the trail in front of the
friend I'm following too close and he
perhaps won't be able to see what's
coming up I've seen horrible crashes
occur where a rider smashes straight
into the rider in front because they are
too close too far behind that rider and
you will not receive the benefit of
being towed along and will quickly lose
sight of them when I'm following a
faster rider in front I tend to leave 2
to 3 bike lanes on a faster trail and
may want to leave a slightly larger gap
another added bonus is you will become
far more aware of how different line
choices work when following a friend you
will learn to understand which lines
work best for you following on from that
it allows you to anticipate the trail in
front of you simply off the reaction of
the rider in front for example when your
friend takes a different line and you
spot a small hop where you can gain some
pump and a more direct route down the
trail to carry more momentum one
technique I used to use quite a lot at
the races especially if there was a
section that I was really struggling
with I would stop by the side watch my
fellow competitors through it and figure
out how I could do it better also have
a friend to ride with and follow-through
would help me pick up my pace in that
certain section I wouldn't mind betting
that if you have a friend that you
practiced with regularly you can help
each other to pick up your pace and both
do better at that race I think I can
speak for every mountain biker and say
we've all found jumps and drops daunting
at one time or another on the approach
to this blind drop I'm trusting Scotts
line to know that it's right we get down
here smoothly jumps are no different I
anticipate the kick of the take-off so I
know what it's going to do
also I trust in his speed to get me
across the distance and onto the
transition smoothly the most important
thing about finish your run following
another rider is to share the Stoke and
high-five each other at the end oh man
that was awesome so cool following you
nailed those turns through the open and
I was like hanging on trying to keep up
so that's it for high to increase your
speed by following a faster rider for
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