- Brandon Semenuk and Brendan Fairclough are some
of the smoothest and steeziest riders out there.
Maybe it's their insane amount of talent
or maybe it's the crazy amount of practice put in.
Either way they're great examples of how to ride light
and smooth and today,
we're going to look at how you can ride lighter
and smoother as well, maybe just like them.
(intense dubstep)
So let's start with body position
and use that as a solid foundation for starting
to ride smoother and lighter.
This will help you to adapt to the trail
and position your bike accordingly
whilst your body stays relatively calm above.
You'll expend less energy
and the bike will do a lot more of the work for you.
Okay so, when things start getting a little rowdier,
like they are behind me here,
you're going to want to assume
a slightly more aggressive riding position.
Dropping those heels a little more,
that'll but your weight further back,
and also lower your center of gravity giving you more grip
and more pressure on the pedals.
This is going to help you ride lighter and smoother on a drop
by keeping you a lot more under control.
You'll also notice this will help when taking impacts
as your weight will be further back
and your feet won't jump around.
Now no two sections of trail are the same
but taking the time
to look at what you're going to ride can really pay dividends.
Look at what works well for you.
There may be a certain obstacle you can use
to jump off and gap on a rougher section allowing you
to get light on the bike and skip across bumps.
Slowing up a little before
to then get on a better, smoother line,
may work out faster in the long run also.
Also look up.
That's something I see all too often people not doing.
You want to try and look a good few meters ahead of you.
You can clearly see here we've got one, two, three,
different line choices,
all of which will affect how smoothly
you ride this next corner.
How can braking make you smoother
and lighter I hear you ask.
Well being smoother on the brakes can make
you a much more efficient rider from both an energy
and a speed point of view.
Heavy handedness on the brakes,
being uneven or unnecessarily heavy on either the front
or the rear will throw your body weight about from the front
to the back of the bike which will affect grip
and your ability to carry momentum.
Try not to be too abrupt on the brakes,
grabbing a handful is going to get
you in all kinds of problems.
Depending on what you're riding you might need
to use more back than front.
Front's generally going to scrub more speed with more power,
back's going to lock up a bit more easy and can be used
for changing direction.
Letting of the brakes,
as crazy as it sounds it's actually something
that can make you smoother as well.
By carrying more speed into a section
you'll find yourself skipping across the top of bumps
rather than your wheels getting sucked in
and sitting in them hitting every little bump.
A quite and smooth running bike may not necessarily make
you a smoother and lighter rider
but it can have a effect on you mentally during your rides.
If your bike's making all sorts of clattery horrible noises
it's going to distract you from what you're riding.
Taking a few simple tips just to make your bike
that little bit smoother,
it could have an effect on how smooth you ride.
Some simple and effective ways of doing this are improving
or upgrading your chainstay protection
for any unwanted rattles or clatters.
Gears, get those gears running nice and smooth,
there's nothing worse than graunching
your way up a hill crunching through the gears.
Getting your forks and shock dialed in
for your body weight
or riding style also going to
make a huge difference on lightness
and smoothness on the trails.
These little tips and tricks
for the bike will hopefully make a big difference
when all added up,
in your head as much as anything getting you smoother
and lighter on the trail.
Using the terrain to keep speed such as pumping,
jumping, and gapping obstacles in the trail
are all really useful tools for maintaining
and getting you smoother and lighter on the trail
by avoiding some of those horrible obstacles.
Practice and repetition finally.
So we all know practice makes perfect,
the more you ride the more likely
you're going to hit more varied terrain
and therefore be able to react and adjust
to what you're riding.
Repetition, if you've got an area of weakness,
hit that more and more.
Behind me we've got a cool corner track,
if I'm not very good at corners,
hitting that over and over again is going to do wonders
to carry my cornering speed, fluidity,
help with my braking,
all aspects are going to make me smoother
and lighter in the long run.
So that is it,
I hope you've picked up a few tips and tricks on how
to ride a bit lighter
and a little bit smoother from this video.
If you'd like to see more from me,
my pro braking tips are just down here.
As always don't forget
to hit the globe and subscribe and give us a thumbs up.
Cheers.