Indholdsfortegnelse for Mountain Biking Skills 2018 i Mountain Biking UK

Congratulations! By choosing this mag you have taken the next pedal stroke on your journey to becoming a better mountain biker. Inside you’ll find everything you need to know to make the most of anything a trail can throw at you. This special edition comes from the experts at Mountain Biking UK magazine, as well as some of the top coaches and riders in the UK, providing you with the best riding advice available. We’ve divided much of the mag into blue, red and black sections to help give the most relevant advice for the grade of trail you’re currently riding. However, that doesn’t mean that advanced riders won’t find anything useful in the earlier sections, or vice-versa. Refreshing your skills or studying more advanced moves can also teach you…

Being able to spot a line is an essential part of riding and choosing the right one will allow you to carry speed much easier. Don’t fall into the trap of always going for the easy, well-worn number though. There will usually be an alternative option that allows you to attack a section more aggressively. SPOT THE APEX The worn-in natural line here (coloured red) actually leads out into a field and off the path you need to be on. The track starts on the inside of the turn and goes wide. The best line (coloured yellow) is to go wide at the start of the turn and cut on the inside, exiting in the perfect place to continue. This way is faster and more direct.…

The tricky thing about riding off-camber terrain is that the hillside wants you to head down the same way it does, but you want to cross its gradient. Stay focussed on where you want to go and commit your weight to the front wheel for grip. It’s all about body position. Make slow, exaggerated movements, and if the rear wheel slides, it’ll usually come back into line again as long as the front end maintains grip. If you feel the front lose traction, you can save it with an inside leg dab. BRAKING Avoid rear braking – the lack of weight on the back wheel will make it skip sideways. Just use subtle front-wheel braking. BODY WEIGHT Keep most of your weight over the front wheel – it’s the wheel…

Whoops are smooth bumps in the trail that are great fun to ride and can even help you gain speed if you pump through them. At slow speeds they’re rarely a problem because the impact forces aren’t great enough to affect you. But at speed, if you stay sat down or get your timing wrong, they’ll kick you all over the place. The main focus when riding whoops is to stay smooth and keep your bodyweight flowing forwards by absorbing the upslope and extending on the downslope. Try to stay relaxed and let the bike pivot and move underneath you by relaxing your arms. 1 APPROACH Stand in your neutral position. For bigger whoops stand slightly taller than normal to create more room between you and the bike to absorb…

Red graded trails are rated as ‘difficult’. In general, reds have rougher, more natural riding surfaces so expect to find roots and loose rocks. You’ll also encounter drops and jumps with lips, though you’ll usually be able to roll them if you need to. Trail lengths are typically longer than blues, so you’ll need fitness as well as skills! Expect a few surprises on a red but, fear not, you’ll find everything you need in this section to handle them.…

You’ll often need to lift your front wheel up when riding off-road – particularly when climbing – because once roots and small rocks get in your way, you can quickly lose much of your momentum. Once you’ve learned the basics, you’ll be able to apply the skill to more technical trails. Being able to lift the front wheel ultimately means you can spend more of your time riding, and less of it pushing. APPROACH You first need to know when to lift your wheel. Generally the bigger the obstacle and the faster you’re going, the earlier this needs to be. DISTANCE For an obstacle as high as your axle, you’ll need to pull up about two wheel lengths from the step. Too early and you risk dropping the wheel before…

PICK A GEAR Select a gear that allows you to maintain good cadence so you don’t spin out or grind to a halt. If there’s a big change in speed from the start then get ready to select a higher gear quickly so you can keep powering up the climb. GET LOW Move your centre of gravity forward on your bike by lowering your chest, tucking your elbows in and sliding forward on your saddle. This will stop the front wheel wandering and lifting when you pedal hard to maintain your speed. APPLY POWER Pedal hard before steep and tricky sections to increase your momentum so you don’t stall. Recover on the easy bits and look up so you can spot the next section where you need to pedal hard.…

Riding down steep slopes is fun but can be really intimidating if you haven’t tried it before. With the right line in and out though, it’s possible to tackle any slope. And no matter how steep they are they don’t actually get any harder – just a little scarier! The skill involved in riding sharp banks can be applied in other trail situations too. In this example we’ve used a steep and short roll-in that’s fairly common. As always, start small before rolling off something you wouldn’t walk away from if you were to get it wrong… SPEED TIPS KEEP IT SLOW Don’t ride off too fast – if you do, you risk taking off and flat landing. STAY CONTROLLED Keep your speed controlled – aim for a slow walking…

On most trail centre corners you’ll find a berm. The banking is there to help you lean more, allowing you to corner faster and carry more speed down the trail. ‘Aggressive berms’ are short berms with plenty of support that you can hit hard and even gain speed on. As with all corners, if you want to ride them fast you have to lean more. If you want to ride them really fast, you need to focus on maintaining a strong body position so you can deal with the cornering forces, and have pinpoint precision and timing to keep your wheels in the berm. STAND STRONG Keep your pedals level and support as much of your bodyweight as you can with your legs to deal with the g-forces. Don’t be…

BRACE, BRACE Assuming you’ve spotted your landing earlier, before taking off, you should know where you want to touch down. As you come in for landing, you’ll naturally extend your arms and brace your legs to absorb the impact as you approach the end of your flight. LANDING PAD Now that you’ve hit the ground, wheels first, you should be looking up and ahead and focusing on the next section of trail, and the jump should be just a distant memory! FLIGHT TIME Relax in the air and level your bike out. This is the moment to enjoy as the clatter from you bike stops. PULL UP The type of take-off will determine how hard you need to hoick on the bars for maximum lift. If it’s a ramped take-off,…

The black rating of ‘severe’ tells you all you need to know about these trails. Expect them to be steep with big drops and non-rollable jumps, large rock gardens, gnarly roots and super-technical sections. You’ll need to be riding reds with ease before you even consider attempting a black, as a crash here is likely to result in severe injury. For experts only. You have been warned!…

If you want to speed up or ride steep turns with more flow, you need to fight the survival instincts telling you to grab the brakes and lean back – you’ll lose grip and control. The key is to commit to a balanced body position on the bike so you can lean into the turn. It’s worth noting that all turns are different and will require technique tweaks. Outside foot level or down is a common question. For short steep turns with even a small bank to turn against, keep your feet level when you lean the bike. For longer turns where you need to use the edges of your tyres, try dropping your outside foot as you twist your hips to lean the bike to carve the turn. HIT…

The step-down jump is very similar to jumping off a drop, and jumping into a bombhole. It’s one of the first forms of jumping that you’ll learn after mastering the bunnyhop, and helps you develop the skill to progress to other kinds of jumping. You’ll find step-downs out and about on most trails – and they’re not big and scary as the name might suggest. Most are small drops, with a bank that follows, making for a nice landing area. In time, as you hone your skill, you’ll be able to move on to bigger manmade options, which although intimidating, are fundamentally the same thing. SPEED CHECK Aim to go a shade faster than you would if you were bunnyhopping the same distance. The faster you go, the less you’ll…

Gap jumps and doubles found on black trails and in freeride parks can be daunting, and many riders resort to just using speed to clear them. Though this works sometimes, it’s a pretty dangerous approach and means you always have to ride flat-out to clear jumps. There are effectively three ways to clear a jump – squashing it, jumping off it and popping off it. Which one to use depends on the size of the jump and your speed. Popping is effectively jumping off the very last part of the lip to gain height, and is the method we’d recommend mastering before trying to clear doubles. Once you know you can pop, you’ll have the confidence and experience to start sending gap jumps. APPROACH Set your approach speed so you…

Bunnyhopping is a simple technique for getting up and over an obstacle. This is a slightly more advanced version of the basic two-wheels-at-a-time bunnyhop, where you lift your front wheel before the back. Start off small, over something that can’t give you a puncture or send you over the bars – such as a Scottie dog! (NB: No dogs were hurt in the making of this magazine). PRELOAD Ride up to the obstacle at jogging pace and preload the bike by compressing your body weight into the ground. It doesn’t matter if it’s a full-suspension bike or fully rigid, you need to do the same thing. Approach the obstacle with your good foot forward and don’t touch the brakes. PULL UP As your front wheel nears the obstacle, you need…

Originating from rally car racing, the Scandi flick is one of those feelgood skills. It looks awesome, will make your buddies behind you whoop and holler, and can actually help you get round corners too. The idea is to use a rear-end drift or skid to send your bike towards the outside of the turn (the ‘flick’) and to then re-weight the back tyre and push through the apex. BE RELAXED It’s important to stay loose and relaxed so that the bike can move around underneath you. Have faith in your riding skills and don’t fight the bike! WEIGHT THE FRONT When you start feeling more confident, it really pays to weight the front wheel as you approach the corner. This will make the back end lighter, which will help…

TWIST YOUR HIPS Next is the easy bit. When you’re in the air, try to move your hips a little to push the bike in the direction you want to whip it. You can also turn the bar for extra effect – just make sure it’s pointing in the right direction when you land! TURN AS YOU TAKE OFF Step two is to turn off the lip of the jump. At first, don’t take this too literally – the ‘turn’ should be little more than a gesture. But it’ll help you to start the whip. This is another little cheat we have for you. PREPARE FOR LANDING As you come in to land, move your hips back in the direction of the landing. Make sure to do this in one…

When hitting drops, your main focus should be on landing safely. In a very similar manner to riding jumps, you’ll need to utilise different techniques depending on the size of the drop and how fast your approach speed is. SMALL OR SLOW DROPS To clear a small or slow drop safely, you need to land with both wheels level and in your neutral riding position. To do this, you need to get the front wheel up while going over the drop, or you could go over the bars (if the drop is too steep to roll) or catch your chainring on the edge. The skill is nearly identical to a manual (see part two), and this technique can also be used for bigger drops approached at slow speeds. TIP Practice…

If the camber of the berm is good and there’s plenty of grip then you can pump it to increase your speed. The positive camber of berms helps you to lean and means you don’t need as much grip as you would in a flat corner so you can ride faster. Just like flat corners, the speed you’re riding and the radius of the corner dictate how much you need to lean to stay on your line. BODY POSITION FOR BERMS On high-sided berms you can lean with the bike because there’s a camber to push against and loads of grip. You still need to lean the bike a bit more than your body, and will need the power of both legs to generate maximum force to pump the turn.…

Arthur Ashe once said, “One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” Okay, so he was talking about tennis, but he made a very good point. A mountain biker who is confident is more able to make positive decisions and react to changes in terrain, in turn riding with more control and less physical effort. And confident riding comes from practising physical and mental skills that can then be put into effect on the trail. Ultimately, you need to be sure that you know and have practised the skills and techniques required for each trail feature or challenge, and be confident that you can perform them well enough to accomplish the goal. You need an ‘I can do this’ rather than a ‘here goes…

Some riders appear glued to the saddle, meaning every impact the bike takes directly transfers to their centre of mass – this also makes them unbalanced on undulating terrain. By improving your range of movement in a controlled environment you can then introduce it to your riding. POSITIVE THINKING Your thought process directly affects your confidence. While you always need to be aware of the negatives you shouldn’t focus on them, as they’ll expose themselves in your physical performance causing you to freeze up. If you have the knowledge then think positively, “I can… I will…” rather than “What if…” HOW LOW CAN YOU GO This is a pretty extreme position but the only way you can get really low on a bike is to go back. If you can’t…

1 BERMED CORNERS Banked turns, aka berms, are common at trail centres because they’re easier to ride at speed than flatter corners, with more grip. When entering a berm it’s best to either keep your pedals level or drop your outside foot. Then apply pressure through the pedals while dipping your inside shoulder and looking around the turn. Doing this will put your weight in the right place, giving you more grip. Looking ahead will help you exit the turn, thanks to ‘target vision’ – the phenomenon where you’ll almost always end up going where you’re looking. 2 JUMPS The jumps at trail centres should be well built – unlike the shoddy piles of dirt you may stumble across in your local woods! – and send you into a predictable…

Blue graded trails are given a ‘moderate’ difficultly rating and are generally suitable for anyone with basic bike handling skills and reasonable fitness who is over the age of ten. Expect to be able to roll through all the obstacles, though you may encounter the odd rocky or rooty section on certain trails. Over the next few pages we’ll explain how to acquire all the skills you’ll need to take on a blue trail.…

BODY POSITION BASICS When the trail gets rough your bike will start to buck and move around, so the idea of good body position is to isolate your core mass (your head and torso) from this chatter so you can stay smooth, in control and in balance. If you try to stop the bike pitching over the terrain you’ve effectively picked a fight with gravity, and it will eventually win. Use these tips to put yourself in a position where you can let the bike move beneath you and you can stay balanced and relaxed. LOOSEN UP If you’re balanced, you can loosen up and allow the bike to move around underneath you and track the terrain. Use your arms and legs like suspension by absorbing undulations on the trail.…

It’s easy to drag your brakes and keep control of your bike at mid-paced speeds, but here and there you will need to brake hard. Your tyres can break loose under hard braking, so it’s important to give them as much grip as possible – this means weighting the bike for maximum effect. Often there’ll be dips and undulations that weight the bike as you ride, but you can simulate this effect by aggressively weighting the bike and braking together. You can use this technique on even ground to good effect, but it will always work best in a dip, following a transition or in a G-out, as your bodyweight will naturally weight the bike. GO LIGHT Spring up on the bike like you would when unweighting before riding something…

The berm, or banked turn, is a common trail feature used to help the rider keep their flow and maintain grip in the turns. In a conventional flat turn you need to lower your outside pedal in order to help you get your body in the right position, weight the tyres correctly and improve ground clearance as the bike leans over. But in a berm the bike remains upright in relation to the surface beneath its tyres, so there’s no need to lower a pedal or adjust your riding position drastically – good technique here is more about the approach and line choice. APPROACH Always adjust your speed before entering the turn, so that you can roll through it rather than having to pedal or brake. CUT WIDE To make…

Hills in the countryside can get covered in ruts made by other riders and farm vehicles – after all, mountain bikers aren’t the only ones on wheels around here! Sometimes these ruts can be really deep, and there’s a risk of catching your pedals.. There are two ways to ride ruts safely – either on higher ground between two ruts, or straight down he middle of one. Generally, going between them will be best. You also need to be able to exit or cross ruts safely – it can be dangerous if you get cross-rutted while travelling at speed. TWO WAYS TO RIDE RUTS BETWEEN THE RUTS The safest place to be is between the two ruts, up on the high ground where you’re less likely to catch your pedals. You…

BODY POSITION Keep your chin up and look far ahead. Drop your heels to help keep your weight over the bottom bracket and make it easier to maintain balance if your front or rear wheel momentarily loses grip and the bike starts to drift. BRAKING Never use the front or the rear brake on its own. Apply both brakes gradually together, then use slightly more rear brake to avoid your front tyre drifting if it’s really loose. LEAN THE BIKE Lean the bike underneath you to corner, using your hips to turn it. Don’t lean with the bike as you would in a berm because you’ll push the tyres away from your centre of gravity and lose grip. SPEED Keep your speed in check, because the last thing you want…

EXIT SPEED The final turn is what matters in a sequence of corners. You want to be in the right place and gear to power out of it. If safe to do so, go back and practise the section until you get what you want out of it. Try new lines and experiment. LEAN Drop your inside knee slightly and direct your hips, torso and head in the direction you want to go. Assist the lean by putting pressure on the handlebar, particularly the inside grip. Don’t hang off the back of the bike – find a balanced position between both wheels. LINE CHOICE The main line may not be the best, so look around and be creative. In tight turns, look for a way to open up the angle.…

Steep rock slabs and roll-ins are common on many red trails. They’re generally found on slower, more technical trails rather than fast, flowing ones, and most of the time there’ll be an option to duck round them – a lot of riders fear going over the handlebar, especially on big drops. Controlling your speed and adjusting your body position correctly will keep you safe and make the transition from flat to steep smooth and balanced, meaning you’ll be able to maintain control. Momentum can help if you become unbalanced, but we recommend starting at a slow pace so you can feel your balance on the bike before progressing to bigger rock slabs. PROGRESSION If you feel like your body weight is being thrown forwards while tackling a slab, you’re doing…

BIKE & BRAKES SLAM YOUR SEAT Make sure your saddle is low and out of the way. This will ensure that you don’t get caught off-guard and will help you get your bodyweight back off the bike CLEARANCE Be cautious of your chainring knocking the edge of the drop-off – if it’s mud it’s nothing to worry about, but chainrings can stick in logs. Your fork will compress on impact, bringing your chainring closer to the edge. If it strikes, keep rolling – don’t grab the brakes. BRAKE CHECK Go as slow as possible, while still having enough motion to maintain balance. A slow walking pace is perfect. STAGE 1 APPROACH OVER THE EDGE Let the front wheel roll over the edge. EXTEND ARMS Allow your arms to extend as…

The great thing about tabletop jumps is that you can roll them before trying to jump them. We recommend doing this first because it gives you a good feel for the lip and an idea of what to expect from the jump. The aim is to land on the downslope – that way the landing will be smooth and will also give you speed. But the best technique will vary depending on your speed and the size of the jump. For example, if you’re going slow, you’ll need to ‘pop’ off the lip to make the landing. If you’re riding fast, you may be better ‘squashing’ it so you don’t overshoot the landing. In this case we’re doing a basic jump to reach the landing. TROUBLESHOOTING Basic jumping on a…

DON’T WAVER You must be 100 per cent confident in your own ability to ride the section and not hesitate. It helps a little if you know the trail, allowing you to push that bit harder. STAY CENTRED Stand up on the pedals. Bend your legs slightly but keep them firm and drop your heels. Try to keep your weight distribution pretty even between the front and back wheels. If you lean too far back at high speed, your front wheel will get really light and you’ll lose the feeling for what’s happening between the wheel and ground. LOOK UP THE TRAIL Keep your head up and look ahead. You can’t go fast if you’re looking down at your front wheel. The faster you go, the further up the trail…

Roots can be very intimidating and many riders struggle to ride them. They’re notorious for sending your wheels off line, especially when wet, and can also confuse your eyes – particularly sections like this, where there’s a lot going on. To ride roots well you need to commit to picking a line by spotting your exit point and aiming for it. You should avoid turning or braking while riding over roots, and where possible, hit them square on. BRAKES Cover the brakes, but avoid using them until clear of the roots – they can be the difference between sticking your line and your tyres slipping. EYES No matter how out of shape things get underneath you, stay focused on your exit point. Tackling roots is all about your line from…

Steep sections can be extremely daunting when you’re teetering on the edge peering down at the trail below. If you want to conquer them, you’ll need confidence and solid technique. Then, with practice, you’ll be hitting the steep stuff with barely a second thought. Seasoned DH racer and MBUK team rider Alex Bond explains exactly how to get yourself ready for them. BODY & HIPS As you come over the brow into the steep section, your hips will naturally start to move back to counterbalance the angle of the slope. This will push your bum back too, but there’s no harm in exaggerating this move if the terrain is really steep. HEAD & EYES As you enter the steep section, you should be looking over the brow. Once you’re committed…

The key difference between basic jumping and squashing a jump is how much air you get after take-off. With basic jumping you come up high over the jump, whereas with squashing you stay closer to the top of the jump. Watch a 4X or downhill racer hitting a jump at speed, and you’ll see that they stop the bike getting too much air by using their body to absorb the upward motion. This saves time and helps to maintain speed. The main difference in the two techniques is in the take-off. On a jump where you want to get air, you compress into the take-off, and stand tall as you come off the lip. To squash a jump and avoid getting too much air, you need to do the opposite.…

Originally, wallrides were a stunt involving riding a bike up onto a vertical wall and carving across it before jumping off. They’re really popular in street riding, slopestyle and freeride but you’d be surprised how common wallrides are in a natural environment too. The techniques used to wallride are much the same as those used for tackling steep banks before sharp turns, riding tall berms and for getting out the way of obstacles on the trail where there are steep banks to the side. Wooden wallrides can be found at various riding spots across the country, but you can learn the technique on any simple steep bank. Old quarries and woodland with bombholes are ideal spots to get your technique dialled because you’ll find steep banks all over the place…

This is a technique where you use a front wheel tap to get on to an obstacle. Hitting your front wheel into the obstacle is what generates the upward momentum to get the bike on top of it, especially with a full-susser. This technique involves very precise timing of both the pedal strokes and the front wheel placement to make it work. GET IN GEAR Choose a medium gear – somewhere around fifth on an 11-speed cassette with a 32-tooth chainring. You don’t want a gear that’s too easy because your feet will spin too quickly, while a gear that’s too hard means you won’t have enough power in your pedal strokes. LIFT THE WHEEL As your front wheel lifts off the ground, aim to hit the corner of the…

Getting air is a big part of modern mountain biking. Trail centres and bike parks offer loads of opportunities for airtime, and being able to jump and drop properly is also important if you want to ride natural trails well – you’ll be able to pop off roots, clear rock gardens and charge alpine trails, knowing that you can handle just about anything that crosses your path. In this feature we explain the two main ways of getting height off jumps – popping and jumping – and two different ways of handling drops. These are the core techniques for getting height off any upslope, and you can adapt them so that you land smoothly and precisely on any downslope. You’ll notice they’re based upon two of the core skills –…

Gaining and maintaining speed requires skill and practice if you want to maintain flow and not feel like you’re riding on the ragged edge. This month we’re looking at the core skills required to ride faster. In principle they appear pretty simple. Take flat corners, for example. They’re one of the first things you learn to ride when you sling your leg over a mountain bike, but when it comes to speeding up, many riders find themselves scratching their heads – or picking themselves up off the deck after a front wheel washout. We’ve gone back to basics so you can see if you’re missing one of the essential ingredients needed to carve a perfect turn and leave your mates covered in dust. Riding berms and pumping the terrain are…

By squashing and pumping the terrain you can maintain and generate speed from the trail and stay in a good body position without having to pedal. With good timing you can pump almost anything with a downslope or backside. When a descent is rough and you need to stay in a good body position, then it’s nearly always better to pump than pedal. Squashing is making yourself light over rough bits or upslopes that would otherwise send you up, and pumping is just making yourself as heavy as possible on a downslope to generate forwards speed. The most simple way to practice this is on a roller or pump bump. SQUASHING As you ride into an upslope, allow the bike to go light by unweighting your feet and letting it…

If you understand why, or how, you need to do something, then you can be confident what you’re doing is right! Knowledge gives you the tools to analyse and correct your skills, which will lead to better and quicker improvements. DROP AT SPEED When dropping at speed, remember that you carry more momentum than your bike, so think about body movements and moving the bike around your body, not your body around the bike. 1 SET-UP Approach in the ready position (arms and legs bent, head up and your body balanced) slightly lower than normal. Keep your head up, spot your landing then look ahead. 2 DROP Move your hips back and down as your front wheel reaches the edge. Extend your arms and bend your knees so you can…

“MOST OF THE TRACKS ARE XC LOOPS THAT PACK IN A ROLLER_COASTER RIDE AROUND THE WOODS” Despite being a relatively new phenomenon, trail centres can now be found up and down the UK, from the midge-plagued Highlands of Scotland to the darkest cider-addled depths of Devon and Cornwall. These networks of officially sanctioned, professionally built and clearly signposted mountain bike routes are a good starting point for beginners, with tracks rated according to difficulty and any hazards clearly marked. But their flowy all-weather trails make them popular with more experienced riders too. Whether you’re a wobbly mountain bike newbie or a grizzled veteran of more natural riding who wants to give manmade routes a go, here’s what you need to know… What to expect Trail centre tracks are normally surfaced…

TRAIL GRADINGS EXPLAINED For safety reasons, trail centre routes are marked using a similar system to that used in skiing. Gradings vary from green to orange, but most trail centres have blue, red or black graded routes. Here’s what they entail… BLUE Require basic off-road skills. Expect small rocks and roots, plus occasional steep berms. RED Not for beginners. You’ll need good riding skills to tackle obstacles and technical sections that can include jumps, drops and gaps. BLACK High skill level required. Expect steep slopes, technical terrain, big jumps and drops, and treacherous features.…

CUSTOMISE YOUR BIKE It’s important to customise your bike and components to suit your riding style – this will ultimately improve your control. Extra braking power, smoother suspension and more grip could be just a few minutes’ fettling and a couple of clicks away… SADDLE HEIGHT If you are descending or practising skills, drop your saddle down as it will allow you to move your bodyweight around the bike. A dropper post makes this a lot easier of course. BAR WIDTH/STEM LENGTH Upwards of 740mm bars are the norm these days. For trail riding they’ll improve an average sized person’s stability and confidence when coupled with a short stem of 30 to 50mm. BRAKE POSITION In a standing position, put your hands on your grips and extend your index fingers…

Most trail centre corners have berms on them to help riders maintain speed, but you’ll still find the odd flat turn, and natural trails tend to be full of them too. Flat corners are a piece of cake at low speeds, but they can catch you out or really slow you down if you’re riding fast or there’s not much grip. It’s important to focus on leaning the bike more than your body, and staying balanced in case you lose grip. GET LOW Lower your chest towards your handlebar and keep your elbows high. Bending your arms gives you room to straighten your inside arm and lean the bike over in the corner. LOOK UP Keeping your head up will aid your balance in the corner plus help you to…

A good blue trail should be easy enough for novices but also fun and have some options to keep faster riders interested. Jumps – or bumps – on blue trails usually have mellow transitions so they’re no problem to ride over at steady speed and there’ll often be a landing of similar size. Here we’re going to look at ‘squashing’ a small jump to maintain your speed and flow. The main aim is to squash the takeoff to maintain control and momentum, then pump the downslope to gain extra velocity on the landing. You’ll need a bit of speed for this, but build it up steadily. APPROACH Start at a speed you’re comfortable with. Approach in your attack position, glance at the upslope then look over it. As the bike…

Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned trail rider, there’s an unwritten code of conduct that all mountain bikers should heed. Following these simple tips will help you, your mates and fellow riders stay safe, get the most out of the trails and become part of one big, happy MTB family. 1 PLAY NICE IF PASSING If you’re having a chilled ride, listen out for faster riders and move over to let them past when it’s safe to do so. They’ll be grateful not to be held up and you’ll be less stressed without someone behind you. If you want to pass a slower rider, call out in a friendly way (“rider on your right!”) and be mindful that they may not be able to pull over to the side…

ADVANCED TIPS DRIFT A consistent loose surface can be perfect for getting your drift on. Lean the bike right over to the point where the tyres break traction, go light and let them slide. Stay off the brakes, look up and stay loose. PRESSURE CONTROL If you want to increase the amount of grip you’ve got in a loose corner, compressing your bike into the ground by pushing through the pedals and making it heavier will provide extra traction. BALANCE Keeping your core mass in balance over the bottom bracket makes it easier to correct a slip or control a drift. Try not to hang back off your handlebar because this will put your weight too far back. LEAN When cornering, lean your bike in the direction you want to…

Jumping a bike isn’t just great fun, it’s practical too. Bump jumping uses similar skills to bunnyhopping, and can be used to get the bike airborne and pop over obstacles on the trail. Once you’ve got the technique nailed, you’ll be able to find take-offs and landings on every trail you ride, increasing your speed as you go. When you use a combination of pumping, manualling and bump jumping, it’s possible to take sections of trail at high speed with relative ease, when other riders might be pedalling and grabbing handfuls of brake. THE TAKE OFF Even a small root is enough to get a couple of feet in the air. Don’t start with anything too big or square though, or the kick will be quite harsh. Begin with a…

Rocky features on manmade trails are placed so as to challenge a rider’s technical ability and give routes a more natural feel. In this case we’re looking at negotiating a rocky outcrop on a flat trail just before a corner, which means you want to carry as much speed as you can. This means choosing a line that avoids your wheels directly hitting any speed-sapping square edges – or hopping them if you can. To keep your flow you’ll need to choose the technique that best matches your speed. There’s no point hopping if you can only clear a couple of the rocks. USE THE ROCKS Use sloping rocks or ledges to help you get your front wheel up more easily or to hop higher. Hone your technique by hopping…

When you come to a drop-off with low speed, and it looks dodgy, it’s safer to get the front wheel up and land both wheels together (or rear wheel first). By pedalling and pulling up, you can lift the front wheel easily. A higher drop will allow a full pedal rotation, starting – and ending – with best foot forwards. For smaller drop-offs, you’ll only get a half crank in – landing with your weaker leg forwards. At first this will feel odd, but practice on a kerb. STAGE 1 APPROACH PULL UP Pull up and back on the bars, and pedal hard. This will lift the front end. SET UP In a fairly low gear, set yourself up with your best foot forwards. PEDAL Depending on your timing, you’ll…

APPROACH Jumping is all about gauging your speed, timing and getting set before the lip. Get your feet level, in a neutral position, and look up where you want to go. The compression at the base of the jump will give you an explosive linear movement to pop (jump) from. TAKE-OFF As you go up the face of the jump your weight will transfer from your arms to your feet, which will give you the force to preload with your legs, and make your front wheel light as you hit the top of the lip. Your heels should be slightly down through the take-off till you’re airborne. AIR TIME In the air, think about readjusting your balance and spotting the landing. Because the angle of your bike is changing (like…

STRAGGLER AT THE BACK Don’t be disheartened if you’re always at the back trailing behind everyone else, because the race ain’t over till it’s over. It could be a case of tortoise and hare, and the aggressive clowns who are battling over the spoils are likely to take themselves out – sometimes patience is the best way to win. EYES ON THE PRIZE If you’re leading out a pack of mates hungry for the win, you’ll have a target on your back. The best thing you can do is keep your eye on the finishing line and try to ignore what’s going on behind you. Let the competition take themselves out while you concentrate on riding as fast as you can DON’T BE WET If you’re not winning the race…

Riding rock gardens well requires a mixture of looseness and strength, fluidity and stability. You need to remain mobile on the bike to deal with the changing terrain beneath your wheels. But if you hit something you’re not expecting, you need to be in a strong enough position so that you can absorb it with your hands, wrists and feet. BUM BACK Drop your heels and keep your bottom as far back over the rear wheel as possible. Rocks can move around or knock you off your line, so you need to be braced and ready for things to change. EYES UP Look for the exit of the rock garden as you enter it and remain focused on where you want to go as you ride through the section. Keep…

THINK SPEED Set your speed early so you have time to set yourself up for the drop. Roll in at a medium pace to start with. Once you’re comfortable, you can try hitting it slower or faster. APPROACH Stand on the pedals, in a neutral position. Stay loose and relaxed, because you’re going to need to be dynamic. As you get closer to the edge, look for the landing but keep your head up. DROP & PUSH As you approach the edge, drop your body and push your bike forward with your arms. You’ll need to time this so that the rear wheel is unweighted as you go over the edge. EXTEND As you drop through the air, start to extend your legs to bring the bike back underneath you…

When you’re riding a jump with a blind take-off, where you can’t see the landing before you’re on the lip, you need to look for it as soon as you can (having made sure to check the jump out on foot first). On the jump pictured here, the landing isn’t actually visible until after you’ve taken off. That means you need to be looking down quite a lot, trying to spot the point where you want to touch down. TOUCHDOWN As you come in to land, bend your legs and arms to soften the impact. Allow your hips to move down and back – you don’t want to be leaning forward when you’re trying to slow down after landing, or you’ll have no grip or stability. Once your wheels are…

Over the blue, red and black rated sections in this mag, we’ve covered all the skills you’ll need to make the most of pretty much any trail you will come across. Here, however, we breakdown a selection of more fancy manoeuvres. While not essential, adding these advanced moves to your MTB repertoire will not only seriously enhance your riding with hefty dose of flair, but they’re great fun to learn and play around with too. For learning most of these skills we recommend a flat pedal equipped hardtail. If you don’t have access to one, any decent mountain bike will do.…

A manual is the same as a wheelie, just without pedalling. Riding on just the rear wheel, you use transfers of bodyweight and the rear brake to hold the bike perfectly on the balance point. You can use the manual to link tricks and lines, whether out on the trail, down at the skate park or riding street. Learning to manual requires some trial and error as you try to find the balance point, but once it clicks you’ll be able to go as far as your speed carries you. Then you can try styling it up, by turning the bar or even taking a hand off if you want to be really cool! BIKE SET-UP It’s crucial to have a sharp rear brake that you can feather with one…

The squeaker is a trials riding classic – you’ll really impress your mates if you can bust out this trick in the trail centre car park! It’s best to practise the Switzerland squeaker on flat, smooth ground because it’ll make it more consistent and predictable. STOPPIE START Roll in at somewhere around walking pace with your good foot forward and pull your front brake to go into a stoppie. SWING TIME As your back wheel rises, let your front foot drop to the 6 o’ clock position while still on the pedals. Swing your back foot forwards and put it on the front tyre, as close to the fork crown as possible. SCUFF IT Release the brake and scuff the tyre backwards with your foot. Using a combination of your…

There are two things you can do on the lip of a jump to gain air – jump or pop. Jumping is pushing into the transition mainly with your legs in order to push your core mass up in the air. Popping is hopping off the lip, which gives you extra height. If you’re struggling to get any air, then you’re probably doing the opposite of jumping and actually absorbing the take-off. Whatever you do, don’t freeze up – that never ends well! JUMPING The best place to learn is a tabletop jump with a mellow lip and large landing area. Aim to push into the lip to generate height and then land smoothly on the downslope. Timing (of your pump) and balance are important. If you get your take-off…

Flat corners are seldom found at bike parks and trail centres but they’re probably the number one feature you need to master to ride natural and alpine trails well. There’s no positive camber to help you round, so a good balance of lean, grip and body position is essential to avoid washing out. The key to riding flat corners is to always lean the bike more than your body and look for a consistent surface on which to turn. BODY POSITION FOR FLAT CORNERS The aim is to stay over the top of the bike and lean it using your hips, feet and hands in co-ordination. This will drive the edges of the tyres into the ground. Leaning the bike with just your hands won’t work because your feet will…

On natural trails there’s usually lots of line choice, which makes things interesting. In general, straighter is often faster through technical sections and a late apex tends to be faster through corners. It’s important to remember that the best line isn’t the same for all riders – it depends on your skill level and speed. There’s no point trying to hit a straight line if you’re going to hook up on a load of roots and lose tons of speed. Focus on exit speed out of corners and technical sections. Anyone can haul into a corner and grab a handful of brake. Entering slower may mean that you can exit faster. EFFECTIVE PEDAL POWER PEDALLING Cranking the pedals at the right time can increase your speed on downhill trails, but…

REPETITION If you’re serious about cracking a skill or technical feature then the best thing you can do to improve your confidence is repeat it. Do it so much that it’s second nature, then you can focus on other aspects of your riding such as line choice and flow. DRILLS TO BUILD SKILLS KIT CHECK Know what you’re going to ride, dress appropriately and carry spares. CLOTHING CHOICE You won’t see us on the trail without at least a good set of kneepads and a helmet on. We highly recommend wearing light body armour as it can prevent a small scrape becoming a ride-stopping knock. DRILLS TO BUILD SKILLS PRE- RIDE CHECK Tyre pressures, bolts tight, suspension set-up, brakes – check them all on every ride, without fail. BIKE CLEANING/…