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64 Articles

In reading this special edition you are taking 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 or bike park is likely to throw at you. Crammed with step-by-step advice from top coaches and pro riders, this issue gives you the best and most up to date MTB riding knowledge available. We’ve divided the mag into blue, red and black sections to help give the most relevant advice for the grade of trail you’re currently riding and to help take you to the next level. The learning curve starts here! WARNING Many of the riding techniques featured in this publication are suitable for advanced cyclists only. Individuals carrying out any…

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. SET YOUR SAG Adjust your suspension preload so you have 30 per cent sag on the rear shock while seated and 20 per cent on the fork when standing. Do this in your riding gear. Check your manufacturers’ recommendations – some suspension designs may work better in different sag ranges. COMPRESSION DAMPING When descending…

CUSTOMISE YOUR BIKE

TWEAK A BIKE TO SUIT A FEMALE RIDER

Many so-called women’s bikes are just unisex models (which is in itself a bit of a misnomer, because the frames tend to be designed around typical male proportions) with some flowery colours and a wider saddle. They may be available in smaller sizes, but generally have the same geometry (Canyon and Liv are both brands that offer female-specific MTB frames). And choice is often distinctly limited in terms of the different models and specs available. All of this means that buying a unisex bike and fine-tuning it to suit is often the best route to go down, especially for more serious, aggressive, taller or heavier female riders. Here are some key set-up pointers… SADDLE Saddle soreness may just be the most talked-about topic in women’s cycling, so fitting a decent…

TWEAK A BIKE TO SUIT A FEMALE RIDER

BIKE PARK READY

These days you don’t need a downhill bike to hit the bike park, but if you’re riding a do-it-all trail bike, it’s a good idea to tweak your base set-up before hitting more extreme terrain. Uplift-accessed riding can be a lot gnarlier than your regular trail centre fare, with rougher, faster tracks and bigger hits. So we’ve come up with a list of set-up tips to help you get the most out of your gravity-fed day out, and not feel out of your depth on a single-crowner. SUSPENSION You want your bike to handle hard landings and bigger holes, but simply adding more air to your fork and/or shock means sacrificing traction. Volume spacers can help here. They make your suspension ramp up more towards the end of its travel,…

BIKE PARK READY

EASY HACKS TO IMPROVE YOUR RIDING

Passion and drive are important behaviours in sport – they motivate us to give it our all. But this passion and enthusiasm to go fast can sometimes get in the way of proper technique, especially when you’re new to something. At the opposite end of the scale is the fear of a potential crash – and fear is another behaviour that really affects our riding. It doesn’t matter which trail centre we go to, most of the beginner mistakes come from either one or both of these things. Thinking about your technique and riding smart can help you to manage these trails, and will take you a long way in mountain biking. These photos illustrate five common bad habits, which are easy to kick if you follow our advice. CHECK…

EASY HACKS TO IMPROVE YOUR RIDING

MAINTAIN GOOD POSTURE

There’s no point in looking at how to tackle obstacles until you have a solid posture on the bike. Having a stable start/finish point to work from, where you’re standing on the pedals, is super-important. Why is a good stance on the bike so critical? First of all, it means you don’t waste energy on difficult, pointless movements. Secondly, it gives room between you and the bike, so the bike can move to you when going over rollers or rough sections. It also positions your weight centrally, which means the bike can pivot more freely under you. Finally, it brings consistency to your riding, because you’ll be moving from a similar point when approaching different obstacles. Bikes are light, but we are heavy. If you have the correct posture, the…

MAINTAIN GOOD POSTURE

To flow, you need to be in a balanced position that enables you to move around your bike and react quickly to the trail. You need to feel calm and ready, and this can only happen if you’re balanced. Stay relaxed too – rigidity is the enemy of balance. CHIN UP Stable vision aids balance, so keep your chin up and look ahead to the upcoming trail. SHOCK ABSORBERS To use your arms and legs properly you need to have them in a bent position where they can flex or extend quickly. RELAX Once you’re feeling balanced, loosen up to let the bike move around underneath you. BASE OF SUPPORT Direct your weight through your feet to create your base of support. From here you can apply pressure, or pop, hop…

PEDALLING SMOOTHLY

As a mountain biker, pedalling is your main source of acceleration. It’s probably not something most of us think that much about, but you’ll expend a lot more energy if you mash the pedals aimlessly instead of spinning smooth circles. This is even more of an imperative on full-sus bikes, where bad technique will divert your effort into bobbing the suspension rather than driving you forward. 1 CADENCE We all have our preferred cadence (pedalling speed). Some like to spin, whereas others favour harder, slower strokes. Often riders are in too hard a gear – either up a climb or off from the start of a race. If you push too hard, you’ll accelerate less efficiently and be slower overall when compared to using an easier gear. 2 POSITION This is your…

PEDALLING SMOOTHLY

“Get off the brakes – that’ll make you go faster!” We’ve all joked about this before, but it’s actually the worst way to get more speed. Using your brakes in a controlled way – rather than death-gripping the handlebar and hurtling down the trail out of control – will give you far more flow and overall momentum. BRAKING TOO MUCH? Conscious braking is something to work on to help you realise exactly where to use the brakes. Practise sections of trail where you make braking the thing you think about most. Try riding into the section with a plan of where you want to slow down and where you want to let off. Obviously, you don’t want to be consciously braking all the time, but it’s a good training technique and…

HOLD THE HIGH LINE

When you’re looking for ways through a trail section, the high line is often the quickest, straightest and/or smoothest option, although rarely the easiest. Like with a lot of techniques, the key to holding high lines is in the set-up – you need good balance and stability to get you through. The most common mistake on high lines is riders entering them too fast. You need to control your entry speed and then build it up as you go through the line. BRAKING Hit the brakes early so that the bike isn’t sliding when it’s on the high line. We’d advise over-braking instead of hitting the line with full speed. Your aim should be to accelerate through the line, not slow down once you’re on it. One of the most…

HOLD THE HIGH LINE

FIND GRIP IN FLAT TURNS

Have you ever noticed that most bike parks bring berm after berm, all the way down the trail? That’s because flat corners can be a flow killer – they’re harder to find grip on, commit to and carry speed through. With the correct technique though, you can rail these turns just like any other. Follow our tips to find as much grip as possible and keep your speed. GET CENTRED Approach flat corners in a centred position on the bike – with your weight over the bottom bracket – as this is where you’ll have the most balance, and the best manoeuvrability. SPOT THE EXIT Fix your vision looking around the corner, towards the exit of the turn, by keeping your head up. You ride where you look. LEAN THE…

FIND GRIP IN FLAT TURNS

HEELS DOWN Dropping your heels and slightly bending your legs helps keep weight on your feet. This is important for grip and braking, and also means you’re using the strongest muscles to support your weight. PEDALS LEVEL Try to stand up on the pedals and keep the crank arms in a horizontal position as much as possible. That’ll give you the best platform for stability and allow you room to move around the bike for balance to control it through any bumps, jumps and berms. EYES UP It’s been said a thousand times before, but it’s probably the most crucial technique when riding. Keep your head up and eyes looking down the trail – not in front of your wheel. That gives you time to read the terrain and be…

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. OPTIMUM LINE The bermed line gives maximum grip because the tyres are weighted directly from above. It’s the fastest and safest way to corner, and is also clear…

FIX CORNERING MISTAKES

When you hit a corner well, you know it – the bike just grips, you exit with speed and the whole process feels effortless. But what if you find that you’re losing all your speed in turns, sliding out or, even worse, crashing? The key to learning to corner confidently and smoothly is to avoid some common mistakes and build consistency. Here are four things that a lot of riders get wrong – and how to fix them. TURNING THE BAR NOT LEANING THE BIKE A lot of riders don’t lean the bike properly in corners. A bike turns from leaning, not from turning the handlebar. Practise giving the bike freedom of movement under you. One key technique that helps this freedom is dynamic elbow movement. STARING AT THE FRONT…

FIX CORNERING MISTAKES

WHOOPS / ROLLERS

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…

WHOOPS / ROLLERS

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. LAND SMOOTHLY Aim to land softly,…

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…

Pump bumps are small rollers that can be a single lump or a series of undulations. What makes them different from jumps is that they’re generally on sections of trail that are quite slow, so it’s better to pump them to gain speed rather than try to jump them. Pumping is a way of generating speed from the trail without pedalling. It’s a simple concept – apply pressure to a downslope and you’ll gain forwards momentum. At steady speeds you can pump small bumps with both wheels on the ground, but at faster speeds it can be better to let the front wheel come off the ground (a move known as a ‘manual’) and pump with the rear wheel only. ALL IN THE TIMING The stage at which you squash…

UPHILL SWITCHBACKS

From your local trail centre to remote high-alpine paths, switchbacks are a necessity for trail builders seeking to steer our favourite tracks up steep mountainsides. Former downhill and enduro world champ Tracy Moseley explains how to negotiate them with confidence. PICK A GEAR Select a gear that allows you to pedal around the whole turn so that you don’t have to shift mid corner, losing precious speed and balance. EYES UP Set up as wide as you can with your front wheel. As you approach the corner, lift your head and eyes and look around the turn to spot your exit line. STAY SMOOTH As you get to the crux of the corner, commit to the move and attack the pedals if power is needed. You can lightly drag the…

UPHILL SWITCHBACKS

The UK winter produces some pretty foul riding conditions, but that doesn’t mean you have to have a miserable time on your bike. With the correct planning, kit, bike set-up and a few top tips, you can have a glorious time shredding in the mud. Here’s our top advice from over 30 years of riding in the best and worst that the British weather can throw at us. 1. BIKE & BODY PREP Correct kit makes wet rides more enjoyable Investing in decent winter riding kit and a few conditions-specific parts for your bike is essential, to avoid ending up soaked to the skin and freezing cold, and keep that smile on your face. Changing tyres is a faff, especially if you’re running tubeless, but it’ll improve control massively on…

BEAT YOUR TRAIL NEMESIS

Overcoming a fear of certain types of trail features is a skill in itself. If achieved successfully, it can make riding loads more fun and progressive while also keeping you safe. The trick is to be brave but not stupid. You could look at it like a boxing match – if there’s a person who’s been learning for 10 times as long as you and is twice your size, you wouldn’t step into the ring with them. But if they’re only a little more experienced and of a similar weight, then you could consider taking them on. There will be fear, yes, but by using the techniques here, you can find a way to overcome it. You can also use the boxing analogy to keep yourself safe – try to…

BEAT YOUR TRAIL NEMESIS

Ruts are one natural trail feature that can turn even the best bike handler into a panicked and out-of-balance novice. Follow this advice from Scotland’s best rut rider Joe Barnes and you’ll soon be flowing down them easier than the water that helped create them! 1 STAY LOOSE Let the bike move around beneath you. Unlike normal riding, where you try to ride with a solid position on the bike, in ruts you need to constantly move and balance with the bike. If the bike moves left, then you move to the right to keep it upright. 2 PEDALS LEVEL It’s important to ride with your feet fairly level. This gives you space to dip from side to side more easily and stops your feet hitting the edges of the ruts.…

POWER OUT OF BERMS

Exit speed in corners is an easy place to gain or lose time on the trail. The way pros link berms into straights is seamless – they appear to come out faster than they went in. A lot of this is down to identifying the correct braking point and pumping, but hitting the pedals at the right time and getting max power down makes a big difference too. Wheelieing as you exit a turn means you can get your legs straighter and put full power through the pedals. It also overcomes the risk of stalling as you exit, without needing to shift down a gear. This technique requires you to be able to pump berms and wheelie, so get comfy doing both those things first. MANUAL While not a useful…

POWER OUT OF BERMS

Consistent cornering means faster times for top Scottish racer Greg Williamson, but also more speed, flow and fun for you on the trail. Follow these tips and you’ll be flying round the turns in no time! SET-UP Cornering is all about VPD – vision, position and direction. Your vision allows you to set your position on the trail, which decides your direction. From entry to exit, rolling into any type of turn at any speed requires you to keep your head up and eyes to the front. This allows you to choose the right cornering technique to apply at the right time. BRAKING No matter the type of turn or the entry speed required, getting all of your braking done before you hit the sweet spot, or apex, is a…

SAIL OVER WET ROOTS

Riding wet roots can sometimes seem like a mountain bike equivalent of Russian roulette – you feel like it’s not a matter of if, but when, you’re going to hit the deck. Fortunately, good line choice, commitment and proper technique will help you clean them rubber side down. 1 VISION Choose a straight line and aim your front wheel so it’s perpendicular to the biggest roots and hits them head on. Try to avoid large diagonal roots, which will direct your tyres off the trail. 2 MOMENTUM Once you’re happy with your basic technique, try hitting root sections a touch faster. Slowing down may help your confidence but it’s a bad idea because it means your tyres will be in contact with the slippery roots for longer. 3 HEAD UP…

SAIL OVER WET ROOTS

DESCEND AT SPEED

When you want to get to the bottom of the hill as fast as possible – whether you’re racing the ’Ard Rock or trying to beat your mates – just riding as hard as you can won’t cut it. To consistently post good times, you need to ride safe (to avoid crashes) and maintain your flow. Here’s how to go super-fast, safely. STAY SMOOTH Don’t pinball from rock to rock or corner to corner – you’ll end up breaking yourself or your bike. Enter tight corners or tricky sections at a manageable pace, then let off the brakes and exit fast. Look for smooth and straight lines that you know you can ride safely. LOOK UP This seems like an obvious tip, but it’s often the hardest skill to conquer…

DESCEND AT SPEED

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. 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 to have to do is brake aggressively where there’s no braking traction. Avoid skidding or using the front brake too much because it can cause the bike to wash out from underneath you.…

Picture the scene. You’re riding a favourite trail and find yourself at the top with a rider you don’t know. You’re confident you’ll keep on their wheel as you drop in behind them. As you approach the first tight right-hander, all of a sudden they move left, off the main line, and shoot across the trail with more exit speed than you thought possible. The gap lengthens. You speed into a rooty off-camber section and, as you bump through, the rider ahead is half a metre higher up the slope, skimming the smoother line, before finally dropping you on the next corner. This happens to everyone – sometimes you can’t see the wood for the trees and you get stuck riding the main line. The main line is generally the…

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. 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. 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.…

PICK LINES IN ROCK GARDENS

Rock gardens add both fun and fear to the trail. If you get them wrong, you’re in for a wild ride, but when you get them right, you can carry your flow and keep on smiling as you go. Here are our top tips for choosing the best way to negotiate them in safety and style. THE DIRECT LINE This is as straight as possible, regardless of the obstacles. Momentum is your friend, to help carry you over holes and rocks. Adopt a centred position on the bike, with your heels down and elbows up – you’re going to need your arms and legs to act as extra suspension to smooth out the trail. Spot your exit and aim for it. Keep relaxed so you can maintain balance. THE SMOOTH LINE…

PICK LINES IN ROCK GARDENS

AGGRESSIVE BERMS

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. OFF THE BRAKES Stay off the brakes when you’re in the berm because they’ll bring you out of the lean, making you more likely to overshoot…

AGGRESSIVE BERMS

Jumping is a skill that’ll serve you well and make riding more fun, whether it’s to clear a gap or simply hop over a root. The move basically starts with good timing of a bunnyhop and progresses from there the faster you go. Start small and work your way up – sound fundamentals are key. 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…

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! 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. FLIGHT TIME Relax in the air and level your bike out. This is the moment to enjoy as the clatter from your 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,…

He may be Tahnée Seagrave’s little brother, but there’s nothing small about the way Kaos rides his bike. “Skywards and sideways” is the only way for him, and this is the secret to how he does it. 1.APPROACH Chilled, relaxed, calm or cool – use the adjective of your choice to help you roll into the take-off with all you need for a successful flight. Just like baking a cake, having all the ingredients weighed out before you start makes success much more likely. Approach with enough speed to clear the jump, but not so much that the time needed to press into the lip is too short. As with all MTB skills, keep your vision forward, fingers over the brakes, and aim to choose the smoothest, straightest line to…

FIX COMMON JUMPING FAULTS

Jumping is, without a doubt, the most popular course any MTB coaching company can deliver. This may be because ever-increasing numbers of jump lines are cropping up at trail centres and it’s superfun – although it really hurts when it goes wrong! Speed and the jump’s trajectory will get you airborne, but not necessarily in a safe or efficient manner. Here are four common mistakes people make and how to overcome them. 1 JUMPING TOO EARLY As with anything in life, timing is everything! Many riders try to take off too early, and this can cause issues, especially if you’re new to jumping. Firstly, you won’t actually jump that far, but it can also be unsafe and may even throw you over the bars if the back wheel gets bucked. You…

FIX COMMON JUMPING FAULTS

Step-downs are effectively something between a jump and a drop. As the name suggests, you’re gapping down to a landing that’s lower than the take-off. The take-off can vary from completely flat (in which case the step-down is a bit like a drop-off but with a gap to clear) to quite lippy (like a jump). Because you’re falling from a height, they’re usually easier to clear than jumps, but this can sometimes make it tough to judge your speed. 1. TAKE-OFF Step-downs have less of a lip than jumps, so the timing can be harder. With an upward-curving transition you can feel the bike pushing into you, but you don’t feel this pressure as much on step-downs. Follow the same technique as you would for a jump, compressing into the face…

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. 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. DON’T LEAN BACK Don’t confuse getting low with leaning back. Think about pushing the bike forward and dropping your…

CONFIDENT DROP-OFFS

There’s nothing better than hitting drops flat out with total confidence and not having to slow down. Although they’re not entirely the same techniques, you’ll need to have practised small drops before speeding up to gain confidence and balance. Faster means further, so spot your landing and get ready for some airtime. DROP & EXTEND Drop your hips back and down quickly as your front wheel reaches the edge, extending your arms to allow yourself to get back and really low. WEIGHT SHIFT Relax in the air and aim to get your weight back over the bottom bracket by extending your legs and arms ready for touchdown. PRESSURE RELEASE Release the pressure under your feet before the rear wheel leaves the edge so your bodyweight is already dropping. LOOK AHEAD…

CONFIDENT DROP-OFFS

No matter how fit you are, long and steep climbs – like those found at Yorkshire’s ’Ard Rock Enduro – can sap your energy quickly if you go too hard. Focusing on efficiency will help you to last longer and feel fresher for the fun bits. Here are our top tips to help you reach the top without blowing a gasket. 1 SPIN Select an easy gear that allows you to spin your pedals at a relatively high cadence. Aim for around 60rpm (one pedal revolution per second) rather than cranking a hard gear. 2 STAY HYDRATED You’re going to be working hard, which means you’ll also be sweating a lot – so it’s essential that you stay hydrated. Keep sipping on water or an isotonic sports drink and aim to…

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. 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 you need to look. Always look where you want to go, not where you don’t want to go. 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…

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…

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. CONTROL YOUR SPEED Jabbing your brakes on will disrupt the balance of the bike. By feathering them you can still control your speed without causing the bike to pitch forwards or the tyres to lock up. BALANCING ACT In rock gardens where the rocks move as you ride over them, you need to do some balancing with your body to keep your bike heading towards the exit. Use weight shifts…

Picking the front wheel up to launch off an edge and land flat on two wheels is an essential skill for any mountain biker. It’s also one that we see a lot of riders struggling with, whether through dropping the front wheel too early or not picking it up at all, at the risk of catching a chainring or going over the bars. We reckon most people’s problems come from either wrong body position, timing or speed, or simply a lack of confidence. If any of these ring a bell, read on and, with a bit of practice, soon you’ll feel much more confident diving headlong into technical trails. 1 TIMING The two key elements to riding a drop-off are driving your feet forward through the pedals and shifting your weight…

RIP ROCKS & SURF SCREE

Head out to the hills on the hunt for natural descents and you’re almost guaranteed to come across loose, rocky terrain. When the ground starts sliding around under your wheels, it’s easy to get out of shape, lose control and crash – and crashing on this stuff hurts! Follow these tips, though, and you’ll be skipping across shifting rocks with unfaltering composure. STAY LOOSE It’s the key to riding confidently in many situations, but it’s never truer than here. If you’re calm and relaxed, then the bike is free to move around beneath you. If you stiffen up, then whenever the bike is deflected, the force will be transmitted straight through to you, knocking you off-balance. HEAD UP EYES UP We’re all guilty of this to some degree – looking…

RIP ROCKS & SURF SCREE

“Hang off the back! Hang off the back!” – We often hear this being shouted at riders by their mates as they try to ride steep sections. But hanging off the back of the bike makes chutes dangerous for several reasons. It gives you zero front wheel grip, bucks you forward if you hit a bump and gives you the least amount of stability on the bike. So, what should you do to make sure you get max grip, zero bucking and complete stability? BEND AT THE HIPS This is the main change you should make to your position on the bike as you drop into a steep section. When the front wheel rolls over the edge of the chute, bend further forward from your hips. It may feel counterintuitive,…

Squashing or scrubbing jumps is more than just a way to look cool. If you can hit a take-off at full speed and stay low in the air so you don’t need to brake, then you’re going to reach the finish line faster! The term ‘scrub’ comes from motocross in the early 2000s when James ‘Bubba’ Stewart first pioneered the ‘Bubba Scrub’ – leaning his bike over and sliding the wheels up the take-off, to take jumps at full-gas without overshooting the landing. As mountain bikers, we obviously don’t have an engine on our bikes, so the scrub doesn’t translate directly, but the principles are similar. Read on to find out how it’s done! THE SQUASH 1 Before you try to get sideways, start by working on squashing jumps smoothly.…

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…

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. LAND Aim to land both wheels at…

Even if you’re a frequent flyer, there are a few things to consider when hitting the big stuff. Good technique, a properly set up bike and nerves of steel are all essential if you’re to make it safely to the landing. SCOPE IT OUT Size things up. Don’t even consider going for the jump unless you’re 99 per cent confident you’ll land it. The more jumps you do, the better your gauge of speed will be. Look for cues on how fast to go – a set-up jump before the main jump can really help with this. Watch other people hit it and look at how their bikes and bodies react. Don’t be afraid to ask other riders for advice, and always do a few test run-ins before hitting it…

E-bikes give a completely different perspective to a mountain bike ride. Providing the opportunity to explore further, tackle more technically challenging climbs, conserve energy or just keep up with other riders who are faster or more skilled, they’re a great tool to help you enjoy your rides and broaden your horizons. Maximising the benefits of the motor and using the weight that comes with this to your advantage requires a slightly modified approach, though. Good bike set-up will help, of course, plus there are specific technical skills to focus on to help you keep traction and improve control – so read on to find out how to rail the trails on your e-bike! CORNERING Good cornering technique is rewarded massively on an e-bike, but punished equally if you get things…

E-bikes are great for jumps, but good timing and correct body position are needed to stay in control. SET A MODE Boost will be too snatchy, Trail is great for short run-ups, but Eco may be best in some situations. USE THE SUSPENSION With well-set-up suspension you can get a good pump from the jump’s transition, so use this to your advantage and shift your body weight up and forward as you approach the lip. Don’t sit back, because this can potentially cause the bike to buck you as the suspension rebounds.…

With the added weight and inertia of an e-bike, suspension is challenged more, so a poor set-up becomes a bigger hindrance. INITIAL SET-UP Set the sag on the fork and shock (15-25% at the front and 20-30% at the rear is a good starting point) and keep a note of your air pressures. Also, make sure the suspension is balanced, front to back. TUNING Most forks and shocks have a big range of usable rebound and compression damping adjustment. Air pressure should be your first go-to if things don’t feel right, but e-bikes can be under-damped, so fitting volume spacers to resist bottom-out or adding low-speed compression to help with pumping can transform the ride.…

If you use clipless pedals, now might be the time to try flats again. On an e-bike, the efficiency of being clipped in isn’t as important, and flats promote better technique. NO CHEATING We often see people using clipless pedals to pull their bike up. With flats you have to learn to use proper technique for jumping, bunnyhopping, and so on, which will stand you in good stead. BAD HABITS Technical sections may instigate bad habits where you unclip early, just in case. The added confidence of flat pedals allows you to stay feet up, knowing you can quickly dab if things start to go south.…

TUNE E-BIKE SUSPENSION

On any bike, setting up the suspension correctly will improve its performance, and therefore your enjoyment. E-bikes are no different, but because of the added weight and inertia, you’ll likely need to adjust your usual air pressures and settings to suit. If set up poorly, the extra mass of the bike will work against you. To cope with these increased forces, e-bike forks are beefed-up, with solid crowns and thicker walls. Set-up follows the same steps as for regular suspension. INITIAL SET-UP IS KEY Achieve the correct sag by adjusting the air pressure or spring rate. Only use any compression adjustment for fine-tuning. High-speed (HS) damping controls how the bike reacts to trail feedback (braking bumps, landings). Adding HS compression damping makes the suspension harder and reduces fork dive (which negatively…

TUNE E-BIKE SUSPENSION

USE YOUR BIKE’S MODES

E-bike motors can be set to deliver power in different ways. Whether you’re using a Bosch, Shimano or Specialized system, or one from another brand, the choice of modes will be similar, even if they’re named differently. Eco, Trail/Tour and Boost/Turbo are the standard ones, but Bosch and Giant have additional automatic modes that adjust the power depending on the input going into the bike. The first thing that most people do when jumping on an e-bike is to set the mode to Boost and leave it there. In Boost, the initial drive and acceleration is so far removed from a normal bike that you can’t help but grin, but it isn’t the best way to get the most from the bike, and will in fact work against you in…

USE YOUR BIKE’S MODES

CONQUER THE CLIMBS

Never before has climbing been so much fun! E-bikes truly make the ascents as enjoyable as the descents, with the motor assistance really rewarding good technique and allowing seemingly unsurmountable climbs to be conquered with ease. However, get your position wrong and you’ll end up pushing a very heavy bike up a steep hill. Here are some points to bear in mind. PRACTISE! There’s huge satisfaction in nailing a technical climb, so it’s worth persevering. It may be a whole new skill for you to learn, because steep hills can be simply impossible on a normal trail bike. There are crossovers with trials riding, in terms of momentum, grip, drive and body position. Add this skill to your repertoire with some training and enjoy a whole new way to ride.…

CONQUER THE CLIMBS

WHEELIE The wheelie is great for balance and control, and translates to other skills like technical climbing and getting up onto ledges. It can also be used to drop off high ledges at very low speeds. Select a high gear so you don’t spin out and you can put a lot of power down with just half a pedal stroke. PUT POWER DOWN While extending your arms, push hard on one pedal from the top of the stroke (select a high gear first so you don’t spin out). This crank from 12 to 6 o’clock combined with the explosive extension of your arms will create lift. HANG BACK Stay seated and feather the rear brake to avoid looping out. Pedal harder and lean back more to keep the front wheel…

HAVING TROUBLE If you’re finding the manual hard to master, try sitting on the saddle with both feet on the ground and your front wheel in the air. Rock forwards and backwards, and feel for the balance point. This should give you an idea of how it should feel when you do it for real. BIKE SET-UP It’s crucial to have a sharp rear brake that you can feather with one finger. This will stop you flipping onto your back! Making sure the saddle is down and out of the way will also make the bike easier to control. 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…

The bunnyhop – when you get your bike airborne without the aid of a ramp – is the most important and beneficial trick you’ll learn, unlocking plenty of possibilities, especially in street and skate park riding. Once you become confident, you can use it to hop over logs, rocks or small obstacles on the trail, hop up curbs and over things on your cycle to work, and even onto benches, while adding barspins and 180 spins once you get it dialled! The bunny hop is best learnt in two separate movements, the first being lifting the front wheel without using your cranks to help (like a wheelie) and the second, lifting your back wheel off the ground (this is called a nose manual). Once you combine these two tricks, it’ll…

MANUAL THROUGH ROLLERS

Rollers are the staple of any pump track and are the main way of generating speed without pedalling. Depending on how big they are, how many there are and your speed, rollers can be tackled by pumping, jumping or manualling. Manualling between a double set is pretty easy because speed will carry you through. Staying on the back wheel through a line of rollers is much trickier as it requires you to hold a balance point. As well as helping you rip around the pump track, it’s a great transferable skill for trail riding, giving you the confidence to manual through holes or rough terrain at full speed if jumping isn’t an option. 1.INITIATE THE MANUAL To pop the bike onto its back wheel, focus on shifting your hips back…

MANUAL THROUGH ROLLERS

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. 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 you to swing it round the turn quickly. Then you need to be ready to reload the rear wheel in the apex to generate speed out of the corner…

HOP UP ON TO AN OBSTACLE

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…

HOP UP ON TO AN OBSTACLE

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TABLETOP The tabletop is definitely easier to do on a hip jump (where the landing is at an angle to the take-off) than on a straighter jump, where you have to bring the bike back round more on landing, so practise on a hip if you can. You need to start the move the moment your back wheel leaves the ground. To lay the bike over to the left, use your right hand to pull the bar up to your left armpit, rotating your wrist so the back of your hand moves round the grip toward the brake lever. Use your left hand to push away and stabilise the bar. At the same time, rotate your left hip and lift the bike upwards with your left leg towards the sky, while…

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Mountain Biking Skills

BLUE TRAILS • PEDALLING• CORNERING• BRAKE CONTROL• LINE CHOICE• RIDING BERMS• RIDING ROLLERS• TABLETOP JUMPS• UPHILL SWITCHBACKS• RIDING IN MUD RED TRAILS • RIDING RUTS• TACKLING ROOTS• ROCK GARDENS• GNARLY DESCENTS• AGGRO BERMS• BOOSTING JUMPS• STEP DOWN JUMPS• RIDING DROP OFFS• STEEP CLIMBS BLACK TRAILS • GNARLY ROOTS• BIG DROPS• LAUNCHING DROPS• STEEP CHUTES• STEEP TURNS• SCRUBBING JUMPS• BLIND JUMPS• GAP JUMPS• SENDING JUMPS TRAIL TRICKS • BUNNY HOPS• WHEELIES• MANUALS• SCANDI FLICKS• HOP ON OBSTACLES• SEND IT WITH STYLE…

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