Riding Tip: Fall Riding – Negotiating the Leaves – MTB Ice Skating
Riding Tips | 198 | November 11, 2009 at 8:27 am
Depending on where you mountain bike, the fall period can be an interesting riding time. For those of us in the southeast United States, it is a riding season of negotiating all of the leaves that have fallen from our lush trees and onto our singletrack. For those of you in the desert…you do not have this worry…but anyone around a massive amount of trees knows…this time of year is like riding on ice skates! You can’t see the trail, so negotiating obstacles is a combination of trail knowledge and 99% guess work. Couple that with the slide out effect of the leaf ground cover and you are left with treacherous riding conditions.
How To Ride Leaf Covered Trails & Keep Rubber Side Down
So how do we ride our mountain bikes in the ice skating conditions of fall in tree covered singletrack? The following tips will help you keep the rubber side up as you blast your mountain bike down that next section of singletrack bliss.
- Keep Your Legs and Arms Bent – You are going to hit unexpected rocks, roots and other objects that want to throw you off your line simply because you can not see them. By keeping your legs and arms bent, you can soak up these unexpected events much easier than if you are all stiffened up on the bike. The idea is to keep all of your motion fluid and work with the changing conditions under your tires. The more fluid your motions…the smoother the ride will be. You will be surprised…little rocks and roots that would be nothing on a normal day will flip the bike up in a split second because you were not ready for it.
- Keep A Loose Grip On The Bars – This really goes hand in hand with the tip above, but by keeping a loose grip on the bar…you keep your arms unclenched and ready for changing conditions. This is actually a tip you should take with you during every mountain bike ride. Keeping a loose grip on the handle bar also insures that you do not waste valuable energy on an activity that actually takes away from your riding ability. You exert a lot of fuel white knuckling down the trail.
- Lean The Bike…Not Your Body – By leaning the bike independently of your body, you are able to keep your weight centered for optimal traction. This is not a motorcycle where you have a motor to pull you through the turn at mach 5. You require pedal power to get yourself going again and you need to have your body ready to drop the hammer, but still provide grip through the turns. Again, legs and arms bent and search out that line that has traction. If other riders have already been on the trail, you might get lucky and find dirt within the turns.
- Use The Rear Wheel To Guide You – In the leaves, you are not going to have the added benefit of a massive amount of front wheel traction when you really dig into corners. In conditions that are overly slippery (like a large amount of leaf cover), I use the rear end of the bike through controlled braking and skidding to turn the bike in the direction I want it to go. If you are going to rely on that front tire to pull you through…get ready to eat dirt.
- Keep The Bike Straight In “Oh S%$t” Situations – There is no turning to bail out of mistakes. Your best bet is to ride through it as best you can…straight…and then slow down. If you try to make abrupt changes in direction in the leaves…be ready to hit the ground. Even if it means riding off the trail (none of you ever do that right?!)…
I actually enjoy riding in the leaves. It adds another unexpected technical aspect that you have to adjust for and – in the end – it makes you a better overall mountain biker. When the leaves hit the ground in the fall, it even makes my local mountain bike trails exciting again. I hear a lot of complaining about them…but I like the added challenge.
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Tags: how to mountain bike, mountain biking, riding tips
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I am with you. The leaves rock and its not like they are there forever. Lets enjoy the change and added excitement!
Absolutely! My only gripe right now with the leaves is that they flatten out the terrain on video. Bigger drops are looking like speed bumps as I am editing the footage I am going to post up Friday of Chunky at Raccoon Mtn.
I must be doing it wrong – I've always tried to keep the rubber side down
Ha! Thanks for catching that! Fixed.
This reminds me of how constant the trails are here in Phoenix.
Not a problem we had today – dusty as all hell an 37 degrees celcius – never thought I'd be missing the mud!
Attention freeriders, DJs, hate mailers, and Collings type people! No BS.
Step 1: Get some pads and a helmet.
If you want to take it further… tilt the bike more than necessary for the speed of the turn at entry while squeezing the front brake and turning the bars sharply (stay upright and in the article's specified manner), let off the brakes slowly while winding up the bars to what seems ludicrous, and slowly tilt the bike slightly faster than you are tilting over, aka tilting the bike underneath you. While you do this, the bike will barely be turning- not much traction on leaves. At first the bike will feel like its going straight and will make a frightening screeching or whooshing sound or some other sound, suddenly stops making noise mid corner and hooks up: let the bike drop or tilt it further as you slow the winding of the bar. At the apex, simultaneously drop your head, give a torquey quarter crank and start unwinding the bar slowly: exit will be symmetrical in feel, minus the brakes.
The cool part is entry and exit, where it looks and feels like going straight with the bars at almost full lock. Totally unreal feeling and totally backward from a normal rear brake slide. Don't be surprised when you feel unrelaxed and stiff, the large steering input isn't comfortable and feels like a lack of power steering on a car.
Don't try this on leaves without some type of hardpack underneath, or the tire will hookup, maybe resulting in a high side at entry. Works on sand on hardpack too.
And don't leave a certain part of your anatomy behind. You'll need 'em.
Step 2: sue me upon injury.
Attention freeriders, DJs, hate mailers, and Collings type people! No BS.
Step 1: Get some pads and a helmet.
If you want to take it further… tilt the bike more than necessary for the speed of the turn at entry while squeezing the front brake and turning the bars sharply (stay upright and in the article's specified manner), let off the brakes slowly while winding up the bars to what seems ludicrous, and slowly tilt the bike slightly faster than you are tilting over, aka tilting the bike underneath you. While you do this, the bike will barely be turning- not much traction on leaves. At first the bike will feel like its going straight and will make a frightening screeching or whooshing sound or some other sound, suddenly stops making noise mid corner and hooks up: let the bike drop or tilt it further as you slow the winding of the bar. At the apex, simultaneously drop your head, give a torquey quarter crank and start unwinding the bar slowly: exit will be symmetrical in feel, minus the brakes.
The cool part is entry and exit, where it looks and feels like going straight with the bars at almost full lock. Totally unreal feeling and totally backward from a normal rear brake slide. Don't be surprised when you feel unrelaxed and stiff, the large steering input isn't comfortable and feels like a lack of power steering on a car.
Don't try this on leaves without some type of hardpack underneath, or the tire will hookup, maybe resulting in a high side at entry. Works on sand on hardpack too.
And don't leave a certain part of your anatomy behind. You'll need 'em.
Step 2: sue me upon injury.