I’ve slowly expanded my riding terrain as my abilities improve. I’m now riding down some moderately steep single track, but I get into trouble on tight switchback turns on the trail. Currently I use a twisting motion to turn, but it’s really not suitable for these steeper tighter turns (almost 180 degrees, maybe 1 meter across). I land on my butt more than I’d like. I’m assuming that I need to hop into this turn. How do you do that? Come to an almost complete stop, hop and turn using multiple hops? Do you use the brake as part of this? Lock the brake? Any recommended videos to watch? My hopping ability is limited - I think that needs to improve for this. Thanks in advance.
Hopping always works, and is a good tool when riding Muni. You would need to come to pretty much a full stop for that and using the brake helps both to stop, and also if done correctly (it’s a bit tricky to get right at first) being on the brake is helpful when hopping in a steep downhill section. Multiple hops is fine, one hop is more elegant, I often do a “almost hop”, meaning that I don’t actually leave the ground, but bounce slightly to let the tire twist freely.
But if there are no nasty steps etc., you should be able to ride it without stopping, which is faster and more elegant. Maybe you need to practice that, but 1m diameter circles are not an issue to do a “clean” turn - might be a skill you can also work on on flat ground. Sounds silly, but looking where you want to go always helps with getting turns right.
On super steep you end up rolling up the berm of the corner (or just below), momentarily stopping (or bumping), then hopping towards your direction of travel.
Usually you hop with a small twist of the tire when you land. (unless you can hop the complete 180 degrees)
So the hop turns you 90 degrees and the spin completes the other 90. (roughly)
You do use hopping to change direction on extreme riding so it is a skill you need.
I try to roll as many as possible so I’m a fan of pushing the wheel ahead of me with a lean to the inside and very quickly rolling the wheel in a tight arc back underneath my body. Take the corner as wide as possible to give yourself as much distance in the corner as possible.
Braking is needed for…
Fine feathering for rolling the corner or catching yourself after a hop.
Sudden and complete stops before hopping towards your intended line of travel.
Here’s a video of the hop and turn method. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm3O2_2LsnM&t=187s
I just watched the video, It was awsome. There was.some serious talent rolling down that .mountain.
Thanks Gockie.
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thanks for posting the video. Not sure I can do what is shown there for the turn, but at least I have an idea of what to try for. The trails are rutted and very uneven so I don’t see how I could roll around the turn, but maybe with more experience I can get there. If I miss the trail edge I’ll likely be in a pile of poison oak, so I have a strong incentive to stay within the bounds of the trail.
Another little trick (for me) is to hold my saddle/bars with my downhill hand so as I approach a corner I have my saddle hand on the inside of the corner.
As soon as I’m around the corner I switch hands to grab with the downhill hand.
Even in cross country, I always have my inside corner hand on the bars. (though most people are the other way around)
I figure that a hard pull on the inside bar assists in the cornering and also allows me to stay tighter to the trees I’m riding around.