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There is nothing quite like descending singletrack on a mountain bike at breakneck speeds. Something in your head says "way too fast!" but your heart says "let it ride, big daddy, we're flying now!"
The slightest slip, miscalculation or flub and your cranium meets terra-firma. Crashing is a part of mountain biking, hopefully, a very small part.
- The most important rule for off road riding is to keep your head up. Look ahead. You go where you look. If a big rock or stump is in the trail, don't look at it because you'll run right into it. Riding trails is kind of like skiing trees. While riding, look for the smoothest line and sense the large obstacles but don't look directly at them. It's kind of like Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. You must use the force, let go, trust your instincts.
Gravity is an amazing thing. When at all possible use the terrain to your advantage. Small downhill sections can help build speed and momentum to those pesky uphill sections lurking just ahead and around the next corner. Holding momentum through a corner is important. Less slowing translates to less accelerating which means less pedaling.
Use the outside of a turn to help hold your wheels to the trail. Where the dirt gets piled up on the outside of a turn is called a berm. The berm helps hold your line and allows more tire to touch dirt which allows more control for the rider.
My favorite type of terrain is rolling singletrack or rolling two-track. The rolling part is important to me because it lets me use gravity to build momentum. Remember to look as far ahead as possible. Choose smooth lines and don't oversteer. Oversteering is caused by looking 3 to 10 feet at the ground in front of you. This is not looking far enough ahead. Raise your head, use the force, and look 15 to 25 feet ahead. Trust your bike and your ability. When looking so far ahead the trail smooths out and man-vs.-machine becomes man and machine. The quest for speed is the challenge.
A large part of sustaining speed is knowing when and where to brake. Chose your spot to brake and brake hard and brake quick. Holding the brakes the entire time while going downhill is not so much fun. While braking hard, shock is transferred directly to the rider. Coasting without holding the brakes allows the suspension to work better and the ride becomes smoother. Brake hard and let go. Control your bike, use the force, brake again, hard and fast.
Using both the front and rear brakes is a must. Stopping power comes primarily from the front brake, steering through the corners comes from the rear brake. Keep the bike as vertical as possible while braking. In other words extreme lean angles while braking hard will result in a quick and relatively painful introduction to terra-firma.
This seems like an awful lot to be thinking about but after awhile it all becomes natural. If you have to think about everything that is happening you will come home dirty and scragged, often. Remember Star Wars. Let go. Trust your instincts. Don't act but react. Stay smooth and let it ride! - Todd Fellows
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