Mountain Bike Descending Switchbacks Line Choice by BetterRide Certified Coach Andy Winohradsky
Hi everybody! Coach Andy, here. I’ve put a few riding-tip videos together, hope you like them…
This video deals with proper line choice while descending switchbacks. What you’ll see in the video is that it is very important to use the whole trail in order to put the bike in the correct spot (take the correct line) if you want to successfully descend tight switchbacks. This applies to all levels of riders. Very often I’ll see “good” riders run into problems on switchbacks simply because their initial line selection was off. Sometimes this is a result of being in a hurry: trying to go fast without being patient enough to slow down and do things right; sometimes riders get lazy (this often happens when fatigue sets in); but more often than not, most riders simply don’t understand the degree to which they need to get away from the main line, use the whole trail, and properly set up for an extremely sharp corner on a very steep (usually) section of trail.
Unfortunately, most riders are guilty of following the main line down the trail or the “people’s line” as I jokingly refer to it in camps. The main line is usually the path of least resistance, however, most of the time it is the path of least resistance ONLY for what is immediately in front of us on the trail. It isn’t formed by taking large chunks of trail, or what is further down the trail, into consideration. And, again unfortunately, this is how most riders see and ride the trail: looking for solutions for ten or twenty-foot sections of trail at a time instead of looking for solutions to sixty or even a hundred foot sections at a time. What’s important is the point where you want to end up on the trail and finding a solution to get there, hence, setting up with the proper line at the beginning of the switchback (in this case) in order to get to where you need to be at the end of the switchback. Also, proper line choice, as it is addressed in the video, obviously only works if it is possibly to get the bike to that particular part of the trail. If there is an obstacle in the way that is unridable then you have to look for a different solution/different line (usually deviating as little as possible from the optimum line). However, the way most trails are built and maintained these days (for better or worse), this line choice is almost always possible in switchbacks.
As I state in the video, proper line choice is just one part of descending switchbacks that has to be done correctly in order to have success out there on the trail. Switchbacks are tough and require a rider to do everything almost perfectly in order to get down them in one piece. We spend about an hour on this topic in our full instruction camps and cover body position, weight placement, vision, line choice, braking, etc… all the aspects of riding, how they relate to descending switchbacks, and how they need to be applied to ensure success on these difficult trail features. Obviously, we can’t give you that type/volume of information in a couple of minutes via the internet in a short video…
http://youtu.be/0hO_wJbcVHI
But, hope you do enjoy the video. Hope it helps you out… I’ll have plenty more so check back soon!
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