MTB Skills Articles, Tips & Advice Articles

MTB, Bermed Corners vs. Flat Corners: Another question I get all the time is some version of, “how is my technique different in a bermed (banked) corner than in a flat corner?”

As I explain in my camps a bermed corner (banked) is still a corner. That means everything depends on traction, speed and your goal. If I feel I’m going slower than the max speed that berm will allow and I want to gain speed, I’m going to keep my feet level and pump that berm to gain speed.

Depending on the steepness and traction I might even …

Life takes work, lots of work! I used to train so I could race well, then I stopped racing and stopped training, mostly due to nagging back problems.When your body hurts, it hurts to train and a downward spiral happens. You stop training which feels better but you get...

Often when mountain biking we set ourselves up for failure and/or unhappiness from the beginning of the ride. We are so focused on one or two goals for that ride that it takes away our enjoyment.

Have you ever thought, I’ll be happy if…? If I clean that climb, if I hit that jump, if I make it through that rock garden, etc. Ever been so focused on making a section of trail that is miles ahead that you messed up on an easier section of trail?

Sometimes it is the last move on the trail that you want to nail

As you can imagine in my 20 years of coaching mountain bike skills I have had a lot of interesting and inspiring people take my camps. Some of these people have gone on to become famous racers, some legends in the industry but many of the most interesting stories come from my passionate students who simply love riding bikes.

They say that with age comes wisdom and I have definitely learned a lot from some of my oldest students. While most people aged 50 plus are retiring from sports or watching their performance in their sport/s of choice decline many my “older students” have inspired me to keep learning, improving and getting better even as I approach my 53 birthday.

My first older student was a 55 year old grandmother…