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Basic Trail Riding 101

By Jack Heminway

This month we’re going to go over the basics of how to control the bike in all sorts of terrain—rocks, mud, sand, downhills, uphills and tight terrain. Proper body position on the bike is very important to help you ride safely and smoothly over rough terrain. Though there are some basic skills that apply for everything, each different type of terrain demands a slightly different approach.

Ride Standing Up

While helping out with the 2001 Kids Classic ride, I noticed that many beginner riders are not comfortable with stand-up riding. On smooth trails, you can ride safely sitting down. On rough trails, I recommend stand up riding, especially if you are a beginner rider. To become at home with stand up riding, practice on smooth terrain until you are comfortable with it. Ride slowly, practice tight turns and figure eights. Keep most of your weight on the outside foot peg while turning. You can practice this in your driveway, if your bike is quiet. Then go trail riding and you will begin to appreciate the advantages.

Rough, Level Terrain

On level ground, body position should be neutral with the weight evenly distributed on the foot pegs, knees slightly bent, and with light pressure on the handlebars, neither pulling back nor pushing forward. Avoid gripping the bars tightly. This can cause the arms to “pump up” or cramp. Ride standing up, slightly crouched with knees bent like a downhill skier. The rougher the trail, the more bent should be your knees. Let the knees flex as the bike rises towards your body on bumps. Straighten the knees as the bike falls away. Using your knees this way helps the suspension absorb bumps in the trail and can prevent bottoming the suspension.

 On trails and on downhills, I like to ride with one index finger on the front brake lever and the other on the clutch lever. On nasty, gnarly uphills, I keep all ten fingers on the grips since I probably will not need to use the brakes or clutch.

Downhills

On a downhill, the center of gravity of the bike and rider shifts forward, putting more weight on the front wheel and less on the rear wheel. This makes your rear brake less effective so that most of the braking is done by the front brake. Use moderate finger pressure on the front brake being careful not to lock up the front wheel. On moderately steep downhills, stand on the footpegs in a crouched position with your body shifted towards the rear of the bike. This transfers weight back to the rear wheel, increasing its traction and braking power. Do hard braking before the downhill to get your speed under control.

For extremely steep downhills, the front wheel does nearly all of the braking. Crouch low, arms straight out, and get your butt back as far as possible. This lightens the front end and keeps you from going over the bars if your front tire encounters a rock or dip. Use moderate pressure on the back brake and enough pressure on the front brake to control your speed. Do not lock up the front wheel. Steer around rocks or holes if you can, but if you must hit a rock, release the front brake briefly as the front tire hits it. If traction is poor, pull in the clutch to avoid stalling the engine.

Uphills

On steep, uphills with mud or loose gravel, rolly rocks and otherwise poor traction, ride standing up with the body shifted back to shift weight to the rear wheel for traction. Pull back on the bars to put most of the weight of you and the bike on the back wheel.  On hills with poor traction, good climbers carry 98% of the weight of bike and rider on the rear wheel.  Try to apply smooth, steady throttle, shifting your weight forward if the front end lifts off the ground. Where traction is poor, looping out is usually not an issue. Try to keep your speed up but be ready to slip the clutch if you begin to lose speed. It is advisable to gain speed and engine revs before starting up the hill since you are likely to lose speed as you progress uphill. Try to stay on the foot pegs as long as possible in order to let the bike do the work. Once you begin dabbing to push the bike, it becomes very tiring.

On uphills with good traction, such as granite, body weight should be shifted forward more to avoid looping the bike. The steeper the hill, the more you move forward. I have a picture of Geoff Aaron, US National trials Champion riding up a steep, granite face with his belly pressed against the crossbar and his head over the front fender. He looks like he is inspecting the tread on his front Michelin.

Tight Trails, Turns

On smooth trails, ride sitting to rest your quadriceps. On rough, tight trails stand up over the center of the seat in a neutral body position. Accelerate after a turn, do your braking before entering the next turn. As you enter the turn, get off the brakes and transfer weight to the outside footpeg. Chuck Sun, a top MX rider in the 1980s, once told me “It is easy to go fast on a motocross track. Just peg the throttle between turns and weight the outside foot peg during the turn.” (I’m not recommending that beginners “peg the throttle!”)

Braking, Accelerating

For beginner trail riders, a neutral body position when braking on rough trails is safest. Experienced trail riders may want to shift some weight forward to increase the front tire’s traction while braking (except on downhills) or when turning. When accelerating, or in poor traction conditions, shift your weight back for best rear tire traction.

Karen Cader told me that she learned how to use body position while watching the Pro Flat Track Racers at the Rochester National race. Karen noted how the top riders slide their body forward during braking and turning. Then they shift weight back while accelerating out of the turn. Karen then used this technique at an MVTR family day to win the women’s race.

Mud Bogs

One of a trail rider’s challenges is the dreaded mud bog. You can make them fun if you know how to ride through them. When you come upon a bog, there are often several ruts or lines to follow. It is a good idea to stop, watch some other riders and select a line that seems to be a good one. Here, stand-up riding can really help. Stand up, shift your weight back to help rear tire traction. Try to stay on the pegs, fingers ready on the clutch to keep the motor from stalling. Keep the bike moving while watching ahead for the best line.

Soft, Dry Sand

Soft, dry sand soaks up power and tries to slow you down. The key here is to shift your weight back and pull back on the bars to keep the front end light. Use power and speed to keep the tires floating up on top of the sand. If you slow down, the front end plows and the sand steers the bike. When this happens, don’t fight it. Try to keep going generally in the right direction as you get back on the throttle and get some speed up. Assist turning by using foot peg pressure.

That is enough to practice for this first issue. Next month, we will cover front wheel and rear wheel un-weighting. This can help you to ride the bike safely over rocks, logs and slippery stuff.