Techniques
for turning
Brake before going into the turn, using both
brakes.
Push the outside foot down and lean to the
inside (if you have traction)
Enter the corner wide, hit the apex with the
bike near the inside edge and leave the corner wide.
Do not use the front brake if you are turning
at the bike's limit. The front tire is using all its traction for turning. If you use your
front brake, it will lose its grip and wash out. A front wheel slide is almost impossible
to recover. A back end slide is easier to recover.
In loose stuff, steering is definitely the
preferred way to turn. This is the reason many roadies with good bike skills cannot handle
tight singletrack very well. To steer, put your weight on the inside of the turn. Turn
your front wheel toward the turn, and hold your bike upright. Even if one or both of your
wheels begin to skid you can easily recover. In contrast, if you lean hard through a turn
on loose material and either wheel loses traction, you will be picking gravel out of your
leg.
You almost always want your weight centered
between your wheels. This means you move your butt further back as the terrain gets
steeper. Learn to feather your front brake. Let off on the brake when your wheel hits an
obstacle, and hit it harder when you have a smooth even braking surface. Many people do
not learn to feather the brake, so they put their weight too far towards the rear to keep
from endoing. This rear weight shift results in too little weight being placed on the
front wheel, so that you cannot easily steer. I find that the most consistent mistake that
I make when turning on downhills is to shift too much weight to the rear. This causes the
front wheel to become too light causing it to wash out.
Look at the inside of the turn, not the
outside. Your body tends to subconsciously point in the same direction as your eyes, so
this keeps you focused on staying tight in the curve, not straying to the outer edge.
I've found that negotiating sharp turns at
some reasonable speed is easier when the seat is an inch or so lower than normal. The
trick is to lean the bike (but not the rider). This is really just a variation of normal
turning.
Point the inside leg in the direction of the turn (knee away from theframe), putting all
weight on the outside pedal. Then, push down on the inside handlebar. At this point almost
all weight should be distributed between the inside grip and the outside pedal. This is
much easier with a rigid fork - with a suspension fork, you really have to bear down on
the handlebar (a grunt may be required!). At this point the bike is leaning under the
rider, with the seat anywhere from under the thigh to just under the knee. The rider's
weight is centered over the point where the two wheels are in contact with the ground, so
there isn't a washout problem even in loose conditions.
This method will feel very uncomfortable at first. Pushing the handlebars away from
oneself is...well, disquieting. The best way to practice this is to do figure-8 turns in a
driveway. When you've got it down, hose down the driveway and then try it. If you can make
sharp turns on wet concrete you can do it in loose soil.
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