Right it seems i can’t go fast when I am supposed to. Actually it looks like my level of biking is now at “crap” (according to last enduro). I can get over any technical stuff without any problem, but on a simple singletrack made of soil with no rock to trick nothing I just can’t go flat out at unreasonable speed.
How can I improve that? How can I pass over the “it’s going to fast, I am going to die”…?

Deathgrip.

In my opinion do short sections as fast as possible. Get out of breath sprint make your self hurt.

You probably will get faster but doing lots of long cycles but I think the key to getting faster quickly is to really push your self.

I’d been doing the gorrick races for a couple of years with out improving. Basically I push a little on the first lap then hold back some and then push harder on the last lap, but I did nt seem to get faster.

Eventually I decided to just go at it as hard as possible on my first lap and try and keep up with the better the riders. Admittedly to begin with my final lap times would be horrific but I did start to get faster overall.

Then I got a tooth infection I could shift, got ill alot and now Im slow again 🙁

totally miss understood question

Go see Jedi.

/Problem

Jedi why? It’s not liek I can’t do some stuff as I said I can ride everywhere. It’s actually when it’s simple and easy that I can’t lay off the brakes. When it’s rocky and techy I usually manage honourably.
Scu yeah but no worries 🙂

Get a road bike and train properly.

Even for downhills, and especially smooth stuff, being fitter will make you faster.

But first do a skills course. It’ll change your riding dramatically. There’s a reason why world cup DH riders still use coaches- even the best can improve.

are you saying you’re scared to ride simple singletrack fast?

Try a better feel for the way the bike handles. I dont think there is a particularly quick fix. maybe try and ride the same bit of trail again and again, trying to be faster each time. that way you know what is coming, so you don’t need to worry about it, just do it

juan – Member
Jedi why? It’s not liek I can’t do some stuff as I said I can ride everywhere

It’s in the mind. The right coach can help you overcome that. From what I read here, Jedi might be that person.

Learn to pump the trail. Even relatively flat singletrack will have enough features for you to borrow some energy from the trail itself.

re you saying you’re scared to ride simple singletrack fast?

Yes kinda up to some speed then I just can’t ride it faster.

Jedi might be that person.

Humm yes but several thousands of miles away, not that convenient.

do/can you ride with anyone faster to help you/let you follow them/their lines.

I watch vids of top riders and am struck by how infrequently the wheels are adhering to the trail, really just briefly when they load-up on corners. The rest of the time the wheels are either drifting, scrabbling or completely airborne. Being comfortable with this feeling is surely how they are so consistently fast.

The thing I learned most from trying to keep up with Elite riders is how little they brake and how much I dab the brakes when there’s really no need to. The best way to improve is to follow a faster rider, you very quickly learn what you’re doing wrong as you find yourself dropping backwards relative to them. Watch, learn and repeat (although easier said than done).

jambo +1

you aren’t going to go fast if you have your fingers on the brakes.

Go for a ride and DO NOT cover your brakes, only use them when you need to, then fingers back on the bars. Don’t try to ride fast, just smoothly, braking in the correct places etc. Do that a few times and I promise you it will make you quicker.

Edit: And learn to pump, then pump everything in sight.

Three things have helped me recently to gain a lot more speed (although I’m not that quick, just don’t mince along making lots of mistakes like I did).

I’m assuming you’re talking about going downhill here as well.

Since I started riding my hardtail more I’ve become a lot quicker and make far fewer mistakes and it’s helped me learn what works for me (along with a few tips from Brian Lopes’s book).

I now have a mantra in my head before big descents:

Relax, look as far ahead as possible, aim to achieve perfect balance on the bike.

The biggest thing that helped me was to look far ahead so I’m always planning for what comes next. The better balance has come from riding a hardtail more and just practice. It’s great being perfectly balanced on the bike and knowing where to put your weight during cornering etc. This is the most fun part for me especially if you get the bike drifting.

I think like with any ‘sport’ it’s good to have a simple mantra to say to yourself at the start. Like I used to be really bad at football but got better when I said to myself ‘don’t give the ball away, easy passes’.

Get the basics right and the rest will follow, hopefully. That’s what I think anyway. And have fun.

+1 with footflaps

plus have you tried varying how you break? I have been experimenting with one finger/two fingers etc. Makes a hell of difference for me. Scare myself with one finger but def makes me faster!!

Stop trying to go fast.

Work on technique instead, particularly cornering. As you start to get it right you’ll get smoother. Get smoother you’ll get faster!

I’ll second riding with other people.

Or if not ride at night alone and imagine what’s in the trees, it’ll be the fastet you have ever ridden!!

Cheers for the input
Basically it’s going on stuff after 1″42 that poses me problem. Anything more complicated is ok…
video here

Ride on some slow rocky sections and get a feel of what the bike is doing. Then find a rocky track and freewheel down using your brakes, do it again and again until you can ride it with out using the brakes. Develop confidence but not over confidence, in time you will be able to know how far you can push without loosing control.
By doing this you can also learn to leave the bike to find it’s own line ( within reason) then if you go off line you will not panic

In time you will push it and fall off, but it’s part of learning.
Also know how and when to brake with your front ( and also when not to use your front brake)

Have fun

Look ahead, relax and don’t comfort brake as often. I’m probably still really slow compared to a lot of riders but have definitely improved a lot since all the Jedi stuff has sunk in 🙂

Reet, watched the vid.

1st of all, that looks ace

2nd it doesn’t “look” like flat out speedy single track to me, quite twisty and all those **** trees will be at the back of your mind!

Ok forget about the trees 😉 Start looking at 3″. That is where I should be flat out and I do slow myself for no other reason than not wanting to go to fast

learn to manual and pump
A day’s training will payback in spades
A cheaper method is Brian Lopez book. Read it, practice, go and practice some more
Relax too, and let the bike move beneath you

Looks like a great ride!

Start looking at 3″. That is where I should be flat out and I do slow myself for no other reason than not wanting to go to fast

It looks fast from 3:00ish onwards – I’d guess your subconsious is reminding you of the cost of error / failure?

Well if my subconsious was there that’s what it would be doing.

just peggle faster. 😀

How far ahead are you looking? Just think ‘Star Wars speeder chase’ that’s my go to for singletrack blatting.

I’ve just watched your vid. Videos can make most things look easy but going by that, and reading into it a little bit, I’d say cornering is your problem, as it is with most people. I’m guessing your not actually afraid of going fast, more afraid of hitting corners with real venom, steming from lack of cornering ability and confidence.

It’s really a black art. Tricky to learn, impossible to master and very easy to forget. The more you work at it though, the more satisfying your riding becomes. Think about it, people agonize over how to jump, drop, wheelie etc but those things only play a part a few times each trail. If you view every corner as a unique challenge, and have fun mastering them your riding will be infinitley more fulfilling and you’ll be ten times the rider as you blast through every single corner you encounter.

As people have said above, riding with faster riders is a great way of gauaging where you can improve your game. In my view it’s kind of an essential part of progression, but it won’t teach you what you need to make yourself faster, only show you how much faster you can get.

Cheers guys some great pointers, I’ll try by not covering the brakes and try to look ahead more. I’ll get back here and tell you how it went.

what jambo said

weight the front wheel not the back going into corners. it won’t wash out, and if the back end does that’s just a drift innit

I’m sure you need to speak to downhillers, Juan. You’re probably a more technically skilled rider than 80-90% of people on here.
If you’re slow, I’m giving up! 😉

[edit]the track in that video looks fantastic

Looks fast enough to me did you know there are massive drops on your right 😯 that would make me very cautious 😀

I have the same problem (not that I race, mind) Super tech gnadgeriness, no problem. Simple going fast I get dropped like a turd into a toilet bowl.

Biggest thing is looking further ahead. No, further than that, no really, further still. Don’t worry about the bits you’re “actually” riding, your body just deals with it some how. If you can see 3 corners ahead, look 3 corners ahead. Whatever you do don’t get target fixated by one thing, keep your eyes moving up the trail. If you’re coming into a corner, look through it, even if you can’t see the exit, look at where the exit should be and you’ll find the bike just zips round.

I still struggle with the above. I ride on my own 95% of the time, so unless I’m actively concentrating on looking right down the trail, I settle back into my comfort zone and end up slowing back down again. But it really, really does make an enormous difference.

The other thing, as others have said, ride with people faster than you!

Not surprised you struggle jon. 😆
Even if you can see 3 corners ahead you should NOT be looking 3 corners ahead. You need to be looking to the exit of the corner you’re riding but also need to know the lay of the next few corners to make sure you are exiting the corner you’re riding correctly positioned for entering the following corner and so on.. this is where scanning the trail ahead comes into play.
If we’re talking about riding a trail blind you need to scan ahead a little more than a trail you know well (seems Juan is having trouble on trails he ‘should’ be familiar with.)
Scanning a trail needs to become natural to you instead of something you have to force yourself to concentrate on to become faster if you are telling yourself what you ‘should’ be doing while riding you’re not fully comitted to what you are actually doing.

Sorry,absolutely disagree. Been playing around with this all winter and it’s pretty simple. The further ahead you look, the more “processing time” your brain has, the slower and more controlled everything feels, so actually you can go faster.

If you can see 3 corners ahead, they’re not really corners, more wiggles, so you can carry speed without needing to treat each one individually. If you’re in a tighter corner, just look out or past the exit of it and your body will take the right position to get the bike round it.

Scanning a trail needs to become natural to you instead of something you have to force yourself to concentrate on to become faster if you are telling yourself what you ‘should’ be doing while riding you’re not fully comitted to what you are actually doing.

Agreed, but you have to train yourself to look in the right place if it’s not where you look naturally, so you need to keep it in the fore front of your mind other wise you slip back into bad habits. Same as if you want to improve your pedalling, you concentrate on that until you do it right instinctively.

Why call them cotners in the first place? 🙄

The correct place is where I look naturally (no bad habit to fall into) this is where you and Juan need to aim for.