…these trails through the forest which are slidy, cambered peaty/loamy mud (soil type isn’t my strong point), steep AND twisty, with roots everywhere? I don’t mind steep (to a point), I don’t mind twisty, I don’t usually mind roots, but all of these on a surface where I can’t find any grip to control my speed is beyond me. Can’t even walk down them without ending up on my arse every few minutes it’s that slippy! Managed to somehow pull a quad muscle today trying to keep upright, which is a new one for me 😐

Grumble over.

what colour is your bike, and do you wear goggles ?

A lot of the trick is to accept you can’t control your speed to easily so speed check before you get in there, then look through the section, be prepared to get really loose to let the bike find it’s own grip and don’t try to break too much as you’ll lose any traction you did have. It’s not easy but I love the challenge of sections like that.

Blue bike, no goggles.

WNB – you see that’s what I tell myself, just don’t seem to be able to do it on these particular couple of trails. It’s like (to me) there is NOWHERE to scrub speed 🙂

Keep away from your front brake

Noted

If you’re really feeling like shit on them fit some really grippy tyres, run them really soft and session it. Calculate your braking so you can stay off them mid corner, stay loose, look where you want to go. Session some more.

As in just keep repeating it bit by bit?

Yep. Practice makes perfect.

By the time I’m done it’ll be down to the bedrock!

too much air in yer tyres maybe?

Do you know, I did put some more air than usual in them for 10UTB last week, and forgot to let them down afterwards. Usually go with 25/30 F/R, but they’ll be up at 32/37 just now. Now, do I have the brass neck to blame all my troubles on tyre pressure 😀

relax, let your tyres down, repeat the trails

if your tubeless thats still way too high, think 20 psi tad more in rear

too much air in yer tyres can ruin your ride, are you tubeless?

Most important thing is to relax, then log onto to the Internet and buy some expensive equipment which may or may not help.

Yes, tubeless. Heavy though, so wary of going too low.

howsyourdad – that’s been vetoed sadly

Orange coloured bike and goggles needed. You simply aren’t enduro enough.

Maybe this guy could help…

Wrong size wheels.

Loddrik – quite possibly, yes. In the last six months I’ve broken a finger and later broken a rib on these trails, so there is definitely a bit of a head game going on here.

Maybe I need a FS bike. In an primary colour.

Relax, keep weight on outside foot, avoid front brake until on grippy surface, weight the front wheel to maintain traction.

Find a grassy off-camber field or trail you don’t mind falling over onto, practise riding along it and use your rear brake plus a combo of weighting inside/outside foot to get used to how the bike responds. Do the same with front wheel.

There’s a fair bit of off-camber stuff I ride and it’s really important to try and stay loose on the bike. Tyre pressure makes a hug difference too as it allows you to keep the bike upright better.
There’s also one really rooty, off-camber section that’s been my nemesis for ages. I kept looking at it but kept walking down (which was a struggle) then one dry day I just went for it. Let the bike go where ever it wanted to follow the roots etc. No front brake, just used the back to control speed. Was a blast, got to the bottom giggling like a schoolgirl.. 😆
Now I just ride it, the fear has gone.

//.//_STW_DEFAULT_%£

One of the guys in the group I ride with is an instructor so that’s probably covered. I’ll just write yesterday off as a particularly bad day – before I even got to these two runs I didn’t have anything in my legs for getting up the hills, which are normally no problem, and I managed to ride off the side of an easier trail that I have never crashed on before having apparently lost the ability to turn my bike – and go back tomorrow with these STW top tips in mind.

Maybe I need a FS bike. In an ENDURO colour.

these trails through the forest which are slidy, cambered peaty/loamy mud (soil type isn’t my strong point), steep AND twisty, with roots everywhere? I don’t mind steep (to a point), I don’t mind twisty, I don’t usually mind roots, but all of these on a surface where I can’t find any grip to control my speed is beyond me. Can’t even walk down them without ending up on my arse every few minutes it’s that slippy

A lot of the trick is to accept you can’t control your speed to easily

Sounds like a Heisenberg trail, you can control your speed (momentum), OR your direction (position), but not both

I find that the trick is to accept that and only try to control one at a time, speed check before you enter, and then focus on direction.

If it really is as slippy as you say then trying to control speed too much while on the trail will just result in you sliding along the path of least resistance, and gravity has a way of taking control of that for you.

Let the wheels roll, and let them bike move around if it has to, focus on getting the grip where you can* to control direction, tyres don’t work very well when locked, they need to roll to work, and you need the bike to be rolling to control direction, one thing you need to remember is that you are not trying to steer ‘the bike’, you’re trying to steer ‘you’ with the bike, all the grip and handling in the world is useless if the big old lump on top is not heading in the right direction, sometimes remembering this and focusing on steering yourself* can make all the difference.

*ie: spot the place where you will actively try to get grip
**hopefully that makes sense!

Perfect sense.

Possibly you are on 650b wheels waiting for the vtec yo! to kick in? It wont happen, the trails dont come alive.

Welcome to the revolution. 26’er.

I’m still waiting for you to decide what the answer is 🙂

😀

If you’ve got xc racy tyres on, then even the grippiest aren’t very grippy. Not saying it can’t be done with ungrippy tyres but doing it the first time will be easier with a 2lb black ribbed knobbler.

doing it the first time will be easier with a 2lb black ribbed knobbler

candidate for ‘best line if quoted out of context’ award?

HR2 and a Minion, if those rubbers are big and knobbly enough?

Break it down to manageable sections and aim to complete one at a time, only moving onto the next section when you’ve nailed the first. I think “letting” myself session a bit of DH or climb or whatever was the best thing I did for my own riding, It doesn’t come naturally if you’re used to “riding a route”, but it’s well worth it.

For off camber stuff; as well as weighting the outside foot, I find pushing down on the inside hand as well helps the front tyre find grip and stops it from wanting to wander down the hill. don’t forget to look at where you want to be, rather than what’s under your front tyre, and try to relax.

Cheers. Funny thing is, that’s exactly what I’ve done to teach myself to swim in the last six months, so I see where you’re coming from.

thegreatape – Member

HR2 and a Minion, if those rubbers are big and knobbly enough?

Ah, you’re ****ed then. Sorry.

“..don’t forget to look at where you want to be, rather than what’s under your front tyre, and try to relax.”

That is top advice right there. I agree that knocking the tyre pressure down a bit will help considerably- your tyres are great despite the above sarcasm.. its worth saying that these sections of trail are the ones where well dialled suspension comes into its own too, BUT relaxing the upper arms and fettling the tyre pressure will help greatly with control. Learning to correctly un-weight each end of the bike when required pays dividends in these situations too i find.

Thanks Northwind 🙂

Only have a hardtail and I’m happy the fork is setup about right. But definitely guilty of tensing up when I feel like I’m about to fall off though, which is no doubt a viscous circle.

@nick- I meant the OP can’t get an easy upgrade with different tyres, he already has really good ones. I thought from the 10UTB comment he might be on skinny xc nonsense.

Skinny is not a word I am familiar with.