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!