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Phil, that sums it up perfectly!
Slow steep and muddy ends up with you slid on your arse down a hill when it goes tits, rarely is it that bad.
I reckon you just need to get out there and fall on your arse a bit, you'll soon get used to it and confidence will improve your riding.
Thank you one and all. I will wash down a huge piece MTFU pie with a vat of Monster and throw myself down the hill. Who wants my T4 if I'm badly maimed?
I spent some time a couple of weeks ago up at one of our steepest most switchbacky local spots, with Van Halen of this parish, trying to sort out my steep/loose/tight turn problems. VH isn't a skills coach, he's just a mate who's much better at steeps than me - we're similarly quick/slow* (*depending on your perspective) on less steep trails.
What he spotted was that I wasn't getting my weight far enough back, so I was causing the front tyre to push outwards (understeer), and I needed to shift my hips back and then pump the turns so that the back would lighten up, drift around to manage the tight line and then grip to exit. He described it as being like how you do parallel turns on skis, which made a lot of sense. And don't use the front brake in the corner but use the back brake to help the tyre drift and then grip.
After a bit of practice I was riding them much better, feeling unusually flowy for me on steep trails (these ones average about 25% gradient). So my top tip is to find a friend who can ride your problem sections and, between the two of you, work out what you're doing wrong, fix it and practise it.
I'm going to see Jedi later this year, so I'm looking forwards to working on the alpine switchbacks at Herts with him (and some bigger gaps!)
Thank you one and all. I will wash down a huge piece MTFU pie with a vat of Monster and throw myself down the hill. Who wants my T4 if I'm badly maimed?
No, don't do MTFU!
But I'll have the T4.
Btw - think I've got a spare 180mm rotor if you want to try it out...
the size of your rotor has nothing to do with it.. if you are locking up a 180/200 you could lock up a 160 rotor even more easily.
that joe barnes vid aint steep.
[url= http://videos.mtb-news.de/6267 ]THIS however is....[/url]
Been out this morning and rode some steepish lines with direction changes and off camber sections. Concentrated on being gentle on the anchors and staying low, centred, relaxed & looking further ahead. Hardly a slide and felt great. Cheers chaps, more practice 🙂
i found deores much more grabby than my M4 evos
I definitely have to think a bit farther ahead with the shimanos
Looks like i'm the only one who 'drops anchor' then?!
By that i mean lock the rear wheel, almost lock the front and use a gentle slipping of each to 'mountain goat' my way down steep, slippy tech stuff....
....waits for the riding gods on here to slam my technique!
Meh, it works for me....what trail erosion?!
Last Nov we did a long, shaley, steep, switchbacky section in the Lakes. Out of 12 riders, the only one that made it look easy looked like he was skiing.
Update.
As I suspected & you all agreed, it was nowt to do with my rotors.
While I am still no Joe Barnes, I have begun to master the steeper turns. Good body position, relaxed & letting go of the front anchor at the right point. The back wheel is allover the place and it feels great
And the trails have dried out....