[Closed] how do i get over my fear of wet roots??

personally I think the faster you hit them the better, although that can be difficult on off camber stuff, and I noticed a big improvement when I dropped the pressure in my tyres

hit em square as you can and try and move your weight as you cross them; so as your front is going over keep you weight back and then once your rear is coming into contact move forward. basically your aiming to be as light as you can whilst in contact.

as warton says "speed is your friend" and lower tyre pressure and remember do not hit the brakes when riding over wet roots

....and don't brake!

beat me to it!

You're probably going too slowly and expecting to be able to stop the bike sliding. This will be making you tense (understandable!) but you need to relax and maybe go a bit faster and let the bike move around a bit, rather than trying to keep it rigid. If you get a lot of wet roots in your area, maybe try some Bonty Mud X tyres. They are good all rounders and I've never ridden a tyre that grips so well on wet roots.....

personally I think the faster you hit them the better, although that can be difficult on off camber stuff

Yep, use your speed to your advantage, don't even think about touching the brakes.
To stop sliding out you need to go as light as possible by unweighting the whole bike whilst going over the roots, and be prepared for the slide if it happens, you'll probably catch a rear end slide but if the front goes maybe not.
Oh yeh and do not stare at and become fixated by the roots, look well past them, don't touch the brakes, unweight, then u'll be over em before you know it 😉

Speed is definitely a factor. My local stuff has a fair amount of roots on the trails and for much of this week I've been riding a bike with tyres I don't have much confidence in (Racing Ralphs) and have been finding those terrible over the roots. Last night I managed to force myself to go just a bit faster and it was definitely better, although still not great.

Speed - good.
Unweighting - good.
Perpendicular to the roots - good.
Slightly soft tyres - good.
Brakes - bad! Very, very bad!

so then, [b]M[/b]omentum, (good, soft)[b] T[/b]yres,[b]F[/b]earlessness, [b]U[/b]nweighting

Invent an abbreviation to help remember 😉

lol scaredypants

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STop and examine the roots before riding!!!

dunno

when you find the answer can you please let me know

*sighs*

My woods are a rootfest. After finding myself at 180deg to the direction I wanted to go a couple of times, one of them next to a very big drop, I binned my Conti tyres. Got myself a 2.5 ST swampthing for the front and a 2.5 Highroller for the back. Got really fit lugging those around but I forced myself to attack the roots and gained confidence. All of the above tips are good but the main thing for me was to realise that you WILL lose grip on wet roots every now and then. Learn to go with it. All the MBUK cliches of look in the direction you want to go actually work as your body will self correct. This was my twopenneth worth.

Nice one scaredypants!! 😉

I just try and be as light as possible. Unweight the bike as you're going over them, nice soft tyre pressure. I find speed to be helpful in some but not all situations!! If it's a whole mess of tangled roots running every direction, try and spot a line across that will mean the least sliding around.

What they said.

Try homeopathy.

well the c0cks who punt this rubbish say it'll cure everything else

All said above, speed is good, unweight the tyres as they pass over the root(s) and hit them perpendicular. How about riding loads of roots now while they're dry so you can practice the unweighting thing without fear of a stack, should help the confidence.

I think fear is the correct response. It's the people who think otherwise who need help.

Wet roots broke my collarbone! To get my wet root mojo back I binned my xc tyres and stuck big, soft Maxxis on - tubeless at low pressure, M'dTFU and just kept riding them. All above points work.

Ride in the dry, it's working for me today. It's piddling down out there and by staying in & drinking tea I haven't had a single washout. Not sure if the supertackys are helping or not.

LOL at Eccles

Stay loose and relaxed and ALERT! Off camber roots or ones at an angle are iffy, but just let the bike move about.

It's all pretty much been covered here, but the one thing you can't teach is to lose the fear, the fear that'll force you to brake, to tense up, to look at the roots.

I'm guessing you used to ride them without worry before you stacked..remember those times, you know you can ride them, try and get your mate to session a section telling you what he's doing at what point on the trail, sometimes it's natural and he maybe unaware what he's doing right, but look at him and not the bike and try to see where and how he's unweighting the bike. look at at from various angles.

Practice unweighting the bike over smaller less slippery obstacles then progress to small roots, then rootier sections, in some cases you can jump clear of the main section of roots by using the first root as a kicker.

Start small and keep trying.

Eccles, with your physique I'm surprised you don't just barge through the trees reducing them to matchwood. 🙂

Tyres make a massive difference imho. Have found Maxxis Swampthings awesome in anything wet including roots.

Have found Maxxis Swampthings awesome in anything wet including roots.

My experience too but there is a very self important person on the forum that will tell you you are talking nonsense and that it is not possible! Can't remember their name but I'm sure they'll be along soon.

As above. Also, whilst gaining confidence, drop the saddle an inch or two so you can dab if needed. Try to pick a line which doesn't cross the roots at a tangent.

thanks for all the replies!!!
tires i run are high roller rear and a minion front!!