Rode into a tree at full speed last night.
How do you miss them when riding downhill, off camber and need to turn to avoid them. I couldent turn left, the camber and hill conspired to force me forward and right - right into the tree.
I assume you just tip the bike hard left, but it feels as if Im going to loose all grip and just slide sideways into the tree.
Ive got 20yrs of riding experience, but stil find this particular skill hard to master at full speed. Im riding a Whyte 46 with Kenda Nevgals.
were you looking at the tree when you were riding?
turn hips and shoulders into camber
turn harder
more weight through outside pedal
make the floor grippier
ride slower or faster
lucky rabbits foot
Yes, its rapid approach did tend to focus my view. It was a nigh ride, so that conspired to further concentrate my view. Ive done it in the daylight loads of times and managed to miss the trees, but they always seem to be close misses.
How do you turn faster when you feel your at the limit anyway ?
I suppose I should just do it and sod how I feel, but apart from the techniques stated so far, which I know about, am I missing anything. (apart from the tree that is)
Look where you want to go, off the brakes, weight the bike right, pick your line choice to try and minimise turning on the roots and if you know the bike is going to slide anyway then time the turn so you slide past the tree not into it.
Oh, and as a personal thing - ditch the Neveragains!
JonEdwards, what tyres do you ride then. I found mine OK.
How do you turn faster when you feel your at the limit anyway ?
Unless your name is Sam Hill you're probably not turning at the limit of your equipment, merely at the limit of your ability to use it.
Push your comfort zone further, do more of everything you currently do (however much body english you *think* you use it's probably not much compared to the pros) and be smooth!
Your right, I will have to just ride outside my current comfort zone.
One thing I find an issue is as I go downhill im usually far back on the bike - this unweights the front which leads me to less front grip/feel for the fast turns.
Do you weight the front more for the turns, or just haul it over to get round ?
Big High Roller/Minion fan in supertacky format on the front.
I've only experienced Nevegals once on a demo bike at Glentress and spent most of the time picking myself up off the floor. Simply could not make them grip predictably. As per my above comment thouggh, that's no doubt down to my inability to use them, rather than an inherent fault in the tyre.
weight the front, rotate hips to push out side knee foreward. If all else fails weight the fronbt and slide the back.
Do you weight the front more for the turns, or just haul it over to get round
Got it in one. Weight back for straights, then pull it forward onto the front to make the front wheel grip. It feels weird to get your weight over the front DH, but it is the right thing. (note - this works *most* of the time, but if you do manage to overload the available mechanical grip, you will go down very, very fast)
Cheers for all the advice - Im going out to Woburn on Thursday and CyB on the weekend to try it all out.
As Jedi says, turn your hips and shoulders to face uphill in a similar manner to cornering. Drop the downslope pedla and get all your weight on it. Pull up on your outside grip and push down on the inner one to get even more pressure on your outside pedal. Ride neutral by moving your body weight over the cranks rather than hanging off the bars and over the back wheel. In general riding your weight should be nicely centred over the cranks. Bring it forward for corners for extra grip on the front and move it back to help the front wheel over trail obstacles. Keeping your front wheel tracking is more important than the rear so if it starts to slide get some more weight over the front.
If all else fails, really weight up the front by moving your weight right the way over the bars. The extra grip will get the front end up the hill enough to just miss the tree. Allow the rear to slide low.
You'll still hit the tree with your body but as the front wheel is past the tree and your weight is forward you can push the bike forward under you and around the tree using your elbows against the tree for leverage. If you've come to a complete standstill, apply the brakes and pull yourself up 😉
you will go down very, very fast
I thought that was the purpose of dh riding... 😉
Glad it wasn't just me who crashed into a tree last night! Stiff knee where I smacked it on the fork crown and sore ribs from the saddle as I tried (in vain) to eject off the back!
And having spent many years trying to keep up with JonEdwards (also in vain!), he does know what he's talking about!
Happy cornering 🙂
Rob
And having spent many years trying to keep up with JonEdwards (also in vain!), he does know what he's talking about!
...and there was me thinking I learnt it all (including the crashing bit) from you (& Paul)!
Ive just washed the bike and noticed a big dent in the frame where it hit the tree 🙁
I went on an AQR skills day the other week and that seems to have helped fix my cornering - I think the biggest change was to push down with the hand on inside of the corner. This helped me get round some really tight corners along with looking where you want to go (almost over my shoulder when going round a hair pin)
How do you turn faster when you feel your at the limit anyway ?
You turn the bars to the outside of the turn. Sounds wrong, feels wrong, works fine.
Trees become powerful magnets if you look at them so look where you want to go and dont make eye contact with the tree. Look for a dip or rain channel or something to give your tye a bit more grip, like a little helper berm. And brake before you get to the tricky bit.
Think about the corner coming onto the off camber section. Is there any way you could exit onto a higher line?
Also look for any compressions on the off camber section where you will get extra grip you could use to get further up the hill.
unlucky on the dent on your bike, if you are looking at the tree as you said then you are at the limit of your conering in a sense because despite what you want to do you will go where you look. I am terrible at this but the best thing you can do is to look in the direction of the corner and you will turn much tighter sounds easy to do but especially at night it can be difficult. The further you look "into" the corner e.g if you are turning left the further left you look the tighter you will turn. Get some flat ground and a cone and test it out for yourself you will be amazed at the difference then try applying it to the trail. Also prehaps change your mindset a bit if you are thinking that you will hit the tree as you ride you will! If you don't think about hitting the tree or visualise your self not hitting it you'll probably make it.
I was doomed. Just before we got to that section I warned our group about the magnetic trees. Being a good ride leader I then showed them how not to do the secion 🙂
Do you have your lights on your bars or your helmet?
do some press ups. More power more turny & easier.
HTH
Most people don't weight the bars nearly enough. For off camber you want your outside (side of the lower part of the slope/camber) foot weighted and inside bar weighted. This will pressure the tyres on their edges and keep the grippy side tread doing their job.