Learn To Ride Downhill Switchbacks | Mountain Biking For Beginners

we are back back switch back switch back what hey guys life has literally been a bunch of switchbacks lately hence why we've been so quiet but we're back and we're super grateful to be back here on YouTube and to share another video with you guys thanks so much for that continued support you guys have showed us even though we haven't posted a video recently the views have been coming through and we can finally say that we are now part of the YouTube Partner program so thank you guys so let's get into it today we're talking about switchbacks backpack descending switchbacks switchbacks down cool so one of the biggest reasons why switchbacks are so challenging in the beginning is because they require good slow speed skills and Baseline balance when we have speed or some momentum it's easier for the bike to stay upright and for us to find balance because we have rotational Force Through the wheels but as soon as things start to slow down and gravity takes over we start to feel wobbly and this is where those slow speed skills and good Baseline balance come in so that we can find good control out on the trails when hitting those awkward tight turns and switchbacks as skills coaches we really believe in groundwork before Trail work so therefore we choose a nice controlled environment like this Farm Road that's got a slight descent to it we are using some training AIDS like cones and this just really helps us dial in those techniques before we go out and hit those steeper switchbacks okay guys so before we hit those steep descending switchbacks we first need to consider our back setup firstly my shocks are always open so that means they're working all right and if you have a rear shock it also needs to be open so squishy this just helps us maintain good balance and control especially on those steep loose switchbacks secondly we really like to drop our Saddles so if you have a dropper seat go ahead and drop it if you don't perhaps it's a good idea just to lower your saddle while you practice this really helps us with bike and body separation so it's easy for us to move the bike from side to side it also gives us a lot of space to work with and then finally we would highly recommend starting with flat pedals all right often especially on those really sharp steep switchbacks being clipped in can hinder you if you can't get your foot out in time that's when things start going wrong with flat pedals you can just put your feet down so with that said let's get into the first skill riding steep switchbacks requires us to get lower in our position when we get lower we get a deeper Bend in our knees a deeper Bend in our elbows our elbows come slightly out and we also widen our knees to create more space when getting lower on the bike try think of getting heavier in your pedals too our hands are light but they still have a firm grip we also want to lock our feet in place by getting a slight tension of the muscles in our feet we push our feet apart and we really make them strong while we descend through the Switchback practice getting low with strong feet while maintaining the grip on the front wheel push your chin forwards and try feel the traction on the front wheel stay with your front wheel don't let it run away from you be strong in your position when we get into our ready positions one of the most important things we need to do is maintain traction on the front wheel we do this by getting ready and slightly pushing our chins forwards to stay with our bikes we want to avoid pushing our hips too far back because as we push our hips too far back that's going to unweight your front wheel and that's where the trouble starts the goal is to stay with your front wheel maintain traction on the front wheel and don't allow the bike to run away from us the next important skill to master is leaning and steering your bike first we need to learn how to lean our bikes we do this by getting low and hinging at our elbows when we learn to steer that's easy we just turn our handlebars for switchbacks we really need to learn how to combine leaning and steering your bike at the same time it's a strong combination of the two we lean and steer our bikes from side to side by hinging through our elbows and guiding the front wheel with our Top Hand don't pull the handlebar down rather push the handlebar in the direction you want to go with the Top Hand When approaching steeper switchbacks we really need to focus on Guiding our bike through the turn and we do this by guiding the bike with a Top Hand ensuring that you put your wheel exactly where you want to go by guiding with the top hand over here and avoid pulling on the bottom of your handlebar for descending switchbacks we want to learn how to do this really slowly at first and then with practice we gradually get faster leaning and steering your front will slowly from side to side will help you find good balance especially at slower speeds just keep in mind that side to side is a combination of Leaning and steering your front wheel so set out some cones and practice leaning and steering your bike from side to side at varying speeds from very slowly up to a medium pace when starting out we steer more than we lean but as we progress we will start leaning more and steering the bike together with better control and speed steering on its own is easy we just turn the handlebars left and right but the faster we move forward the more we need to guide the front wheel into a leaning and steering combination once you've practiced leaning and steering your bike in a nice flat open terrain start practicing using a slalom cone layout we're going to put the cones in a straight line and we're going to ride through the cones the next step is to practice leaning and steering your bike by widening the cones a little bit so you get used to a sharper turn so the next progression to this skill is that we're going to widen the cones even more you'll find that the wider they are the slower you need to go so you're going to have to steer more as there are much sharper turns cool guys so once we've practiced this leaning and steering and it's feeling really comfortable we can move on to actually practicing a Switchback but before we do that we just need to touch on braking when we brake we need to keep it smooth and in control without slowing down too much and without any snatching or twitching squeeze the brakes smoothly evenly and equally without skidding the back wheel stay strong in your feet and in your core you need to brace yourself we generally use both brakes together evenly and equally next we're just going to touch on ratcheting which is a great skill to have especially on steeper switchbacks learning how to ratchet especially on slow and Technical switchbacks can greatly improve our balance and stability on the bike even if you don't use it that often when riding down switchbacks try ratchet your bike forwards at very slow speeds first in a straight line and then around a small circle try doing a downhill track stand and then ratcheting away keep in mind that this technique is for a very sharp narrow and slow speed downhill Switchback corner now we can combine all the skills we've practiced up until this point and apply it to small circles so we'll be steering we'll be using ratcheting if needed as well as Back Body separation side to side but what you also want to add here and start focusing on is your line Choice as well as your vision so with vision I like to think of using my whole body to look through the turn and what I mean by that is not just using my eyes and my head but I think of turning my shoulders my hips and my knees to focus and take me through the turn and then in terms of line choice there's different scenarios so the first progression would be to just keep both Wheels on the outside of the blue cones and then slowly start making your way closer to the blue cones with your front wheel and you'll then notice that your back wheel starts to track on the inside this builds rear wheel awareness and helps us understand where our back wheel tracks especially when riding very tight switchbacks from here you can then progress to the inside of the blue cones and then do the same with the red slowly start making your front or bringing your front wheel closer and closer to the red cones and your back wheel will track on the inside and if you can get to this point then you're really good to go for really tight turns so you'll enter on the outside of the circle The Wider Circle and this is where you're going to use a little bit of steering and bite body separation side to side but you're going to focus more on your looking and your vision and focusing through the turn so I always like to think of vision as using my entire body to look so what I mean by that is I'm not just using my eyes and my head I'm using my shoulders and my hips and my knees to look through the whole turn and a nice way to also think about it is you can focus on looking at every second cone to help with your vision and then from here you can the grace to coming into the circle and making the circle Tighter and Tighter and Tighter so after dialing in some small circles you can then simulate a Switchback scenario with a cone layout and so what we've done here is we've got a nice right hand Switchback going right into a left hand Switchback so you make a triangle with the yellow set of cones and then the red cone in the middle just kind of acts as your as your line choice and the width of the trail so I'm going to walk you through it quickly and just take you through the steps so the first thing is to approach in your nice low ready position aiming sort of between for the middle of the the two cones about say a bike length away from here you're going to then get your wheels to the outside of the Switchback so coming nice and wide this is going to give you give you space to make the turn at this point this is where I lean and steer and I look through the turn with my whole body and I hold that and when I'm in the apex of the Switchback I'm then setting myself up for the next Switchback so I'm going to come in nice and wide lean steer look through the whole turn with your body and exit the switch back and you'll also notice how close my back wheel came to the red cone and this is where rear wheel awareness comes in because if we enter two on the inside of the Switchback and it's very narrow and especially when it gets steep my back wheel risks hitting um something there or skidding off the side of the trail and then you also might not make the Switchback so to wrap up we're going to approach in that nice low ready position focusing all the way it's in our feet making our body and our stance nice and strong we're going to then enter wide we're going to lean and steer and look with the whole body through the tone so we've come to a nice steep loose Switchback and before we enter the Switchback it's very important to set yourself up so we're going to get low and ready we're going to choose our line Choice towards the outside enter on the outside as soon as you've entered on the outside you're going to focus through the Switchback looking for the exit and as you enter the Apex you're going to steer and lean your bike into the Switchback and out [Applause] so time for some humor guys and girls this is what happens when we ride switchbacks for the first time and especially if they're more technical like this one over here that's loose and Rocky and quite tight so as we approach the Switchback we like no bike you go first now the front wheel has no tractional control okay I need to make the turn but my bike goes this way so I start to pinch and squeeze and hold on for dear life and I try really hard to make the turn but it just doesn't happen and I'm sure many of you can relate to that so that is why it's so important to dial in all the skills needed for switchbacks out on the grass or in a parking lot and really get those skills dialed in so that when you do come out on the trails you have more confidence and a set of tools to use to approach the switchbacks [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] guys thanks so much for watching if you liked our videos please remember to subscribe if you haven't yet and also to give us a thumbs up we hope you took some tips and learned something from the video if you have any questions or comments hit them down in the comment section below and we'll catch you on the next video [Music] no [Music]

Channel: Vic & Wes MTB

Views: 16,939

Keywords: Vic & Wes go Mountain biking, Mountain Biking, MTB Skills Videos, Mountain Bike skills, Mountain Bike Videos, MTB Skills, Trailforks, BICP, Certified Coach, Professional Mountain Biker, Pro MTB, Enduro MTB, XCO MTB, DownHill MTB, Switchbacks

Id: bXAEPElCn_I

Length: 16min 7sec (967 seconds)

Published: Wed May 10 2023