"...for very experienced riders it's hard to know what we are exactly doing on the bike" That makes your series so special: You can explain what really makes a difference. Impressive and very helpful! Thanks!
These latest cornering videos have helped me quite a bit. The trickiest part for someone like me who is about 2.5 years into riding mtb and solidly in the "still struggling but improving slowly" category with cornering is integrating the information effectively. It's helpful that you've broken it down so thoroughly even if it means I will probably jump from one "cornering cue" to another for awhile before this stuff finally (hopefully) starts to become more ingrained. In any case, I think these are the best of the online instructional video offerings by a mile.
For practice, you don't have to be at the same level of experience/skill if you choose drills that are done at slower pace. What you're doing in drills is learning how things feel, how what that "feel" translates to on the trail results. Everyone can learn something from drills that ask you to focus on something. Experienced or rookie, everyone can learn. Just try to find other riders who are interested in going up and sessioning a corner, for example. Tell them, "low speed, lots of reps." You may be surprised who would want to do it. Or maybe not. Only one way to learn!
This tutorial is timely. I am recovering from broken wrists and several broken ribs. I was in the habit of creating bike body separation by pushing through my arms, literally pushing down whilst removing weight from the inside bar. It worked until it didn’t and I had a huge front and washout which left me on the ground and in pain in the blink of an eye. Oh F…yeah! 5.17 ….”weight through the hands causing you to blow out your edge.”
Really good explanation and a great choice of course to help enforce the technique you're trying to train for. This is a really well executed video, great demonstration overall
Dropping outside foot early. < that’s me, so that explains why I always have such a hard time getting the bike to lean over. I will go and practice this, this will really help me!
I am guessing in a tight downhill corner with more speed and more traction needed the same lower body pressure is greater, more hip turn and pressure on the pedals thus your upper body reflects that and the elbow would come up with the extra rotation. I love your athleticism teachings, sports powered by our feet, ankles, knees and hips with the upper body moving around with, driven by, this lower body rotation.
Thanks for the insightful video. Your videos are always very thought provoking and I really love what you do. One comment that caught my attention was the "too much weight through the hands can lead to wash outs" and the way you described it as being related to creating an effective higher centre of gravity. I'm not convinced the 'higher centre of gravity" explanation holds and I'd be interested to hear what you think of the following. If i think about this from a physics/sideways friction force resistance through the front tyre, to me, it is really more about forward/aft weight distribution. By putting more weight through your hands, the only way anyone but perhaps the tallest of riders can achieve that, is by getting their weight further forward to apply the necessary force to tip the bike over with their hands. This in turn means there is more weight over the front tyre, meaning more sideways friction resistance is required by the front tyre, leading to the higher likelihood of a washout. I think this is more likely the reason for a washout than a "higher centre of gravity". You certainly explicitly stated the importance of having your weight central on the bike with the fork bouncing demonstration, i think the not (overly) weighting your hands to achieve bike/body separation during a turn is an extension of that. I found the "high centre of gravity" explanation a bit abstract and possibly not relevant (in my view) compared to the forward/aft weight distribution. Aside from that point, I really liked this video. to me it seems very evident from my own (very limited) experience and from watching the pros, that even on the steepest of descents, great riders aren't loading up their arms to manoeuvre their bikes. Their arms are relaxed and relatively unweighted. All the work in the middle of a turn, which this video is concerned with, is done from the centre of the bike, ie: through the pedals and body position. Your analysis of when to do what with your body and pedals was awesome and really helpful, so thank you for sharing this!
Well, I'm certainly not a physics expert by any means, but I do think that the weight being applied so far above and at such and angle from the contact patch does make a leverage difference (and as you say more easily cause the washout). If I were able to put energy directly into the tire edge from down low, this would actually add traction in most cases and make me more apt to slide the rear wheel (drift) while the front wheel stays planted. Either way, at the end of the day, keeping the hands light makes a positive difference. Thanks so much for the thoughtful and thought provoking comment! -Simon
I’m not sure if it’s worth making this request for future videos… Would it be okay to make the skill work replays in very slow motion so we can see the systemic movements of Hips, feet, suspension etc easier to understand… these videos are brilliant and I understand it in theory but trying to replay it in a fast motion takes me a while to see it in action
I agree with this video for this corner where you are on a open trail long radius corner and you have all the time in the world to let the bike do that. Very different on fast steep single tracks with back to back corners where you have to use your arms. Honestly I’ve never seen corners like the one you practicing on trails , maybe on fire roads ?
The practice corner is supposed to be mellow. It's to practice while consciously thinking about it before the movement starts to become intuitive. Then it'll progress more naturally into the faster moving stuff
@@blinky2035 sure but it doesn’t change the fact that hands pressure is way more active then explained in this video. The new style of coaching teach hand pressure on the bar. Yoann barrelli explained it very well in one of his video.
Remember that we don't need bike body separation in all turns. If the woods are super tight, you bike lean angle is probably pretty gentle, so you wouldn't create much in that scenario. Separation occurs as the bike needs to lean, which means this happens more or should happen more in faster turns. Hope this helps! -Simon
Why does the bike lean on its own at the start of the turn? Is it from handlebar steer or leaning it slightly. I don’t know another way. Appreciate the help
A little known fact is that we have to turn in the opposite direction before our bike can lean. We do this without thought. This means that you always start a left turn with a very slight right turn. There are some interesting videos online you might have seen where they make a bike that can only turn in one direction, and it literally cannot be turned, because the bike cannot initiate a turn without turning slight in the other direction first. So, as you enter a turn and let your bike gently lean before you start footwork the bike is able to lean because this subconscious (very slight) counter steering has done its job. So, yes, the bike lean comes from where you feel it's coming from in your comment. This movement should be super light feeling and not really physical in nature. -Simon
So many benefits...all of which are outlined in our videos. Really it allows us to turn the hips. Think skiing or even planting a foot when trail running. If your feet are level, you are pressing the middle row of knobs, but when you move into a turn, you need to press the inside row, which requires outside pressure. Hope this helps! -Simon
Love the way you explain what the movement should feel like; what the specific "goals" of the technic are. Also, can Linnea leave some guns for the rest of us!? 🦾😆👍
When I took your advanced cornering class, you had one tip - "lift your outside elbow", which made a huge difference for me. In the situation with the video, I noticed Linnea's right elbow was still down and tucked in a bit.... when would you recommend starting to lift the elbow? Like in a tighter turn?
The elbow should be lifting as the outside knee drives forward and the distance between the body and the bars closes. So, we 'should' see her outside elbow raising slightly in this turn. It might be more noticeable in other types of turns, but should be happening here as well.
A lot of this is how Motocrossers have been riding for years. So much of your power and stability comes from your feet and knees.
"...for very experienced riders it's hard to know what we are exactly doing on the bike"
That makes your series so special: You can explain what really makes a difference. Impressive and very helpful! Thanks!
These latest cornering videos have helped me quite a bit. The trickiest part for someone like me who is about 2.5 years into riding mtb and solidly in the "still struggling but improving slowly" category with cornering is integrating the information effectively. It's helpful that you've broken it down so thoroughly even if it means I will probably jump from one "cornering cue" to another for awhile before this stuff finally (hopefully) starts to become more ingrained. In any case, I think these are the best of the online instructional video offerings by a mile.
For practice, you don't have to be at the same level of experience/skill if you choose drills that are done at slower pace. What you're doing in drills is learning how things feel, how what that "feel" translates to on the trail results. Everyone can learn something from drills that ask you to focus on something. Experienced or rookie, everyone can learn. Just try to find other riders who are interested in going up and sessioning a corner, for example. Tell them, "low speed, lots of reps." You may be surprised who would want to do it. Or maybe not. Only one way to learn!
This tutorial is timely. I am recovering from broken wrists and several broken ribs. I was in the habit of creating bike body separation by pushing through my arms, literally pushing down whilst removing weight from the inside bar. It worked until it didn’t and I had a huge front and washout which left me on the ground and in pain in the blink of an eye. Oh F…yeah! 5.17 ….”weight through the hands causing you to blow out your edge.”
Oy. Hope you heal up fast Jeremy! Ouch.
These cornering videos are really helping me through a block in my riding! I’m glad I’m not the only one making these mistakes.
Great to hear!
Really good explanation and a great choice of course to help enforce the technique you're trying to train for. This is a really well executed video, great demonstration overall
Reason #2 just hit me like a lightning bolt. I've been doing this and hadn't even realized it.
Dropping outside foot early. < that’s me, so that explains why I always have such a hard time getting the bike to lean over.
I will go and practice this, this will really help me!
Super common that folks do this. Timing matters!
I took a cornering class with Jason Gainey. I love how you all teach cornering. It helped me so much!
Jason is an amazing coach. Glad you got time with him! And thanks for the props!
Excellent content as always. Thank you!
I am guessing in a tight downhill corner with more speed and more traction needed the same lower body pressure is greater, more hip turn and pressure on the pedals thus your upper body reflects that and the elbow would come up with the extra rotation. I love your athleticism teachings, sports powered by our feet, ankles, knees and hips with the upper body moving around with, driven by, this lower body rotation.
This sounds correct! Glad this is resonating with you!
Thanks for the insightful video. Your videos are always very thought provoking and I really love what you do. One comment that caught my attention was the "too much weight through the hands can lead to wash outs" and the way you described it as being related to creating an effective higher centre of gravity. I'm not convinced the 'higher centre of gravity" explanation holds and I'd be interested to hear what you think of the following. If i think about this from a physics/sideways friction force resistance through the front tyre, to me, it is really more about forward/aft weight distribution. By putting more weight through your hands, the only way anyone but perhaps the tallest of riders can achieve that, is by getting their weight further forward to apply the necessary force to tip the bike over with their hands. This in turn means there is more weight over the front tyre, meaning more sideways friction resistance is required by the front tyre, leading to the higher likelihood of a washout. I think this is more likely the reason for a washout than a "higher centre of gravity". You certainly explicitly stated the importance of having your weight central on the bike with the fork bouncing demonstration, i think the not (overly) weighting your hands to achieve bike/body separation during a turn is an extension of that. I found the "high centre of gravity" explanation a bit abstract and possibly not relevant (in my view) compared to the forward/aft weight distribution. Aside from that point, I really liked this video. to me it seems very evident from my own (very limited) experience and from watching the pros, that even on the steepest of descents, great riders aren't loading up their arms to manoeuvre their bikes. Their arms are relaxed and relatively unweighted. All the work in the middle of a turn, which this video is concerned with, is done from the centre of the bike, ie: through the pedals and body position. Your analysis of when to do what with your body and pedals was awesome and really helpful, so thank you for sharing this!
Well, I'm certainly not a physics expert by any means, but I do think that the weight being applied so far above and at such and angle from the contact patch does make a leverage difference (and as you say more easily cause the washout). If I were able to put energy directly into the tire edge from down low, this would actually add traction in most cases and make me more apt to slide the rear wheel (drift) while the front wheel stays planted. Either way, at the end of the day, keeping the hands light makes a positive difference. Thanks so much for the thoughtful and thought provoking comment! -Simon
I’m not sure if it’s worth making this request for future videos…
Would it be okay to make the skill work replays in very slow motion so we can see the systemic movements of Hips, feet, suspension etc easier to understand… these videos are brilliant and I understand it in theory but trying to replay it in a fast motion takes me a while to see it in action
I agree with this video for this corner where you are on a open trail long radius corner and you have all the time in the world to let the bike do that.
Very different on fast steep single tracks with back to back corners where you have to use your arms.
Honestly I’ve never seen corners like the one you practicing on trails , maybe on fire roads ?
The practice corner is supposed to be mellow. It's to practice while consciously thinking about it before the movement starts to become intuitive. Then it'll progress more naturally into the faster moving stuff
@@blinky2035 sure but it doesn’t change the fact that hands pressure is way more active then explained in this video.
The new style of coaching teach hand pressure on the bar.
Yoann barrelli explained it very well in one of his video.
TQ for the tips!
You bet!
Nice
I really try and get the bike body separation but the single track around here has so many tight trees it’s very difficult if not impossible
Remember that we don't need bike body separation in all turns. If the woods are super tight, you bike lean angle is probably pretty gentle, so you wouldn't create much in that scenario. Separation occurs as the bike needs to lean, which means this happens more or should happen more in faster turns. Hope this helps! -Simon
Thanks for the reply
Why does the bike lean on its own at the start of the turn? Is it from handlebar steer or leaning it slightly. I don’t know another way. Appreciate the help
A little known fact is that we have to turn in the opposite direction before our bike can lean. We do this without thought. This means that you always start a left turn with a very slight right turn. There are some interesting videos online you might have seen where they make a bike that can only turn in one direction, and it literally cannot be turned, because the bike cannot initiate a turn without turning slight in the other direction first. So, as you enter a turn and let your bike gently lean before you start footwork the bike is able to lean because this subconscious (very slight) counter steering has done its job. So, yes, the bike lean comes from where you feel it's coming from in your comment. This movement should be super light feeling and not really physical in nature. -Simon
nice
It looks like she's keeping her feet level from the camera's POV. Is there a benefit to moving the outside foot down through the middle of the turn?
So many benefits...all of which are outlined in our videos. Really it allows us to turn the hips. Think skiing or even planting a foot when trail running. If your feet are level, you are pressing the middle row of knobs, but when you move into a turn, you need to press the inside row, which requires outside pressure. Hope this helps! -Simon
@@Fluidride Thanks for getting back to me Simon. That does help to visualize it. Much appreciated.
I love evils. And own several. For some reason I just love watching these especially because she rides an evil. Bleed black!
Such poppy and fun bikes!
Love the way you explain what the movement should feel like; what the specific "goals" of the technic are.
Also, can Linnea leave some guns for the rest of us!? 🦾😆👍
When I took your advanced cornering class, you had one tip - "lift your outside elbow", which made a huge difference for me. In the situation with the video, I noticed Linnea's right elbow was still down and tucked in a bit.... when would you recommend starting to lift the elbow? Like in a tighter turn?
The elbow should be lifting as the outside knee drives forward and the distance between the body and the bars closes. So, we 'should' see her outside elbow raising slightly in this turn. It might be more noticeable in other types of turns, but should be happening here as well.