Descending Skills 101
Descending Skills:
There are a few factors to hold in your mind as you enter a turn…
1.) Body position
a. Inside knee angled out toward the turn.
b. Outside leg and arm weighted down / pressure on the outside pedal.
c. Body weight on the center of the bike with focus on weighting down the rear wheel, head is aligned over the outside brake lever.
d. head turned looking where you want to go.
2.) Countersteering
a. When turning left, as you are entering the turn the left arm pushes the handlebars straight. This effectively turns your wheels away from the turn but lets your bike fall into the turn, enabling you to go around it. The more speed into the turn the better this will work.
b. The body will naturally align itself across the top tube *Head should be lined up with the outside (in this case the right ) brake hood.
3. Angulation; this is what a skier does when making sharp turns on a steep descent.
Simply put:
The bike can be tilted deeply into a turn and the body compensates for this by staying upright and over the center of the bike. So the body is adhering to gravity, as the bike dips down toward the ground where it would fall except for the body overcompensating for it.
4.) Braking
a. Braking will affect the handling of the bike in the turn.
b. Brake before the turn as much as you think you’ll need, then whilst in the turn if you need to slow more feather the brakes. Do not grab them hard. I like using the front brake on a descent when I need to slow down mid turn, it really is an efficient brake compared with the back brake. Just be careful you don’t lock it up.
5.) Finding the right line
The best line thru a turn is a straight one. If you can’t do it straight then the next best thing is to start the turn before the actual turn. If you are approaching a sharp left hander you want to start on the far right side of the road. (You want to anticipate the turn so you have most of it accomplished before you reach the apex of the turn.)
Swing towards the inside and then back outside to the far right again.
6.)Turning in wet conditions
a. Stay relaxed
b. Body is aligned over the bike and the leaning aspect is minimized.
c. The point here is to have as much tire on the road.
d. Avoid countersteering.
This is a lot to remember I know but with practice you will find which techniques work for you and once they become ingrained, then you can move on and incorporate other techniques on this list.
Aron Gadhia, CPT, USACC
www.ag-fit.com
Categories: Coaching and Training
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