There are three very general rules for off-road riding that apply all the
time. The first, “ride
in control”, is basic to everything else! Balance is the key to keeping your bike upright—when you get out of
control you may lose your ability to balance the bike (that is, crash). Imagine the mountain biking situation where a series of quick turns on
loose sand among bread box sized rocks is required and you are flying downhill
at over 30 miles per hour. This
scenario foretells a nasty ending. Control
is directly related to your bicycle’s speed and to your technical skill
level—excessive speed and inadequate skills for the conditions you are facing
are the usual precursors to loss of control. When in doubt, slow down!
The second principle for off-road riding is “read
the trail ahead”, sometimes called “scanning”. In order to have time to react to changes in the trail surface and
obstacles, you should be repeatedly scanning the space from directly in front of
your bicycle out about 10 to 15 feet. As
your speed increases, you must read the trail even further out in front. You want to avoid being surprised by hazardous trail features (rocks,
roots, ruts, water, blind corners and so on)—if you see them well ahead, you
can pick a line to miss them, slow down to negotiate them, or even stop and get
off your bike and walk over or around them. The cyclist whose entire focus is immediately in front of their front
wheel is going to find themselves upsidedown in rough terrain.
The third principle is to stay “easy
on the grips”. One of the
most common reactions by novices on difficult terrain is to severely tense up,
most noticeably in a “death grip” on the handlebars. A high level of tightness not only leads to hand, arm, shoulder and back
discomfort but markedly interferes with fluid, supple handling of the bike.
If your current speed in the current conditions frightens you, then slow
up. You want to keep enough
pressure to maintain control, but hold the handlebar grips loosely and bend at
the elbows a bit—don’t fight your bicycle, work with it!
