TAKING WIDE LINES

PERCEIVED EXERTION

It’s way too easy to just follow the rider in front of you, or to just aim for the most worn part of the trail where everyone else goes. Keep your eyes looking further ahead and you’ll see loads of places where you have better grip, or can even ride around the big horrible stuff that everyone else hits. The most obvious place for this is taking wider lines on corners. It sounds so obvious, but go to pretty much any turn on a technical trail and you can see the

Deliberately slowing down and sticking to a game plan will completely change the way a trail feels. It will open up reaction time, meaning you experience less stress, and ultimately reduce the amount of risk that you’re exposing yourself to. You’ll feel like you’re going slower because you have more control and more time to react, but in reality you’ll be going faster and with more control. This will in turn lead to you feeling more confident and less likely to do all the things that we were describing at the beginning of this article. Remember that speed, or in this case stepping up to another level of difficulty, will come from you feeling confident, and that your confidence will come from having control. most worn line is right up the inside and directly into the apex. Remain patient on the way in and look for that wider entry line and you’ll be rewarded by a cleaner corner, more grip, and better momentum carried out the other side.

Taking wide lines into corners is so obvious when you stop and look at it, but the majority of riders still go right up the inside, making it more difficult for themselves

Remaining patient and applying the advice in this article is the key to stepping up your riding to the next level and remaining in control