narrow single track

Posted April 24th, 2007 by Heather Drake

Hey, if anyone has any pointers that will help me out that would be awesome!  I have a X-country mt. bike race next weekend, (yes a little last minute) and the only part of the race I'm worried about is when the downhill singletrack becomes very narrow and there is a drop off to one side.  I always feel like I'm going to fall down the side of the drop off, especially because I'm clipped in.     Any help on how you tackle this sort of thing would be very appreciated!!

Heather Drake

‹ Is Lance Armstrong gearing up for Ironman??? Time Trial Lust ›

Riding narrow single track

On May 2nd, 2007 jacobr said:

Heather,

When descending narrow single track with a steep drop off to one side - you should try and slightly lean your bike into the hill/mountain.  One easy way to do this is to stay seated and have your leg that is into the mountain up and the leg that is away down.
If it is a quick descent, stand up off the bike and over it - lightly feather your brakes, giving a little more grip to your front brake (you have better stopping power with the front) but not too much so that you lock up and go over the handlebars and try to slightly lean your bike into the mountain.  
Always be looking up and ahead of you to prepare for changes in terrain and you will do great!