I have been riding for a few months now and absolutely loving it but one thing I am struggling with is cornering. I often feel like I lose my balance or speed when taking tight turns, especially on trails with loose dirt or roots.
Do you have any tips or techniques to improve cornering? Should I focus on body positioning, braking or something else? I have heard things like look where you want to go and keep your weight low but it is hard to know if I am doing it right.
Also, are there any specific drills or beginner friendly trails where I can practice cornering without too much pressure? I am riding a so any setup advice for better control would be awesome too.
I also read this topic on this site https://trackslesstravelled.com/mountain-bike-cornering-technique- but I could not find anything helpful for me.
Thanks so much for your help. Can not wait to hear what works for you all.
Up until a few years ago I was having dirrrrrty washouts on corners. After looking into it a lot I started trying things and the 3 main things I found I was doing wrong were
. Not keeping weight on the front of the bike
. When I was cornering hard I would keep both pedals level and flat. I started dropping the outside pedal to really let the tread sidewall of the tires dig into the trail.
. Not leaning the bike over when cornering.
Jeff Kendall weed on YouTube is a super good example of proper cornering and has a few good videos on technique. He has a very active riding style https://youtu.be/N5PU4P5nG4w?si=8RX_5cIhRYZ507zW
You could also invest in a skills clinic from a local instructor like Ride East, if you haven’t already.
I’d also suggest taking a video of yourself doing any practice drills. How it looks vs. how it feels can be quite different, and the video feedback can help you make corrections.
What unlocked it for me was a practise drill on flat grass. pick a point on the grass and try to turn around. Over, and over and over again. Try increasing speed, Try staying off the brakes.
Outside foot down, push down through the bike, special attention to weighting the front wheel.
Not trying to get into a trolling discussion or anything, but if you pay attention to the Kasper Wooley vid, one of the techniques they focus on is keeping the feet level while cornering.
