Fundamental Skills

[cg125]

I've been going over some of the things I learned at the Trials School last week. It was mainly to help me remember them, but I thought that they might be useful to other people too so here are some notes. I learned loads more, but these are bits that I recall as being particularly significant. I claim any errors or omissions as mine and not Steve or Dave's!

I'm a complete beginner, so some (or all) of this may be old hat. On the other hand, there may be things that only become obvious once you know them . . .

Keep your weight back, on the pegs, off the arms

Your legs are better at supporting you than your arms. With your weight firmly on the pegs you can relax your arms which gives better control and is less tiring. I knew I was getting better when my legs hurt more than my arms.

Turn your shoulders with the bars

This helps with balance, and keeps the throttle constant. If you keep your shoulders square to the bike you will open the throttle on left turns, and close it on right turns.

Bend your knees outwards

Bow them out sideways. They don't really like to bend like that but it is possible. This allows the bike to move under you and gives you space to correct your balance. The bike moves more naturally and everything becomes much easier.

Practising these three things round a simple section for half an hour fundamentally changed my riding. Everything became smoother and more controlled; it took less effort and allowed me to concentrate more on my line rather than fighting the bike. Watching the more advanced riders was very interesting: very often when things started to get tricky their knees would come in towards the tank as they tensed up, and they had more difficulty negotiating obstacles. When they were reminded to get their knees out, their riding became much more fluid again with impressive results.

When you've got both feet down, or you're off and pushing, get some weight back on the pegs

This won't improve your riding as such, but it makes life a lot easier when things aren't going too well. It's really obvious when you think about it but I wish I'd worked it out for myself earlier. If you're paddling the bike with both feet, or walking next to it trying to push it up a muddy hill, the rear wheel will just spin. If you can manage to get at least one foot on a peg, even if you end up "scooting" the bike, once you get some weight on the rear wheel things start to happen and the bike is much more likely to move.

Downhill control

Going downhill under control is something I still need to work on, but I made some good progress. I found that if I could manage the descent purely on engine braking it was fine, but as soon as I started to use the brakes and clutch it started to go badly wrong. I tended to go careering down the hill with the clutch in, revving the engine like mad as I tried to hold on.

First thing to practise was riding down a slope, still just using engine braking, with the clutch and front brake covered -- but leaving them well alone and not pulling on the clutch in a panic. Once I had mastered that, I could think about actually using them. I found that it helped if I consciously reminded myself to shut the throttle as I rolled over the top, then push forward with my arms, then brake.

Off the throttle

Push arms forwards

Brake and clutch

I might get some funny looks muttering "Off, Push, Brake" at the top of a hill, but it seems to help.

Balancing

As an exercise, Dave had me balance the bike while it was stationary. He held it so I could get the feel of how it works: bars turned, brakes on, knees out, looking forward. It went pretty well, until he told me that I was balancing and he hadn't been holding on for a while -- at which point I immediately lost it of course.

Later on I tried it a bit while I was queuing for a section, and it really works. Knees out seems to be key. I found that I was balancing almost effortlessly, to the point that I thought there must be someone behind me holding onto the bike as a wind up (there wasn't!).

My riding has improved beyond recognition by lunchtime on Saturday, and continued to improve for the rest of the weekend. I'm really looking forward to my next trial now to see how much difference it really makes in practice!

John

[atomant]

Good stuff and thanks for sharing it with us

[the addict]

Good post John

[sr34]

Also thanks for the share

[mikee]

Sounds like you had a worth while day out there....Some good tips for all i'd say..

[frontroomautos]

Cheers John i am also new at trials, you put it well in words.

[gsade]

Some really useful info there, but with regards to the clutch I would make the following points:-

When a newby I think that until you are really used to the feel of the bike a lot of folks use the clutch too much. Im newly back into trials after a 30 year lay off & when I rode before the clutch was used very little in sections. I see a lot of relatively inexperienced riders using the clutch in sections when they don't need to & making things harder for themselves by having to co-ordinate too many things at once.

Now I realise that the clutch is an essential tool as you improve & are doing the tighter & harder sections but in my opinion good ballace & throttle control come first, especially if you're doing the easy trials where there tends to be more room to turn & less need to fly up steps from a virtual standstill - clutch skills can be further developed & honed as you progress.

Ade

[joostio]

I always pull in the clutch going downhill and control speed with brakes. we have some long hills here (mountains) and they make for some great runs down. We have a new ridder in our groud and he is a down hill mountain biker, he goes down hill in 4th or 5th at full speed. it all depemds on your comfort level, I wish I could keep up with our new guy!

[cg125]

I see a lot of relatively inexperienced riders using the clutch in sections when they don't need to & making things harder for themselves by having to co-ordinate too many things at once.

I agree, and it's definitely a mistake I have made (and still do sometimes!). It sunk in when I saw one of the juniors whizzing round a section, twice as fast as me without touching the clutch. There was no need for the clutch on this simple section, and leaving it alone and going a bit faster made everything easier.

I think it's probably worth getting into the habit of riding with a finger on each lever though, so when you do need them you don't need to change your grip on the bars.

John

[cg125]

Yesterday, after three and a half weeks, I finally got the chance to put it to the test.

I went along for an evening trial at a friend's club, and was a bit alarmed to discover that they didn't have a yellow (novice) route. After walking the first section I nearly packed up and went home, but pulled myself together and had a bash at the red route (round here it goes yellow, red, blue, white). It took a few sections to get some confidence up (it was mostly steep climbs and descents), but I found that it wasn't too bad.

The Trials School had made a huge difference. Instead of feeling completely out of my league, I felt that I could basically ride these sections with a bit of practise. I even cleaned a couple! I am going to start wearing my knee and elbow pads though . . .

John

Edited June 14, 2007 by cg125

[jamie_k_roo]

Cheers John i am also new at trials, you put it well in words.

Ditto , me too !

[jimmyl]

Excellent post, one tip I try to pass on when coaching for Project 2000 in South Wales is to get riders into the habit of moving your weight side to side on the footrests. The ideal situation is during turning to place more pressure on the footrest on the outside of the corner (have a think about how many soft dabs you have had on your inside foot) By keeping shoulders square to the bars and weight on"the outside foot" your centre of gravity is placed over the centre of the bike and helps to stop the bike dropping in and causing you to dab.

Once you get the feel of this by riding circles on small banks etc you will find it makes a big difference.

Enjoy.