'breakthrough' Techniques

[sammyd173]

Have you had any 'a-ha' moments when riding, like you've figured out something big? I've had a few in my two years of riding - I'm at clubman level now, so I thought I would share and hope others can share similar discoveries that made a big difference to their riding.

 

1. Unweighting the bike. It dawned on me that these bikes can go over just about everything, it's pulling us fat lugs over the obstacles that upset the bike. Unlike MX where you charge at everything, trials is generally about either getting your body over an obstacle and then pulling your bike with you, or letting the bike get onto something by unweighting yourself from it and then once it's on there, pull yourself up afterwards. There always seems to be a delay between either you or the bike initiating over an obstacle. The exception is leaning back to weight the rear or front tire to get traction.

 

2. Wheelies. Everyone talks about getting the front end up, rather than what to do when the bike starts falling over to one side. I have a long, steep driveway, and after months of veering off to one side or the other finally figured out what was going on. Take note of what your hands and feet are doing when the bike starts to fall to one side. I noticed that if the bike was veering off to the left, I would pull up hard on the left grip to save it - everyone does this - but I was also pushing down hard on my left peg. So pulling hard up with the left hand and actually fighting the force of my left foot/ leg pushing down also. It was incredibly hard and counter-intuitive to fix this, but you have to completely unweight the left peg and instead push down on the right peg. Voila, I can now wheelie forever! (at least up a long steep hill).

 

When you learn this, it will transform your trials riding, as you can now correct the bike on rough uphill climbs when the front wheel is up in the air and the bike starts falling over to one side.

 

3. Floater turns. I see people make the mistake, as did I, of initiating an ambitious floater and you fall off to the inside. So attempt to float left, bike doesn't rotate enough, fall down to the left. So I figured out that to do a floater, a). your body stays mostly upright but you pull the bike to the side across your body with weight to the inside peg, and more critically b. you do this in such a way that you expect to 'catch' the float by then pressing down on the other peg (while now completely unweighting the inside peg) and this will make the bike go straight. So in other words, don't just try to float the front end around as far as possible  - initiate the motion with the goal of straightening the bike out (upright) before the front wheel lands. How do you learn this peg weighting technique? See 'wheelies' above.

 

4. Turning. For the love of god, turning. Here was my mistake until last week. I would see a gnarly, tight, off camber turn. Prepare by weighting the hell of the outside peg. Go into turn, front wheel pushes, dab. So I just figured out that if you go into, say, a left hand turn, rather than pre-weighting the outside peg for traction, try initiating the turn by almost fully unweighting the outside peg and put all the weight on the inside peg. Once the bike flops over and starts to initiate the turn the way you want, shift weight to the outside peg. It's almost like a Scandinavian Flick, if you know what that is.

 

So I guess everything to me has come down to peg weighting! I was doing some of this before, but not sufficiently. Hopefully this helps someone, hopefully not too much bad advice here. FWIW I ride in SoCal, so more traction here. Sorry for the essay. Please share similar revelations!

[michael_t]

When I do a slow full lock turn I turn my head far enough so I can see my rear fender, this brings around my shoulders and sticks my ass out the other side... the first time I did it I couldn't believe the difference it made, it was a real "aha" moment for me. It is always great when you are riding with a more advanced rider and they give you tips like that to help illustrate what you are doing wrong.

Edited October 9, 2015 by michael_t

[fivebrick]

Enjoyed your post Sammy. I have a few (very basic) "ah-ha" moments that I learned mostly from others. Forgive my brevity.

 

1.) The pegs/feet steer the bike- not the hands.

 

2.) Don't force anything in trials. Relax and let it flow.

 

3.) Look ahead- prolly more than you want to.

 

4.) Practice with the dead engine too. Go out to the garage and just balance.

[fivebrick]

"When I do a slow full lock turn I turn my head far enough so I can see my rear fender, this brings around my shoulders and sticks my ass out the other side... the first time I did it I couldn't believe the difference it made"

 

Another good one Michael and I agree. Helps a lot.

[sirdabalot]

Two things I was told to try by a local master on slow tight loose turns to avoid pushing the front wheel.

Move your weight forward over the bars slightly to regain front wheel grip, while doing as others have described on this subject.

Drag the back brake lightly. No explanation for this but works in loose cobbley sections.

[cleanorbust]

A tip I got from Steve Saunders -as well as weighting the outer peg in a tight turn, consciously pull upwards on the opposite handlebar.

[t-shock 250]

Really pay attention to the line you should be on, the second you're off line, the marks start racking up quick!

[crazybond700]

Riding a bike with good suspension for weight, and nicely setup bars etc can be a revelation.

[hrmad]

using the rear brake in a turn helps stability and seems to make the bike turn tighter? First gear almost everywhere, you can still go quick in first gear, you just need to rev it more. Give yourself time in the sections, accelerate in that hard bottomed stream, before the muddy climb out of it and give it plenty when you do!

 

If the bike looses grip on a climb, ease off the throttle and bring it back in again, whilst pushing up and down on the pegs, weight towards the middle/ rear of the bike.

 

And practice what you're not good at, sounds obvious but we don't always do that. I've had some boulders set up in the garden and a log high enough to catch your sump plate. I've been practicing landing the front wheel on the rocks all week, yesterday at the trial there was a log in section 1 high enough to catch you if you didn't put your front wheel in the right place. Cleaned it every time! 

[goudrons]

The one thing that stands out when I watch those that are early on in their trials carrers is the "wheelie - slam" approach to obstacles.

 

They've worked out lifting the front up or onto an obstacle and to start with the obstacles are small enough for the rear wheel to climb on it's own.

But as soon as it's too big they slam the rear into it (and usually off it) and wonder what the feck went wrong!

 

Thinking back I remember working out the blip, timing and weight transfer to lift the rear up over obstacles and counted it a big step forward (over a log!)

 

There's also been some good points made regarding braking, speed and gear selection.

Riding sections is a confidence game, keeping the feeling of having the bike in check and more often than not it'll go where you want it to.

It'll also give time to put whatever techniques are needed it to action.

 

It's amazing how often you don't, even if you count yourself a good rider, there's an awful lot of times where you "get through" and not know how!

Edited October 14, 2015 by goudrons

[jonnyc21]

..,

Drag the back brake lightly. No explanation for this but works in loose cobbley sections.

My experience on this technique is that it seems to smooth out the power impulses of the engine as well as the slightest of throttle changes that can happen during a turn and improves traction when the bike is leaning over.

At least that's my theory.

[sammyd173]

Lots of good stuff here!

 

Another one I figured out recently - if you are trying to hop the rear end around, but it's 50/50 that you'll dab, release the front break a few inches before the rear wheel lands. The bike will move forward a tiny bit allowing you to correct your balance with the front wheel.

 

Throwing the ouside knee out for balance, especially when making a tigh turn up a hill - like really pointing it out - seems to make a world of difference in the bikes ability to make the turn and for you to avoid a dab. If you are reading this you probably think you are already doing it, but make a concious effort to so and see if it helps!

[sammyd173]

A tip I got from Steve Saunders -as well as weighting the outer peg in a tight turn, consciously pull upwards on the opposite handlebar.

 

Tell me more about this? So if I'm turning left, I'm pulling up on the left grip?

[mirko91]

Any advice on how to get traction on slippery muddy up-hills?

Edit: just figured out myself.

So momentum is your best friend but when you have limited run up distance I found useful doing this:

-rev the engine up

-start fading in slowly the clutch

-when the bike is moving release the clutch while pushing hard as on the pegs

-if it isn't enough do a few traction hops

Edited November 1, 2015 by mirko91

[jml]

This is a little bit of 'a-ha' moments and a few things I've learnt over my first 12 months of riding.

 

1. Re-watch all of your old training videos multiple times a year, once you get better you can easily relate to techniques which made no sense before

 

2. Be careful of some of the training DVDs, the techniques are done differently in the real word vs. showing them as an example. Making a technique more understandable with obvious movements can actually make it harder (just keep this in mind when watching examples)

 

3. A 125cc is plenty of power for a new rider even for a big male rider, you just have to be prepared to give it gas.

 

4. Tip from a Ryan Young video - If you cannot close your eyes and walk the course mentally while thinking about all obstacles (no matter how small) and how you would ride them (technique/body position on bike) you're not ready to ride it.

 

5. Pressures pressures pressures! Don't just check them at home, check them before you start riding, after warming up and after the first lap. They will change, especially on a cold morning which turns hot and when going up and down elevations to get to the event.

  

6. Replace grips often, the second your grips or gloves start to look worn get new ones. The more worn they are the tighter you need to grip and the more tired you get, they are annoying to replace but worth the effort.

 

7. Hydration - You should not only be drinking during a trial but you should be fully hydrated at least 12-24 hours before the event and maintain good hydration throughout the event. When consuming liquids do it slowly and let your body catch up and tell you it's had enough. If you just gulp down fluids you can start to feel a little bloated/tired/full.

 

8. Have a warm up regime before a trial, even if it's just riding around doing full lock turns, a few wheelies. Never allow the first time you ride on the day of a trial to be in the sections, in saying that also don't over do it. I spend somewhere between 10-30 minutes riding around but don't warm up on really tiring stuff, save that for the sections.

 

9. Practice balance any chance you get. On a rainy terrible day you should be riding but if you can't ride get out, get in the garage and do 15-25 min on the bike. When you start your bike always try to balance and start it without footing. When riding around just in general, always try coming to a balancing stop don't make it a habit of when the bike stops you drop a foot

 

10. Copy/imitate better riders! Their technique, their equipment and their setup (to a point). I'm definitely not saying you need to buy all of Toni Bou's gear and a new Factory Montesa or go out and buy every trick part for your bike but there are little things good riders do that can be used in your own riding or bike setup. Never discount something until you have tried it and know for sure it doesn't work for you. Almost like a child stay open minded to everything you see. I think most riders stop improving when they close their minds and stop wanting to learn or follow current trends. For example, many riders refuse to wear Trials specific Jerseys because they look "too serious" but the benefits and comfort are greatly improved over just wearing a cotton T-shirt, not to mention reducing sun exposure and helping prevent dehydration. All of these little concessions I believe add up and can make riding harder. 

 

11. Watch YouTube videos of riding events, slow down the video and try and understand the techniques. From (11.) you can learn a lot from just imitating another riders technique.

 

12. Check the scores after each lap and as often as you need, it's always good to know how your performance rates compared to the rest. Sometimes I get down thinking I'm going poorly only to look at the scores to see everyone is on par. It's also good to know how much of a buffer you have on your competitors, Based on what you see in the scores you need to adjust your strategy accordingly

 

13. The trial is never over until the last card is handed in for your class. If you make a silly mistake early on don't let that affect your performance, keep your mind on the goal and keep monitoring the scores. 

Edited November 5, 2015 by jml