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Refining your lines on hard trails

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cragginshred

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
We ride a lot of trails in the central Sierras of Calif. A new ish trail to me is called 'Boulder over'. A series of steep rolls, some flow some awkward. It is an off shoot of the pretty famous 'Pinecrest peak' trail so pretty epic every time we ride it.

These rolls have specific roll outs with armoring on some, none on others.

For any of you like me who are riding harder stuff every year, what techniques do you use to get better and stay safe>

For me:
Go pro and review for optimal lines
Following buddies lines
Get off bike scout from below to see stuff you cannot from the top
Take notes and review
Watch YT videos on technique I have not thought of

Main one to date is keep heavy on the feet and do a push out at bottom to keep front wheel moving.
Hitting the correct spot is most important to prevent abrupt wheel stoppage and potential OTB

How do you all refine you lines on hard trails?

For perspective on Boulder over here is a video I have

Starts at about 3:04"

Pivot Shuttle Am on Snakey D, Boulder over, and Lower pcp with buddies
 
#3 ·
Ex-dh racer here, so I had a lot of experience with riding new tracks that I'd never seen before in practice. I would try to get a course walk in the day before and usually didn't get up to speed until 3 laps in. 1st was a recon, second was to see if the lines I had in my head were do-able, 3rd was a polished run generally.

On recon runs, I had/have a rule that unless I could see the landing and felt good about it, I wouldn't hit anything blind the first run through. Even if I was following someone who knew where they were going.

For tech stuff on my recon run, my rule of thumb was to make sure I carried enough speed not to get hung up on square edged hits and to take the high line over bigger rocks. You can always abort and get off the bigger rocks, but it's hard to abort and get up on a big rock mid line. If it's my first time through I try to keep myself in as neutral of a position as I can, keep looking far ahead, and keep moving.

For "optimal" line choice, I've found that speed determines your line. Something that works at lower speed may not while going fast and vice versa. As you pick up speed I've noticed it's easier to find ways to gap certain parts of the trail and sometimes those almost become mandatory to keep the flow.


That's all I got.
 
#4 ·
Depends on the risk level. Anything super heinous I will definitely at least eyeball if not walk it first and get a bead on lines, risks, and bailout options. Sometimes ya don't have that luxury and find yourself committed already - and that's where hesitation can be really bad. My risk envelope has definitely shrunk over the years, but I still find myself riding very chunky and technical lines. What I've taken out of the mix is big drops, most gap jumps, and elevated skinnies. Price of failure is too high.
 
#6 ·
Well stating the obvious, full suspension will let you ride all kinds of lines.

Outside of that, a hardtail is about grip, you either rely on the fork more and keep the rear wheel light, not always ideal when it's a steep move. And preserving your rear wheel. So ultimately you'll have to look for lines that are smoother than what someone may take on full suspension.

Even if they are longer.
 
#7 ·
Pre-ride, re-ride, freeride

re-ride something until you're comfortable with it before free-riding. Pre-ride is super slow, walk hard obstacles which I'll do on the re-ride if I didn't like how it felt too, freeride is only for when I'm confident in the trail and my ability to hit the lines I want.

I use a go-pro now and then, even watching other's go-pro if i can find it but all action cameras make stuff look less steep than it is so getting out there and running laps is really the only way to refine my lines.
 
#9 ·
take the time to deliberately session tricky features instead of just hoping for the best, bumbling though without dying, and then blazing on down the trail. Makes a big difference for me, at least. Once I find a new line that works better, I try to hit it a few times to commit it to memory. Even if it's not a trail I'm likely to ride often, at least it reinforces good movement and builds confidence for similar obstacles
 
#10 ·
Practice... till the hard is not so hard. Know the line... either follow buddy or pre-ride/walk it. Commit to the roll... aggressive forward stance, peak over edge and push bike down through the roll. Control your speed... the faster you start, the more speed you'll need to manage. Absorb the runout... don't back seat it and don't be a noodle.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
wolfmw said:
take the time to deliberately session tricky features instead of just hoping for the best, bumbling though without dying, and then blazing on down the trail. Makes a big difference for me, at least. Once I find a new line that works better, I try to hit it a few times to commit it to memory. Even if it's not a trail I'm likely to ride often, at least it reinforces good movement and builds confidence for similar obstacles
Click to expand...
Hard to do unless your partners are patient and willing to stop. I have several good riding partners who will, but there are times when the group is flowing that they will not. So I take advantage of doing that with one buddy who is super cool about showing me new trails and stopping to show me the line. :)
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
bmwpowere36m3 said:
Practice... till the hard is not so hard. Know the line... either follow buddy or pre-ride/walk it. Commit to the roll... aggressive forward stance, peak over edge and push bike down through the roll. Control your speed... the faster you start, the more speed you'll need to manage. Absorb the runout... don't back seat it and don't be a noodle.
Click to expand...
Well said and pretty spot on to what I am doing. It feels like a push up off the handlebars on the roll out.
Last Friday a buddy reminded me of this. One thing I noticed rolling the many steep lines on this ride yesterday was, there is an intended roll out. 4" right or left and it will be way more abrupt at the least and OTB at worst.

Funny as I ride steeper longer rolls the ones that used to scare me are ridden with more speed and zero concern. The current lines with repetition are ridden with way less fear and more focus on technique and nailing the run out! 🍻
 
#13 ·
Gym work off the bike to increase muscular endurance (particularly upper body for long rough descents). Once your core, back and shoulders start to get tired you’re in trouble.

With line choice it’s intuitive on a hardtail - whichever looks the smoothest. If there’s no smooth line then clench arse cheeks and proceed with optimism.
 
Discussion starter · #15 · (Edited)
Mac_89 said:
Gym work off the bike to increase muscular endurance (particularly upper body for long rough descents). Once your core, back and shoulders start to get tired you’re in trouble.

With line choice it’s intuitive on a hardtail - whichever looks the smoothest. If there’s no smooth line then clench arse cheeks and proceed with optimism.
Click to expand...
If you watch that video I posted no one would ride that on a hard tail. Also for upper body strength I have rock climbed in the 5.12 range for the past 25 years. Long steep routes require power and endurance.

Despite that fitness, Mt biking does drain you a little differently. I feel like the squat attack position gets fatigues hy quads and hip musculature resulting on more pressure on my hands. I did just get a one up carbon bar that reduced hand fatigued some for sure!
 
#16 ·
cragginshred said:
If you watch that video I posted no one would ride that on a hard tail.
Click to expand...
Ride-able? yes. Enjoyable? Not so much unless you're a ride or die hard tail fanatic. Looking at all those awkward sections with smaller rocks that link your features together, I think I'd probably have the most fun on my ebike so I didn't have to fight all those short tech climbs so much to get to the good stuff.
 
#17 ·
I rode a fully rigid SS for two months. Speed increased 20-30% on most trails. Choosing the optimal line on climbs, dh's, and flats became intuitive and second nature. Rigid SS's are pretty rough on my shoulders nowadays. Really would not recommend this to anyone born in the 1900's (like me).
 
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#19 ·
I think that trail looks awesome!

This kind of trail is my bread and butter. Best advice I can give when riding lines like this is to stop and analyze everything before rolling in for the first time. There are often multiple lines that will work, but there’s always a best line in my experience. You just have to keep trying them out and adjust. Experience is everything. With enough practice, you will get to a point that you can roll up to slabs like those and just confidently ride them without needing to check them out.

As far as technique goes, there are several things (if you know these already, skip this part).

Ride *low rather than back. I mean you have to be back to a certain extent, but not to the extreme that old bikes used to require.

*I’m going to say you need heavy feet AND heavy hands. If you keep your hands “light” you will not have traction on the front tire.

*Use BOTH brakes, but more pressure on the front lever. The front brake does most of the slowing; the back just helps. I can ride without a back brake on most trails, but I’d never try it the other way around.

*Let off the brakes completely right before the transition. Use your arms and legs to absorb the g-out (if applicable). On truly worthy trails, one roll is followed by another, and another, and another — and hopefully they get steeper and longer progressively.👌. Use the g-out to slam the brakes briefly to scrub speed for the next one. You will get the most slow-down when your weight is pinned to the tires.

Other than that, just keep riding them and they’ll get easier.
 
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