1. Don't ride on the soft edge of any trail. The loose soil will give out and you're likely to go down.

2. Bigger, more aggressively knobby tires may give you a little bit more wiggle room regarding the point at which you lose it and go down, and may give you a little bit more capability to recover when the soft edge breaks away. Note that I say "may". Other factors include your own skill and reaction time, as well as a few other site-specific factors including soil type, trail conditions, presence of roots/rocks/other confounding factors like whether it happens on a straightaway or a corner, and whether the corner is flat, off-camber, or bermed.

The best course of action is to follow #1. Pay attention and choose your line carefully (and hold that line when you choose it).

I've been riding mtb's for almost 2 decades now (which means I've been a mt biker for more than half my life), and I still occasionally lose it on the soft edge of the trail. Sometimes it happens because I'm going too fast to hold the line I want. Sometimes it's because I'm not paying enough attention and I let the bike wander into the soft stuff at the edge. Sometimes it happens because I'm where I want to be, but I didn't expect the trail to be soft there. Sometimes I crash. Sometimes I'm able to save it when I feel my tires going out from under me. When I do save it, I have to stop and calm down because there's oftentimes some serious pucker going on and I redline for a second. I can't predict when I'm going to save it or not. Aggressive knobs do help, but I'm not going to ride aggressive knobs when the trails are mostly hard packed and dusty. I choose my tires seasonally where I live, so the aggressive knobs only come out sometime in the autumn when the leaves start coming down, and they go away when the spring rains start to taper off.

 

Bigger, more aggressively knobby tires may give you a little bit more wiggle room regarding the point at which you lose it and go down...

I'd say they definably will. I've done exactly the same thing, run wide onto the soft verge or hit a rut and I've been very surprised by what a good tyre can deal with. You expect it to slide but it stays on track. Really saves your bacon.

By contrast I rode over a tiny kerb/lip at an angle on my road bike a while back and the back wheel went sideways! Totally dry, lip was no more than an inch high, probably not even that. Stayed on the bike, don't know how.

 

Looks like tire pressure for mind...

I'm 235-ish ^^ and ride 24-25 psi up front and 27-28 out back & that's with tubes!

Hans Dampf is a good all around option (is it Trail Star?)

2.25 NN out back is grippy enough (providing it's post 2015).

A longer bike might not fit like a glove, but I'm guessing the extra length would improve stability (whilst dumbing down playfulness).

My $0.02 ^^


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One of the most important skills to learn is look where want to ,the bike will go where your eyes are looking.Always look as far into the distance as you can.

 

This.

Riding a bike isn't all that different from walking, and you don't look at your feet when you walk, do you?

Look ahead, see the line, take the line. It takes time to develop, but it's not magic. If you want to look around, make sure you're pointed in a safe direction or just stop...what's the rush?

 

I had a art teacher teach me this in high school. It applies to a lot of things in life definitely biking being a big one. Good tip, allows for surveying the trail for any obstacles and where the track leads.

 

It seems like that area is a hazard like a rock garden or rutty section, but more like sand where wider tires at lower pressure would get you through. Think a fat bike which could easily handle soft sandy conditions.
Going to a wider rim and tire setup for your bike at lower pressure is a partially similar equipment option. Depending on your fork you could go all the way up to a 29 x 3(2.7 actual) Panaracer Fat B Nimble at 12 psi. for a front on a 30-45mm inner width rim. A Bontrager XR1 or 2 Team would work on a 30mm id rim at 18-20 psi rear. That tire has a more rounded profile than a NN so a wide rim doesn't square off the outer knobs. It rolls just as fast. On a 30mm id rim one of those would also work as a front at 16 psi. It wouldn't get you through the soft stuff as easily as the wider FBN. But would give you a little more recovery capability than you have now. It wouldn't fold over.

For your existing tires the psi depends on the inner width of your rims. While you can go down to 19-20 front and 23-25 rear IF you don't get rim hits, a 19-21mm id rim can get you foldover at lower pressures. You want to avoid that because a quick steering move can give an abrupt loss of traction because of the foldover on a front tire.

Apart from equipment you can use technique. Like sand or one of the hazards I first listed you should be off the saddle balanced equally on the pedals with your weight back whenever you are in that area. Even though you don't need to be for the firm part of the trail. Firm up your legs and steer turning from your center to get back on the trail as soon as you feel the change in surface.
Ride safe by riding for the possibility. And practice in those exact conditions standing starting at lower speeds than you normally ride through there. Knowing the limits of your current setup is a good defense. How to shift your weight and the lean of the bike to lightly maintain control and carefully steer back to the firmer path surface or brake to a stop under control is what you're going for. Practice for it. You can also use the other cornering technique of treating it like a curve because you'll be turning to get back on the trail. Set up with your weight mainly on the pedal on the side of the bike that the soft dirt is coming up on and the bike leaned a little over towards the middle of the trail. This gives you the most leaning possibilities for maneuvering the bike back on the trail without losing it.
So basically you treat the soft terrain sections as curves. You're ready with the more advanced turning technique of weight equally on both pedals, firm arms and legs, turn with your center or belly button as needed.
Or the old faithful gets you through just about any corner weight on the soft side of the trail(outside of the corner) flexible arms and legs to be able to lean the bike as much as needed and steer. Jet turn or snowplow.
Start slow and practice both until it's a feature not a problem.

 

That's one of those - don't do that, you'll crash.
Was riding a couple of weeks ago in an area that's partially sandy and is flowy and twisty and has low built up berms. Suddenly I was laying on the ground with no clue what happened. Looked back at the trail and could see where I got my front wheel too high up on the berm, it slipped and I low sided.

 

Seems like a ton of pressure for a 29er 2.35 unless you weigh a lot. I have 2.35s and run 20psi up front or 22 if its going to be rocky, and 23 in back, if I had wider rims I would do less. Lowering the pressure probably wont solve your crashing problem but those Hans Dampfs will feel much better. You should lower the psi to 23 and adjust from there, its hard to find the right psi when you are so high.

I used to lean into turns like a motorcycle and that caused a lot of slipping, for mountain biking you have to lean the bike while keeping your body as centered as possible. If the berm is not a man made berm with a strong angle or wall then I treat it like a flat turn, natural berms may just be piles of sand. Check out this video

 

Hans Dampfs are some pretty burly tires though. I can't possibly think they're the problem in this situation. You're basically well into plus size or fat bike tires after these.

 

Just thinking about it, if you want to practice then one thing that helps is riding on loose gravel.

A lot of the forest fire-roads in Scotland are gravel, most of them actually, and when the gravel has been recently replenished the surface is very loose. Go down any kind of gradient on it, pick up a bit of speed, and you're skating. It's very good practice as you learn to be 'loose' on the bike and let it find its own path to an extent. You'll hit large stones and the wheel will buck to the side but as long as you're floating over the bike and not 'death-grip' rigid it'll find grip again and you're fine. Being loose and letting the bike 'dance' under you.

So basically, when learning how to deal with the occasional loss of grip it can help to ride on a surface that you know gives little grip. If that makes sense?

 

Thanks to everyone for all the advice! Sounds to me like this is mostly a lack of several techniques on my part. It's interesting; I used to race cars and was trained to look way ahead on the track. Now, on the bike, I struggle to keep my head up instead of looking down at exactly what my front tire is about to go over. Shifting my weight is also something I'm slowly getting the hang of.

I'll keep riding with your tips in mind. Also since it was brought up, I'm on 25mm ID rims. I'll give lower tire pressures a try this weekend too. Likely won't upgrade to wider rims, saving up for the next bike instead. I bought this initial HT to see if MTB was for me and I think we have a winner!

 

I'm on 25mm ID rims. I'll give lower tire pressures a try this weekend too. Likely won't upgrade to wider rims, saving up for the next bike instead.

I don't think 25mm is too bad. I wouldn't bother changing those either.

 

As a larger rider, I find I don't prefer larger knobs on 29er wheels such as those I liked on 26" wheels. Especially the prodigious side knobs. Those tend to squirm when I put the wood to them in a hard corner. Unless the soil you ride is pretty soft or 'loamy', I would scale back on the knobbage.

That said, I mainly suspect a breakdown in technique. As you go hard into a flat corner, lean the bike (and keep the outside pedal downward), but try to keep your mass perpendicular to the trail surface so your weight drives the knobs straight down into the trail. The taller the berm (and more angled the trail surface), the less you'll have to change your position relative to the bike. You also need to keep weight on the front wheel.

And stay away from soft berms. I have had a couple of crashes where well meaning trail workers have created what looks to be a benched trail surface, but until it has time to firm up, it is actually just soft dirt piled up on the outside edge of the trail. The soft dirt just pushes away, and down you go. Not fun.

 

Alright, huge improvement today. Seems like the ability to very quickly hover over the saddle and lean the bike is enormously helpful all over.

Several situations had my tires slipping sideways today. I was able to get grip back by quickly hovering slightly and moving the bike under me. Very cool feeling. I did have a portion of gravel road today as well so I set up a few intentional slides to better get the hang of it.

Again, I'm very new to this so this may have been obvious to all of you! Tried to solve a small specific problem and you all helped me with so much more. Thanks again.

 

I'm very new to this so this may have been obvious to all of you!

I would describe myself as a novice too. Ok, I've been cycling for years, including off-road trails, but I'm pretty new to things like berms, drops and jumps and still rubbish at a lot of it. You're not alone.

 

Definitely more saddle time and you'll develop your own style that works....

While I think this is slightly exaggerated, it gives you some good fundamentals...again integrate into your own style...