So Much Going On

By Jay Bartlett

There is so much going on in any given moment of a mountain bike ride. On the surface, you think you’re “riding through a right-hand corner.” But in reality, so much more is transpiring. As you come down the straight towards the corner, you start waiting for the last safe (or sane) moment to apply the brakes, which will allow a fast entry into the corner but also keep you from flying off the outside of said corner. This simple act exponentially raises fun-juice levels in the bloodstream as well as tenses muscles to absorb the g-forces that will come on strong once the brake levers are pulled.

Once the braking is mostly complete, you then center your weight. “Look ahead. Always look farther ahead,” your internal coach reminds you. Your eyes dart first to the apex and then the exit of the corner as well as sizing up any loose rocks or ruts that may be present. Your weight shifts, and bars turn ever so slightly to lay the bike over to the right, complementing the shape of the berm (or lack thereof). Your weight is also driven down through the outside pedal (which itself can change position throughout the corner to compensate for loss of traction and rider positioning). The forces that are pushing down through the outside pedal are forcing the tires into the ground, making them grip harder in a very audible way. Yes, even the ears get in on the fun. Try to ignore your friends’ whoops and hollers of fun for a moment and listen to the whir of the tires on the dirt. It’s a good indicator of the amount of traction available and whether the tire is about to break loose—a big reason I generally don’t ride with ear-buds. Plus, I like to hear my friends’ whoops and hollers!

While this is all going on, there’s a cornucopia of stabilizer muscle movements, called body English, that move your mass around to maintain your preferred line through the corner or deviate from that line if an errant rock, root, or rut should pop up.

Now, with a few more slight adjustments, you’re ready for the exit. Get the pedals in a good orientation to put down some power, get the leg muscles ready to pedal out the other side, and “feel” the corner unwind in front of you. Just as the centrifugal force starts to wane and the berm starts to shallow, start cranking. Pull back on the bars and push hard on the pedals to maximize your exit speed, clicking up through the gears as you do.

That’s just one corner out of the hundreds you’ll do in a single ride. Luckily, the brain is good at clumping these skills into a set. Funny, it’s as if the human body has adapted to riding mountain bikes! If you had to consciously go through the list of movements needed just to ride through one corner, you’d be so overwhelmed you would probably never graduate beyond the tricycle you rode as a kid!

With practice, you begin to remember without remembering. All those minute details become flow, and all that’s left to remember is “How fun was that corner?!”

Jay Bartlett

About the Author

Mountain bike veteran, amateur filmmaker, and lover of long rides, Jay Bartlett has been riding trails in Southern Utah for over thirty years. Jay has over a decade of experience as a bike mechanic at St. George’s oldest bike shop, Bicycles Unlimited.