Back in April, I published a post titled Part 1 of a video series on how to ride a mountain bike in a straight line (skinnies!) I wrote:
It seems to me that knowing how to ride a straight line on a mountain bike is a fundamental skill. It’s most obviously useful for riding across trail bridges, the length of logs, and other man-made ‘skinnies.’ But it’s also helpful for ‘holding a line’ on a chosen route through a rock garden, an approach to a difficult step or drop, or just a narrow section of the trail.
It included a 4-minute narrated video on understanding the importance of leaning the bike to help maintain a straight line, AKA side-to-side bike/body separation.
I took the video down a month ago. Why?
- I learned a few new relative things at both the one-day Lee McCormack skills clinic I attended in late April and at IMBA’s Instructor Certification Program (ICP) Level 1 course I took in May;
- I realized one error in the video, based on what I learned putting together the Light Hands, Heavy Feet video series; and
- It became apparent that the subject needed much more than what could be done in a 2-part series.
So this week I’ve started working on the How to ride straight series and I hope to have the first two installments ready by next week. My outline currently calls for a 4-6 part series but don’t hold me to that.
In the meantime, here’s a 30-second clip from the video I did in April. I’ll probably change a few things in the next version but it’s an otherwise valid look at why it helps to understand what’s happening with your body when you ride a bike no-handed.
If you’ve got recommendations on videos or other resources that you’ve found to be helpful for learning to ride straight, attach a comment.
Here on Mountain Bike Geezer, I’ve blogged about my efforts at learning to ride skinnies for the past three years. I’ve tagged all 13 posts with the word ‘skinnies.’
