JeffOYB

I did my first CX ride this season last week -- it was also my first-ever A Race. Whew!

I got quickly gapped in a quarter-mile of tight singletrack. Sometimes I felt OK in there, other times it was start-stop without the tasty flow I require for CX joy.

What's the best way to flow tight CX singletrack?

I ended up sitting back and basically doing pivot-type turns but without hanging onto a pole. I'd reach out with my arms and turn the bars and swing the front around. It felt kinda lame but those turns were TIGHT!

I'm wondering if a main rule for tight turns is WEIGHT FORWARD. Maybe I should try training on them in the drops. Or think "head first." I was probably shying away from a head-first approach due to worries about front-end slide out. ...And I slid out anyway on one of the faster wider sharp turns. My hunch is that weight-forward carving might be the key. I dunno. I was trained in my early toe-clip crit days to STEER. I love steering. It avoids pedal-strike -- and front wheel wash-out. I suppose I can work on doing both head-first and steering ... and carving. It's all a blend. But is there a big no-no for the twisties??? That's what I'm wondering! Drills, tips appreciated.

JeffOYB

Everyone has CX fever, I can tell!

Anyway, I've been asking around and here are some tips I've come up with so far:

"Pressing the side knobs into the turn" and "look where you want to go" and "string-pulling-chin" and "cones looping" and "study fast dudes in the warmup."

Andy_K 

I've raced 4 times in the last 10 days, but I'm too slow to offer advice on the fastest way to do anything.

Looking where you want to go is definitely important, coupled with trusting that the bike will go there. The looking really does it as long as you don't do anything to interfere, like touching the brakes. Usually I do something to interfere and end up drifting toward the tape. Henry Ford's advice applies here: whether you think you can or think you can't you're right.

Another thing that helps a lot is to pedal through the turn. In particular, a little extra power to the pedals just as you cross the apex will help pull the bike out of the turn.

I have no idea what "string-pulling-chin" means. I'm guessing that "cones looping" means something along the lines of practicing figure eights around a pair of cones?

JeffOYB

Thanks for the thoughts.

"String chin" was a combo of some tips I read where someone said to actually move and point your chin to where you want to go like you're being pulled there -- I added the string bit.

justin1138

a tip i picked up combing through the mtb forums is to keep your weight forward going into the turns and then shift your weight back exiting. the off road riding definitely requires a lot more body english than the on variety...