Originally Posted by RubeRad

Hey y'all,

My wife&I are getting more and more into mtn biking for our recreational riding. Our skills are improving as we get more miles in: picking our way up and down rocky/rutted hillsides without losing balance is something we are ok with now, but had a lot of trouble a few months ago.

However, there's one trail near where we live that has us completely beat. It's called Martha's Grove in Sycamore Canyon (here's a pov vid -- that's not me!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAJ6lcyFz_E The problem is that there's a whole bunch of like foot-high dropoffs, that land in pretty uneven ground where it's hard to not get the front wheel trapped in a rut or stuck on a rock. Plus with the sheer dropoff on the right side the whole way, and the wife crashing almost off the edge once, when we try to take them, we are too slow&cautious, end up nearly endoing.

I know we need to take them faster, to get the front wheel to touch down further from the step and get less pitch downwards, but I think we need to be able to work up to it.



Any ideas how to find other areas where we can practice step-downs of varying heights and work our way up?

Any ideas about exercises to improve technical skill generally also welcome...