THE MANUAL

SKILLS, KNOW-HOW, MAINTENANCE & RIDE GUIDES

HOW TO STAY OFF THE MAIN LINE

Learn to read the trail to improve your speed, and skills, with coach Alan Milway

Picture the scene. You're riding a favourite trail and find yourself at the top with a rider you don't know. You're confident you'll keep on their wheel as you drop in behind them. As you approach the first tight right-hander. all of a sudden they move left, off the main line, and shoot across the trail with more exit speed than you thought possible. The gap lengthens. You speed into a rooty off-camber section and, as you bump through, the rider ahead is half a metre higher up the slope, skimming the smoother line, before finally dropping you on the next corner.

This was me. I was living in France in my early twenties and had the best riding lesson of my life, thanks to a couple of UK pro riders over for a holiday. Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees, and I had become great at riding the main line.

The main line is generally the route of least resistance - the line taken by the majority, and often by those who don't know where they're going. But as I've continued to learn, this is far from the best way down most trails, and if you want to improve, you often need to improve your line choice as much as your technique.