BROKEN RECORD SKILLS

What are the most frequently asked questions on a skills day? We asked Dirt School’s Andy Barlow

Q The Skills section in mbr tells me having my outside foot all the way down when cornering is a bad idea, the logic being I can’t then push harder for more grip. But I can’t feel that pressure through my foot anyway, so I have no idea when to push more or less. What should I feel?

Andy: The push we often recommend in the Dirt School skills articles refers to the amount of strength that a rider uses to drive their body weight back against the trail. Look at it like this. If you are freewheeling along a flat surface, then the amount of ‘push’ that you’re exerting is no different than standing in a queue at the supermarket. You’re holding your body weight up against the effects of gravity. That’s it. However, when you start to roll through things like jumps or corners, the trail will exert an additional force back against you as it changes direction. The amount of extra force that you have to exert in order to not buckle under that new and extra weight is the push that we often advise.

I wouldn’t say that you feel it through your feet any more than you feel the additional force of climbing stairs through your feet. Instead, you should think of it as standing up, and using the power available in your legs against an increase in the forces acting upon you – same as you do when lifting your weight up a flight of stairs.

Keeping your feet level with the surface you are on gives you more room to use your legs, and more strength and control over how much force you can push back against.