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For the past several years I've been running the Trail Boss Academy, it's been super fun and rewarding. It's awesome getting to work with riders one on one and I've noticed some habits of riders that could be leading to a lack of confidence on the trail. I decided to make this video to pass along some of the things I see and help you take your riding to the next level.
#mtb #mountainbike
I was legally blinded a few years ago and now not being able to see far enough down the trail has seriously slowed me down , but thank God I can still ride trail 😊
The natural instinct on steep slabs is to move away from danger and get too far back. Then, you lose your arms and legs bc they are not aligned over the suspension. You are just rolling through and hanging on for dear life. Great demo of how the legs and arms are the main suspension and the fork and shock are just assists. "Keep the weight on your feet and balanced" is as good as i have heard that explained.
awesome! glad you liked it and thank you for adding to the conversation!
Breaking the bad habit of leaning back while descending is a game changer. I went to a week long mtb camp last year and that is one of the major things they look at when dividing the students up into intermediate and advanced groups. Obviously there is a psychological barrier you have to break but definitely worth the effort.
Awesome! Glad to hear.
I'm surprised. I lean back and no one beats me downhill. I pass people all the time, do not get passed, even by people that challenge me.
Bike geometry has made this a faster learning curve. Just 8-10 years ago steering head angles for MTB were basically what XC bikes are currently, in the 68 to 72° zone. It doesn't take much of a dropping of the front wheel to suddenly have your body CG enough forward to send you over the bars.
Hi, I'm new to MTB and this year, I purchase a 2023 Specialized Stumpjumper Evo comp alloy to learn how to ride in our Arizonan desert. This is my attempt at a healthier body and mind as well as a love for the outdoors. I've ridden for years on very mild terrain in the midwest with a hybrid bike so I consider myself very new to the new terrain and I have noticed that I get a bit scared on minor jumps. I am hoping to get out more often now that the weather is milder and after watching a few of your videos, I feel a bit more confident. Thanks for posting your knowledge and allowing new folks like myself to learn and adapt. My 10 year old want's to get into this as well so I am slowly building him a hardtail Rockhopper.
This is EXCELLENT! Thank you. The tiny clip from 2:38 to 2:42 is the best demonstration of body position I've ever seen.
Great tips, Jeff. Thanks a lot! One more follower from 🇧🇷
I could not agree more with the "look ahead" point. I'm embarrassed how long it took me to figure this out. Skinny's that used to make me nervous are now easy.
Thanks for the tips. I death grip into berms because its the only way to keep myself from braking in them. Definitely need more practice but concentrating on one smooth turn without corrections should help.
Number two and "the popping" of the drop are very very important tips
Thanks for the info, lots of great stuff. I find my best rides in the gnarly stuff is when I don't think too much, just react. Even better is when my finger slips off the brake levers and I don't them back on in time 😂. I also adjusted the position of my brake levers to be more parallel with my handlebars. Seems to help with my body position.
Great stuff Jeff. I had never heard the brake tip before. Instinctively I’ve always liked a finger on it
Great content! Bike is looking pretty damn sick bro! 😎
Good refresher aswell for someone wanting to gat back into it like myself it's just choosing what bike I'm having abit of a time with just now, there's so many new makes from 20 years ago when I had my atx 2 and konas
Thanks Jeff we love ya Brother 🚵♀️⚒️💪
Great tips Jeff! Thanks!
Excellent tips !!
Been casually riding since the 90s but the drop thing has always spooked me. I mostly do rolls and have done drops, just got lucky because I was riding fast enough but actually intentionally doing them was an issue. I've seen plenty of videos explaining being low, more than too far back etc but the best explanation was yours showing how you effectively speed the bike up by pushing it through. That's probably the most clear explanation of the technique I have heard. Thanks.
Just learning, great video for us old timer first timers :) thank you
That tip about drops blew my mind lol i hopped over a maybe 4 inch drop my 2nd time riding my mtb and almost pooped my pants. The way you showed makes so much more sense
Thx for the video. Very helpful!
Loved the drop how-to's...thank you
Wow. When rolling steep stuff I have always activated my dropper and shoved my body back and down as far as it would go, so that my butt is almost touching the rear tire. And I always have a little heart-attack moment when my butt is "bucked" up and I almost go OTB. But I keep doing it because "this is the way". Thanks for addressing this. It's probably a lot less scary using your method 🙂
I do the same thing, excited to try the correct way!
If your butt touches the back tyre on a drop it’ll end very very very badly
@@tastytechaddictsmtb AND IT HAS FROM TIME TO TIME !!
Good video thanks all the best from scotland 🏴
thanks a lot..what i need now is trail and a bike
Nice vid Jeff, very useful!
Awesome informative video man!
Good stuff man!
Can confirm that I did all of this at some point, except for the wrong pedal in turns. Great video.
I’m guilty of getting too far back but that actually helps my confidence 😂 I guess I will work on that one. Great video
I’m doing that too and I don’t see that as a problem. That was the only way to avoid OTB in the 1990s.
Nothing but best advice from Trail boss 💪 I noticed you've included familiar drop on Old Oak trail @Norbrook trails, very cool 👌
That place is FUN!
That is very relevant. Thanks.
Hi Jeff - I saw you ride at Motorama in 2000. I was there doing sport mod trials. Great to see youre still riding!
Rad! Those were good times!
thx, great Video 👍 Greetings from Germany
All great tips👍👍🔥🔥
Great video. If you haven't already covered hydrauli brake vs v-brake could be a good topic.
great video Jeff
Awesome tutorial! Love how you break things down. Full disclosure...I'm not a mountain biker, but I'm here to help support your channel after I found out that you help kids. Found you from the video you did on you van, which is beautiful by the way. Thank you for what you do! ❤️🌵☀️⛈️🌈☮️🐎🐕
Thank you! and shameless Can'd AId Plug....givebutter.com/Gravel-Revival-100
Super ideas listen to him I'm 68 years old and have a lot of riding off road is thee most fun.
Great info
Thank you!!! I think I don’t look far enough ahead on the gnarly trails 😅
very informative jeff…
"Today is gone be an awesome day" ... Lookalike to Sam Pilgrim ... But! Super Video and a great and correct Teaching! Really great. 5-Stars!
Nicely done
I need one of these classes. Just from this short video I do at least 3 of the 5. In my younger years of riding MTB (early to mid 20's) I was fearless. As times changed and not riding as much my confidence has dropped, A LOT. You know, it's the fear of dying that changes what and how you ride. Lol🤣
Great tips video Jeff. Thanks. Have you done a video covering pedal timing when sessioning a rocky climb or through a rock garden to minimize pedal and crank catches? I'd love to see it.
Not yet. That’s a good tip
That's a really good one. I recently saw a video where someone mentioned "ratcheting" in passing, and it was honestly a game changer for me. It feels really odd, but much better than catching pedal, which I seem to do a lot more now that I ride a full sus bike.
Great tutorial
Thank you.
Very informative
i agree the hooping going down +1 boss
😭 I’m guilty of 5 of 5… thanks again.. the algorithm brought you to me 💪🥂
Good stuff
I like that you said when the course is either "long enough or loose enough to warrant dropping a pedal" when mentioning dropping a foot when cornering. In NICA we train our riders to keep pedals level through turns. There are some situations where you'd need to drop a foot but most of the turns I feel like you get better traction when you're level. It's a lot easier to teach too.
great video as always Jeff. does pushing front wheel down the roll works even for bikes with steeper forks angle, like XC bikes? or it works only for slacker bikes? btw, if you find the time, do a video for tips for taller riders. most tips comes from people who are shorter and lighters. you and I are about similar in built, so it would be great to hear your tips for taller, bigger, heavier riders. especially on brake set up. keep up with the great work!
I've coached and done it on both bikes with success. Being tall like us is heelpful in this isntance, our arms and legs aree longer so wee can negotiate larger drops easier. Basically, aside from your chainring hitting, if the length of your arms is equal to or less than the drop you should be ok!
Great video Jeff, thanks. I struggle with keeping my eyes up the trail, especially when the trail gets more technical. When I realize what I am doing and make myself look up the trail everything works better and I usually carry more trail speed. Do you think riding with other (maybe faster) riders helps with this? I always end up riding solo, I think that effects my habits of looking up the trail at a rider in front of me.
Honestly, riding with faster riders occasionally will push you to ride harder but If you're focusing on technique it's better to ride at 60-70% so you can feel comfortable and focus on the thing you're trying to do. Make sense?
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss Makes sense. 👍🏻
Great video. Sensible tips.
looking through the turn is something i admit felt totally wrong - i always wanted to keep my eyes on my front wheel to see if i was going too low or too high.. once i started looking further into the burm and trusting that i was in the correct position - with some experience and more burm practice i have def improved stability and speed. that's one learned skill i think is prolly most important on this list.
See you in Sanford nc this month
wrong foot down is a funny one😂
I need some skills training but first I need conditioning. I'm wined on very short rides. Maybe in the spring I can look into skills training
Hi, good video 👍. Can I ask what bike brand you are riding ?
Nice tip on starting position on drops. I regularly hit pretty gnarly stuff but you made me realize it might be helpful to approach drops in a much more aggressive and deliberate stance than I'm used to. My bike is a bit on the big side for me and I often feel a little stretched, I've never considered this but the chin over bar is going to give me much more room to maneuver
Awesome!
Cabin drop. I miss you. 😢
Your balance is insane! Awesome video
Thank you!
He’s national champion of balance!
Very nice video indeed
Thank you!
Salamat po
With the brakes, I think you missed the biggest, number 1 thing to do just after a bike check... get the lever angles correct. Ergo = comfort = less performance anxiety when $%*# happens. Side note, love the bike frame, is that steel? As a 6'4" rider, I ended up on a Cannondale Bad Habit 1. I wish it was steel but so far so good. That steel bike just looks bullet, and bomb, proof.
Best channel on KZhead (even though I’m really good at bikes so I don’t need your advice)
Thank you!
Nice tips Jeff. Where is that trail at 5:30 on the video?
💯
What bike is that? It looks sick! 😍
Level pedals in corners is where to start.
Always level pedals, when you have the opportunity to, dropping your outside pedal will give you extra traction
Heppy fan . Heppy the best.layk strit daunhil connandale you layk.🎉
been riding for decades and learned all this by trial and error, we had no how to vids in the 80's. sure would have made things easier.
Do you have eney tips for going round burms with confidence
For some reason i feel safer doing a quick little pop off a drop, prior to getting the front wheel out and down. I know its wrong, darn it. The other day i did the Drift Drop at Trowbridge Forest in Thunder Bay. It was my biggest drop ever, im guessing 6 to 7 foot. (It was way over my husbands head as he rode under the dock.) I wish he could have seen what I did, but im sure, like usual, i gave it a little pop. I landed a little hard, but even and gave it a big ole, "YIP!"
It’s definitely a skill that’s useful to have in your toolbox but also spend some time working on both methods! Stoked you landed it!
Me too! Lol!
Cool
Should you keep ur finger on the brake when doing jumps?
👍👍
If i was going into some chunky drops I and had my chin over the handlebars and bodyweight under the pedals, might i go over the handlebars?
Hey man I had a question. If you corner left, should you keep the pedal towards the left or the right and vice-versa
Switching your pedals is really tough. I would recommend riding with your pedals level and like the video says. If the turn requires it or there’s time drop your outside foot
Awesome video thanks! Out of curiosity, what bike is that? Cheers
It’s a Reeb SST
120mm rear travel 160 up front Steel construction
that thing looks so simple and amazing @@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss
Recognize the KVSP shots!
You know it!
I've always pushed my bike forward off drops. I thought I was just throwing my weight back.
It’s back relative to the bike but the bike actually moves forward
I always been torn between size,,, Small or Medium.... His bike seems extra small on him, it that a big advantage to do tricks? I meant to get a small on XC bike but ended up getting a medium because sales guy insisted.. I am 5.7
What bike are you on?
Lee likes bikes? Joy of bike, might ask the question... but it's it safe to land a drop with arms locked out when you're still learning? Why is there so many different opinions on how to do a drop safely? I like the , "roll and pray this time isn't the time go over the bars"
you never want to go full lockout, landing with straight-ish arms is ok but use them to absorb the energy as soon as you touch down.
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss ❤️ that makes sense. The little millimeters of nuance and timing seem to be the key to MTB as I'm learning more and more. Thank you for this awesome channel! Not a boss yet, but might be a trail associate soon enough 😅
@@TheeGabrielAndrew Awesome, glad to hear it.
I hop some drops and gardens because I'm on a hardtail. So imma take that advice with a grain of salt lol
That would be more of a reason not to hop. You’re making the drop higher than it is and the landing rougher that. It needs to be but… suit yourself 😊
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss Just read your wiki, you are clearly the qualified one and I'm just some a-hole hahaha I got the idea from watching the Nate Hills Windsor Trail vid, it seems like they're hopping down the whole mountain - I was mimicking some of that behavior. Also just trying to keep my freaking arms from rattling off & a lot of the small drops had roots at the lip so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ maybe that scenario is different from a big clean drop, which I wouldn't hop, unless it was just for fun and I had already mastered the proper technique as demonstrated in your vid ;)
Nooooo. I’m not trying to come off like that at all. You’re absolutely right. Hopping to lighten your bike over rough sections is 100 percent beneficial. You don’t even need to leave the ground… just unweighting your bike will make a big difference. Hopping off drops is different though since you hopping you add height and since you have to travel a certain distance you might go further than necessary. Think of it this way…. You’re standing on. 4 foot wall… do you jump off or do you slightly bend your knees and drop softly? (I’m old so I do the second way lol) watch a couple of my drop videos and it may help. You also just inspired me to make a new one to explain it a little better!
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss All good, thanks for the clarity - I sub'd & I'll check out ur other drop vids for sure. I really like this idea of 'lightening the bike' over rough sections; I'm still learning to 'read the trail' that's been the most fun part is knowing when to use each technique and timing it right.
Worst habits I see is people letting the bike toss them around instead of allowing the bike move underneath. The other one that makes me cringe is inappropriate use of the front brake. Easy way to fix them is removing the front brake, locking out the fork, and sending them down a stair set of doom 10x until their arms and legs soften up. I'm sometimes guilty of going to sleep on a trail and not looking more than 6 feet ahead.
Front brake is your friend! Just treat her gently.
Using a step smaller size bike will help controlling the bike better.. imho..
@@verdi6092 That's true. Modern mountain bikes are absurdly hard to crash. You can instantly spot someone who grew up riding a BMX by their bike skills.
@@sapinvafor real. People always say I’m crazy for what I hit on a mountain bike at 44. I simply tell them that all my bikes as a kid were rigid bmx, a modern 29er hardtail feels like a Cadillac to me.
I just learned the letting the bike rock underneath me and it's made such a difference
Man that roll in at 2:35 looks like a oklahoma trail. Is it?
Yup!
I fist my grips going over wet logs and off jumps and drops so that I don't use them in these situations where I would definitely go down.
Well, thats ust like... your opinion man... O sorry, that was lebowski
One finger on the brakes is all you need... If you have Shimano brakes. 😂
What frame is that?
It's a Reeb SST
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss That is such a rad looking frame. I’m in the market for a new bike. Thanks!
It would be cool if you did a Canadian tour with your clinics.
I'm definitely well past most of this. I will add one thing about pedal positioning that to me, seems way obvious... putting the inside pedal closer to the ground. It is mountain biking after all; there are rocks, roots, bumps, etc. And your pedal tends to be a fairly solid object when it comes to that. I've been trying to teach my wife the "always have a finger on the brake" technique. I think a big problem is people tend to grow up on crappy bikes with poorly maintained v-brakes or cantilever rim brakes with full hand brake levers. They are used to having to use all four fingers and a death grip to brake, and that's not really a place you can keep your fingers and maintain solid grip on the handlebars. So it's un-teaching bad habits. I still remember when my roomie built a bike for his dad, this thing just had Avid BB7 mechanical disk brakes. Best mech brakes I've used. His dad somehow managed to get all four fingers on the two finger Avid levers and sent himself OTB.
until now, I'm still having a difficulty turning to my right at fast corners. But I don't when turning to my left 😂😂 And I really don't know why
Which foot do you typically position forward when your pedals are flat? Most often riders turn better away from their front foot. Everyone has a better side to corner to, the trick is to just be proficient the other way as well.
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss my right foot is always forward when my pedals are flat. I just can't lean my bike well when I turn right on corners. I kinda out of balance
If you have too much free stroke pls check your brakes, unless they are tektro its normal 😂
why is it bad to practice moving too far back? riding manuals is important for doing anything on mtb. As long as the rider understands its not necessary but just a technique they still need to learn
There is no such word as heighth
Whoa whoa whoa buster.. that’s my pet peeve too. I DEFINITELY did not say that word!! When? Lol
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss I had to rewind twice. I'm not sure I heard it. Sure Not Sure. Lol. Realitor gets me too. And when people say something needs replaced. Ugh. Needs to be replaced or needs replacing. I'm done. Lol
Thanks for making great videos man.
@@learnonedooneteachone3822 my wife is a realtor. How about supposubly?
Aaaaahhh! You'll love this. I was trying to decide if I wanted to stay with this girl a few years ago. The next day she got on FB and put up a post. In the past was the following. EXPLANATION POINT! She didn't just say it. She spelled it. Lol. I broke up with her later that day..
I call bs on the weight going down steep drops. Watch the video, the guys butt goes way back behind the seat
It definitelly looks that way but it's because the bike has rotated away from me. Wnen it does that the handleebars drop lower and I need to reach them, if my arms drop I have to hinge at my hips to shoot my hips back but my weight is through my feet. Try it out just standing without a bike, you'll see what I mean, LMK if that makes sense!