Refinements, not new tricks
Advanced riding techniques are mostly refinements of things you already do: steering, shifting your weight and using the brakes. Understanding what the bike is doing makes each one easier to practise on purpose. Try them in a quiet, flat, traffic-free place first, with a helmet, and add speed gradually. This is general information, not coaching, and the details vary with the bike, the surface and the rider.
Countersteering
Countersteering is the way a bike actually starts a turn at speed. To turn right, you briefly push the right side of the bars forward (or equivalently steer very slightly to the left), which moves the wheels out from under the bike’s leaning mass so it falls into a lean to the right. Once leaning, the bike curves right.
Most riders already do this without noticing. At walking pace it barely applies, but as speed rises it is how the bike is steered. Thinking about it deliberately can help in these ways:
- A gentle push on the inside bar, rather than a pull on the outside one, often starts a lean more quickly and with less fuss.
- A firmer push generally gives a sharper, quicker lean, which is useful for swerving around a hazard.
- Keeping the arms relaxed matters, because a stiff grip makes the inputs rough.
A safe way to explore it is to ride a straight line at a modest, steady speed in an empty car park, and gently press one bar forward, noticing the lean and turn that follow. Increase the push slowly, stay well clear of kerbs, and stop if it feels uncontrolled.
Weight shifts
Where your weight sits on the bike affects grip and balance. Small, smooth shifts are more useful than big movements.
- Forwards and backwards. More weight over the front wheel helps it grip in a bend or on a loose surface. Moving back and lowering the hips can help on steep descents, so that you are not thrown over the bars. Too far back in a corner, though, can unload the front wheel and make it wash out.
- Side to side. In a bend the bike can lean while your body stays more upright, an idea known as bike-body separation, or you can lean with it. Pressing weight through the outside pedal, with the pedals level, generally helps tyres hold the ground. How much to lean the bike versus the body depends on the surface and the bike.
- Up and down. Standing slightly off the saddle with bent knees and elbows lets the legs and arms absorb bumps. This is often called the attack position, and it is the base for most trail skills.
Practise weight shifts slowly on a gentle, smooth slope or flat ground before using them on anything technical. A change of just a few centimetres in body position is often enough.
Trail braking
Trail braking means keeping a little braking pressure on as you turn into a bend, then easing it off as you lean further and the line tightens. The advantage is that it keeps weight on the front tyre and helps you fine-tune your speed rather than making a single big decision before the corner.
It also has clear limits. A tyre can only provide so much grip in total, shared between turning and slowing. Braking hard while leaning heavily can use up that grip and lead to a slide, especially on wet roads, loose gravel or painted lines. Traction while braking drops quickly on poor surfaces.
If you want to try it:
- Begin on a smooth, dry, clear surface at a pace well below your limit.
- Use only the lightest touch on the lever. Sudden or hard braking in a lean is risky.
- Release the brake gradually as you lean more, rather than all at once.
- Do most of your slowing before the bend, as normal, and treat trail braking only as a refinement.
- Skip it entirely when the surface is wet, icy, dusty or unknown.
Many experienced riders ride for years without using it deliberately, and nothing is wrong with that. Sound braking before the corner remains the safest default.
Road versus trail
On the road, techniques tend to be quieter: smooth lines, early braking and small adjustments. A good cornering line is wide and steady, and the focus is on being predictable to other road users.
On the trail, surfaces change from metre to metre and the bike moves more underneath you. Weight shifts are bigger, handlebars and body work more independently, and the same ideas apply with extra emphasis on feeling for grip. Gravel and loose-surface riding sits between the two, where loose surface braking needs patience and earlier, gentler inputs.
Practise with a plan
A short, deliberate session usually beats a long, tired one. One approach:
- Warm up with easy riding and a few slow turns.
- Choose one technique and one place. Do not combine several new things.
- Repeat the exercise at a low speed until it feels easy and repeatable.
- Make one small change, such as a little more speed, and repeat.
- Stop while you still feel fresh.
Filming a session can show things you cannot feel, such as stiff elbows or weight too far back. If something does not make sense, a qualified coach can watch you ride and give feedback that no article can.
Improvements here tend to be gradual and uneven. A technique that feels clumsy one week can feel natural a few weeks later, and a bad day does not mean you have lost it.