There's a degree of calm and cool that is essential to riding technical
terrain. Any panic move has the propensity to drop you like greased
lightning and it most often will. A quick grab of the brake is
probably the
biggest single panic move that will drop a rider, but even a
herky-jerky
body shift can do the trick. Feathering or modulating the brakes
instead of
the quick grab, or moving the bike underneath your body instead of your
body
over the bike can keep you upright if you are keeping your cool.
Remaining
cool in the rough stuff will keep you upright and flowing down the
trail and
that's what it's all about, contrary to what the Hokey Pokey claims.
I recently has the opportunity to ride the wheel of a mountain biker
who is
becoming one of somewhat legendary proportions. I'm certain that if he
had
thought I was infringing upon his territorial imperative while riding
his
wheel, he would have spoken up. I decided to stay put for a while,
trusting
him in turn to not stack in front of me, but leaving just enough room
to
evade in case of a miscue. The particular section of trail we were on
was
an undulating bench cut, but mostly downhill. The trail varied in
surface
conditions from packed DG sand, to hardpack with DG on top, and some
rocky
technical scattered throughout. One particular right-hand switchback
on a
rock surface found this rider slightly askew and going into a bit of a
nose
wheelie. In the matter of the two seconds his rear wheel was in the
air, it
traveled to the right in a kind of inverted tailwhip as he feathered
off of
the front brake, setting it down neatly in the trail and exiting the
move.
http://www.spokejunkies.com/forum/uploads/1133811944/gallery_35_32_89717.jpg
I made a complimentary statement a few seconds after watching this and
he
admitted that the inverted tailwhip was not intentional. Even so, it
was
the perfect example of how keeping your cool and staying with the bike
keeps
you upright. The obvious brake control this rider used spoke volumes
as
well and helped confirm the rumors I'd heard as to how skilled this
individual is on a mountain bike. Cool.
JD