Reading the Terrain

It's good to develop good habits as soon as possible. Here is a common problem for many riders and is a tough habit to break.

Many riders look three or four feet in front of their front wheel, constantly and carefully analyzing the terrain they are about to travel over. Even watch nearly straight down AS THEY ROLL OVER an obstacle. But thereby having NO advance notice of oncoming riders unless they call out, and NO ability to handle unexpected obstacles such as recently fallen trees or washed out trails.

I imagine this behavior arises out of fear of the obstacles on the trail. The rider feels they NEED to be watching right in front of the bike and they even need to watch a root or rock as they roll over it. I know that part of this fear comes from a lack of confidence in the bicycle, a lack of understanding of what a mountain bike can handle.

So let's eliminate that part right now. If you have a reasonable quality bicycle in good working order, you have NOTHING to fear from your bicycle*. A reasonable quality bike includes even the least expensive bicycles made by any respected brand name manufacturer, such as this Diamondback that my wife rides. Bicycles are TOUGH, and as long as they are maintained in proper working order they can handle any ordinary terrain up to and including Advanced obstacles*. Trust in your bicycle! It can handle roots, rocks, water, mud, sand, cornering, climbing, speed! And much much more when riden correctly; such as rock escarpements, fallen trees (tree trunks), vertical climbs, vertical drops, being completely submerged in water etc*. Yes, some of these situations may cause PERMANENT damage to inexpensive bikes, such as riding in deep water can damage bearings in wheels and bottom brackets that are not 'sealed'. BUT, the bicycle would NOT BREAK while you are hitting the obstacle and cause you to become hurt. The only reason you should expect to become hurt while going over an obstacle would an error on your part, not the bicycle.

Another problem with this behavior is that looking nearly straight down sort of ruins your ability to maintain your balance. In the same manner that you don't look at your feet while walking, running or climbing stairs, you shouldn't be looking right in front of or below your front tire.

*Important note. If you do NOT have confidence in your bicycle, it would be wise to take it to a bike shop and ask if the bike is sound. Get a tune-up which will insure the bike is in proper working order. Perhaps have a few parts replaced, such as brake cables, brake pads and the chain. The bike shop should help you to make your bicycle safe for regular trail riding. If you intend to tackle some harder obstacles, you probably already know how to maintain your own bike. If not, again PLEASE visit a bike shop and let them know you intend to do some hard riding and you want to make sure your bicycle is up to it.

So what is the correct way of reading the terrain? If you are traveling at much of any speed at all, you need to know what is a little farther ahead of you than just a few feet. Start learning to quickly look ahead twenty or thirty feet and then back to six or seven feet. It's a constant process of watching several feet in front of your wheel then scanning ahead. This enables you to be able to:
1) spot oncoming riders so you have time to call out 'Rider!' and avoid them
2) spot unexpected changes in the trail, such as recently fallen trees or washed out trails
3) understand what is ahead so you can plan for it step by step
4) while still keeping a careful eye just ahead

Number one and two should be obvious. Let's talk about number three. How you 'come out of' a particular obstacle will strongly influence how you deal with the next one. I mean 'come out of' as how you 'exit' an obstacle; what is your speed, location on the trail, current center of balance etc. In other words, you may come across a patch of deep sand and choose to go around it on the right. As you 'come out of' / 'exit' the obstacle, you'll probably be a little off balance and you'll be coming back into the trail from the right. Then suddenly you notice there is a sharp turn to the right and there is a tree smack dab on the right edge of the corner. What is probably going to happen is you'll have to drastically alter your balance to not HIT the tree in the first place and you have very little chance of making the turn. You'll end up going off the trail. If you had been reading ahead, you could have went around the sand obstacle on the left side and had natural advantage to make the sharp right. That's what I mean. As you ride on more and more difficult trails, the obstacles will start to come one right after another, again and again. In fact, I find trails rather boring if they aren't chock full of obstacles, and you will eventually want to be able to read obstacles four or five in advance to plan your attack!

Finally, YES! there is nothing wrong with paying careful attention to a harder obstacle as you approach it. But you should already have looked ahead and have an idea of what to expect on the other side, and the shorter your glance down the better.