Follow-Up: 302 Decoding Drops

Stay Centred

The "chin over the stem" rule is about maintaining stability. As the bike unweights off the edge, if you stay centred then you won't sit on the back tyre, you can control press force, and you land in a stable position.

Remember: moving the bike under you is different to you moving over the bike.

Absorb the Bike Up Into You

Expect that the back wheel can "hook up" on the edge - don't let that push your body forward. Allowing the absorb to happen when needed is essential for riding drops safely. Get familiar with loosening muscle tension through your legs as the back wheel hits square edges.

Your Torso Is What Matters

Your head & torso, with its extra mass, has momentum that will carry it through the air even as the bike falls away. However, gravity will still pull you down. Plan for the path your torso will take, allowing for smooth arcs from run-in to run-out.

This is why the 'press' gets you over drops smoothly - the force down creates an equal force up.

Make It Easy

You don't have to press and "launch" off every drop! Some drops are made harder if you do. Feeling confident in riding off a drop by "doing nothing" - using passive bike-body separation - makes drops far less intimidating.

Practice getting as low as possible before rolling off an edge, then keep adding speed until you're airing off it.

Pressing Has Consequences

As drops get bigger, faster, and/or scarier it becomes more difficult to time your press right. Still pressing as the front wheel rolls over the edge is very hard to recover from - don't let this happen.

Try presses at different locations, speeds and amounts of force on a zero-consequence "drop" (even a stick), so you know what will happen.

Where Are You Going?

The runout is always an important part of a drop. You should be scanning the trail for:

• The zone you will press in (even if you don't)
• Where you will land
• Where you will ride to

Scanning between them, and confident in each.

Drops are dangerous (Friday Fails...). Allow yourself to practice and progress in low-consequence locations. You learn best from your mistakes - let that happen safely!