How to Cycle Downhill

Video Transcript

KEVIN LIVINGSTON: Hi, I'm Kevin Livingston. Now, we're going to give you some tips on riding downhill and descending with some corners. A couple of key things to remember, one is always look where you want to go. You scan the road in front of you for any gravel or holes or obstacles but then your side has to look down the road. This is going to help direct your bike as you steer through the corners. Other important thing is you have to ride with your outside foot down. That means if you're taking a left turn for example, you would have your right pedal down and you could even actually push through the pedal a little bit to give the bike more traction, all the while keep your weight through the top of your bike through your saddle, think of the weight going through your saddle, through your bottom bracket. This is your bottom bracket to the ground. This will help keep your weight in the proper spot. Then there's a technique that we all use. You may not even know you use it. It's called counter steering. To make the bike actually fall over gently to take the turn, you're going to gently push forward with the inside hand, not push down. Down creates--it could cause the wheel to lose traction but gently forward, and that's going to cause the bike to lean gently for the turn.