I was legally blinded a few years ago and now not being able to see far enough down the trail has seriously slowed me down , but thank God I can still ride trail 😊

Breaking the bad habit of leaning back while descending is a game changer. I went to a week long mtb camp last year and that is one of the major things they look at when dividing the students up into intermediate and advanced groups. Obviously there is a psychological barrier you have to break but definitely worth the effort.

I could not agree more with the "look ahead" point. I'm embarrassed how long it took me to figure this out. Skinny's that used to make me nervous are now easy.

The natural instinct on steep slabs is to move away from danger and get too far back. Then, you lose your arms and legs bc they are not aligned over the suspension. You are just rolling through and hanging on for dear life. Great demo of how the legs and arms are the main suspension and the fork and shock are just assists. "Keep the weight on your feet and balanced" is as good as i have heard that explained.

Been casually riding since the 90s but the drop thing has always spooked me. I mostly do rolls and have done drops, just got lucky because I was riding fast enough but actually intentionally doing them was an issue. I've seen plenty of videos explaining being low, more than too far back etc but the best explanation was yours showing how you effectively speed the bike up by pushing it through. That's probably the most clear explanation of the technique I have heard. Thanks.

This is EXCELLENT! Thank you. The tiny clip from 2:38 to 2:42 is the best demonstration of body position I've ever seen.

Wow. When rolling steep stuff I have always activated my dropper and shoved my body back and down as far as it would go, so that my butt is almost touching the rear tire. And I always have a little heart-attack moment when my butt is "bucked" up and I almost go OTB. But I keep doing it because "this is the way". Thanks for addressing this. It's probably a lot less scary using your method 🙂

That tip about drops blew my mind lol i hopped over a maybe 4 inch drop my 2nd time riding my mtb and almost pooped my pants. The way you showed makes so much more sense

Thanks for the tips. I death grip into berms because its the only way to keep myself from braking in them. Definitely need more practice but concentrating on one smooth turn without corrections should help.

Best training I have seen online to keep me safe in Southern Utah. I would like to k ow more about Trail Boss Academy

Great tips Jeff! Thanks!

Great stuff Jeff. I had never heard the brake tip before. Instinctively I’ve always liked a finger on it

Awesome tutorial! Love how you break things down. Full disclosure...I'm not a mountain biker, but I'm here to help support your channel after I found out that you help kids. Found you from the video you did on you van, which is beautiful by the way. Thank you for what you do! ❤️🌵☀️⛈️🌈☮️🐎🐕

Hi, I'm new to MTB and this year, I purchase a 2023 Specialized Stumpjumper Evo comp alloy to learn how to ride in our Arizonan desert. This is my attempt at a healthier body and mind as well as a love for the outdoors. I've ridden for years on very mild terrain in the midwest with a hybrid bike so I consider myself very new to the new terrain and I have noticed that I get a bit scared on minor jumps. I am hoping to get out more often now that the weather is milder and after watching a few of your videos, I feel a bit more confident. Thanks for posting your knowledge and allowing new folks like myself to learn and adapt. My 10 year old want's to get into this as well so I am slowly building him a hardtail Rockhopper.

Number two and "the popping" of the drop are very very important tips

Excellent tips !!

Thanks for the info, lots of great stuff. I find my best rides in the gnarly stuff is when I don't think too much, just react. Even better is when my finger slips off the brake levers and I don't them back on in time 😂. I also adjusted the position of my brake levers to be more parallel with my handlebars. Seems to help with my body position.

Loved the drop how-to's...thank you

thanks a lot..what i need now is trail and a bike

Thanks Jeff we love ya Brother 🚵‍♀️⚒️💪

Great tips, Jeff. Thanks a lot! One more follower from 🇧🇷

Good refresher aswell for someone wanting to gat back into it like myself it's just choosing what bike I'm having abit of a time with just now, there's so many new makes from 20 years ago when I had my atx 2 and konas

I’m guilty of getting too far back but that actually helps my confidence 😂 I guess I will work on that one. Great video

Great content! Bike is looking pretty damn sick bro! 😎

Just learning, great video for us old timer first timers :) thank you

That is very relevant. Thanks.

Thx for the video. Very helpful!

Good video thanks all the best from scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Nice vid Jeff, very useful!

Nothing but best advice from Trail boss 💪 I noticed you've included familiar drop on Old Oak trail @Norbrook trails, very cool 👌

Great tips so helpful 😊

I like that you said when the course is either "long enough or loose enough to warrant dropping a pedal" when mentioning dropping a foot when cornering. In NICA we train our riders to keep pedals level through turns. There are some situations where you'd need to drop a foot but most of the turns I feel like you get better traction when you're level. It's a lot easier to teach too.

Can confirm that I did all of this at some point, except for the wrong pedal in turns. Great video.

Putting the inside pedal up when turning is the most logical thing to do since it gives you more ground clearance than with the inside pedal down. And even on foot, balancing a narrow straight line is much easier when you look at the end of that line instead of down on your feet. Works the same on a highwire, so it naturally applies to riding a bike, too.

Super ideas listen to him I'm 68 years old and have a lot of riding off road is thee most fun.

Hi Jeff - I saw you ride at Motorama in 2000. I was there doing sport mod trials. Great to see youre still riding!

Awesome informative video man!

Thanks for tips

Excellent. TY!

Nicely done

Good stuff man!

great video Jeff

Great video. If you haven't already covered hydrauli brake vs v-brake could be a good topic.

All great tips👍👍🔥🔥

very informative jeff…

Great info

Great tutorial

Very informative

thx, great Video 👍 Greetings from Germany

I need one of these classes. Just from this short video I do at least 3 of the 5. In my younger years of riding MTB (early to mid 20's) I was fearless. As times changed and not riding as much my confidence has dropped, A LOT. You know, it's the fear of dying that changes what and how you ride. Lol🤣

Thank you.

"Today is gone be an awesome day" ... Lookalike to Sam Pilgrim ... But! Super Video and a great and correct Teaching! Really great. 5-Stars!

Great video. Sensible tips.

Good stuff

Thank you!!! I think I don’t look far enough ahead on the gnarly trails 😅

😭 I’m guilty of 5 of 5… thanks again.. the algorithm brought you to me 💪🥂

Great tips video Jeff. Thanks. Have you done a video covering pedal timing when sessioning a rocky climb or through a rock garden to minimize pedal and crank catches? I'd love to see it.

wrong foot down is a funny one😂

See you in Sanford nc this month

i agree the hooping going down +1 boss

looking through the turn is something i admit felt totally wrong - i always wanted to keep my eyes on my front wheel to see if i was going too low or too high.. once i started looking further into the burm and trusting that i was in the correct position - with some experience and more burm practice i have def improved stability and speed. that's one learned skill i think is prolly most important on this list.

Great video Jeff, thanks. I struggle with keeping my eyes up the trail, especially when the trail gets more technical. When I realize what I am doing and make myself look up the trail everything works better and I usually carry more trail speed. Do you think riding with other (maybe faster) riders helps with this? I always end up riding solo, I think that effects my habits of looking up the trail at a rider in front of me.

Hi, good video 👍. Can I ask what bike brand you are riding ?

I need some skills training but first I need conditioning. I'm wined on very short rides. Maybe in the spring I can look into skills training

great video as always Jeff. does pushing front wheel down the roll works even for bikes with steeper forks angle, like XC bikes? or it works only for slacker bikes? btw, if you find the time, do a video for tips for taller riders. most tips comes from people who are shorter and lighters. you and I are about similar in built, so it would be great to hear your tips for taller, bigger, heavier riders. especially on brake set up. keep up with the great work!

Very nice video indeed

Salamat po

Cabin drop. I miss you. 😢

Nice tips Jeff. Where is that trail at 5:30 on the video?

Nice tip on starting position on drops. I regularly hit pretty gnarly stuff but you made me realize it might be helpful to approach drops in a much more aggressive and deliberate stance than I'm used to. My bike is a bit on the big side for me and I often feel a little stretched, I've never considered this but the chin over bar is going to give me much more room to maneuver

With the brakes, I think you missed the biggest, number 1 thing to do just after a bike check... get the lever angles correct. Ergo = comfort = less performance anxiety when $%*# happens. Side note, love the bike frame, is that steel? As a 6'4" rider, I ended up on a Cannondale Bad Habit 1. I wish it was steel but so far so good. That steel bike just looks bullet, and bomb, proof.

Best channel on KZfaq (even though I’m really good at bikes so I don’t need your advice)

Your balance is insane! Awesome video

What bike is that? It looks sick! 😍

Great video, thanks

Should you keep ur finger on the brake when doing jumps?

Do you have eney tips for going round burms with confidence

If i was going into some chunky drops I and had my chin over the handlebars and bodyweight under the pedals, might i go over the handlebars?

Worst habits I see is people letting the bike toss them around instead of allowing the bike move underneath. The other one that makes me cringe is inappropriate use of the front brake. Easy way to fix them is removing the front brake, locking out the fork, and sending them down a stair set of doom 10x until their arms and legs soften up. I'm sometimes guilty of going to sleep on a trail and not looking more than 6 feet ahead.

Cool

Level pedals in corners is where to start.

💯

been riding for decades and learned all this by trial and error, we had no how to vids in the 80's. sure would have made things easier.

Hey man I had a question. If you corner left, should you keep the pedal towards the left or the right and vice-versa

For some reason i feel safer doing a quick little pop off a drop, prior to getting the front wheel out and down. I know its wrong, darn it. The other day i did the Drift Drop at Trowbridge Forest in Thunder Bay. It was my biggest drop ever, im guessing 6 to 7 foot. (It was way over my husbands head as he rode under the dock.) I wish he could have seen what I did, but im sure, like usual, i gave it a little pop. I landed a little hard, but even and gave it a big ole, "YIP!"

My biggest issue is drops and jumps I'm getting better I feel but still don't have the confidence to hit the big jumps and drops .

What bike are you on?

I always been torn between size,,, Small or Medium.... His bike seems extra small on him, it that a big advantage to do tricks? I meant to get a small on XC bike but ended up getting a medium because sales guy insisted.. I am 5.7

Heppy fan . Heppy the best.layk strit daunhil connandale you layk.🎉

👍👍

I've always pushed my bike forward off drops. I thought I was just throwing my weight back.

Awesome video thanks! Out of curiosity, what bike is that? Cheers

Recognize the KVSP shots!

Man that roll in at 2:35 looks like a oklahoma trail. Is it?

Lee likes bikes? Joy of bike, might ask the question... but it's it safe to land a drop with arms locked out when you're still learning? Why is there so many different opinions on how to do a drop safely? I like the , "roll and pray this time isn't the time go over the bars"

Skinnies are the best way to express the importance of looking up. You go from twitchy and slow to smooth and steady. This translates to normal trails.

I hop some drops and gardens because I'm on a hardtail. So imma take that advice with a grain of salt lol

What frame is that?

I fist my grips going over wet logs and off jumps and drops so that I don't use them in these situations where I would definitely go down.

Well, thats ust like... your opinion man... O sorry, that was lebowski