Australian Mountain Bike – August 01, 2019

SKILLS

WORDS JAREDRANDO PHOTOS NICKWAYGOOD

Unfortunately it looks like

g

Dry

ty

trail. The days of hero

dirt are unfortunately few

and far between on many

trail networks and dusty

conditions can often make

trails slippery, bumpy and

just not as much fun as they

could or should be. Here’s a

couple of tips to help get the

most out of dusty trails as

we once again head towards

Deal

with

BIKE SETUP

Dry and dusty conditions normally mean two things – a serious

lackoftraction and exposed rocks covered in dust. To compensate, I

generally go with my standard tyre pressures but minus one or two

psi on the front and perhaps a little harder in the back. This helps with

front end traction and also gives a little extra cushion out back. For

suspension settings I’ll normally run just a little bit more low speed

compression damping in the front to help push through the dust and

get a little extra traction on the front end.

2 SETTING UP FOR CORNERS

The key ingredient for carrying speed through corners in the

dust is to set up wide and brake early. Setting up wide will allow you

to make the biggest arc possible for the corner which will allow you to

carry more speed. Braking late is also a bad idea as the dust means it

takes almost nothing to break traction and lose all your momentum in

the dry. Remember, the best judge of speed is how fast you come out of

a turn, not how fast you enter.

1

104 - AMB