Improve your skills
Would you go skiing without getting lessons? Mountain biking is the same – the more you put into it to learn the correct techniques, the more you’ll get out of it.
Some of our mountain bike locations provide skills areas so you can practise different techniques before taking to the trails, but if you really want to progress and improve, we recommend getting some skills training.
Practice your skills and techniques
The downloads below show you how to practice some of the main mountain biking techniques. Seven of these are core techniques, and once you’ve mastered those, you can go on to perfect the rest.
The core techniques:
- The attack position (PDF 155k)
- Weighting and unweighting (PDF 485k)
- Trackstands (PDF 185k)
- Manual front wheel lift (PDF 276k)
- Power assisted front wheel lift (PDF 175k)
- Rear wheel lift (PDF 196k)
- Berms (PDF 239k)
Other useful skills to practice
- Step ups (PDF 87k)
- Step downs (PDF 182k)
- Drop offs (PDF 91k)
- Drop downs on rock (PDF 309k)
- Powered front wheel lifts on rock (PDF 195k)
- Difficult berms (PDF 178k)
- Roll over on log trail (PDF 248k)
- Mini slab (PDF 318k)
- Seated climb (PDF 116k)
- Steep tight turn (PDF 93k)
- Slow tight turn (PDF 129k)
- Controlled braking (PDF 137k)
- Jumping (PDF 132k)
Wallriding
Watch our video on how to ride the 180 degree wallride at Glentress:
Safety in Groups
More accidents happen when you crash into your riding buddies than when you’re mastering the technical stuff. Always leave a gap of at least five bike lengths between yourself and the rider in front before you shoot down the singletrack, and take care when riding in groups on the forest roads.
