I noticed my cornering confidence improves as my ride progresses (which seems be a little odd). Is there some sort of cornering warm up routine I can perform before a ride to help be confident throughout?
asked Aug 10, 2020 at 17:18
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5It’s likely because you have a better feel of the level of traction available as you keep riding. “I didn’t crash in the last corner, so this next corner can be even faster”.– MaplePandaCommented Aug 10, 2020 at 18:10
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Agree with MaplePanda: this is likely a mental thing rather than a physcial one (it still helps if you're muscles are warmed up though I guess); so it's an interesting question, but unlike a 'normal' warm up answers are likely going to be very personal and hard to back by science.– stijnCommented Aug 10, 2020 at 19:11
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6RULE #64 // Cornering confidence increases with time and experience. This pattern continues until it falls sharply and suddenly.– rclocher3Commented Aug 11, 2020 at 0:20
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I have never heard of such a thing (a cornering warm up routine), but then again I do not ride competitively. I know that race car tires have greater traction when warm compared to when they are cold, but I do not think that applies to bicycle tires as much. What type of riding do you do?– samCommented Aug 13, 2020 at 4:20
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@sam MTB/XC for the most part– Carson ReinkeCommented Aug 13, 2020 at 18:47
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1 Answer
There's a common enough drill that we teach kids on our HS MTB team that could also serve as a warmup. The idea is to practice keeping the body vertical (and off the seat, of course) while turning the bike into the turn. The foot on the outside of the turn is kept down. A variation (an "I trust my bike" exercise) is to maintain that posture while keeping the bike moving straight-- essentially riding straight on the side of the tires. The first exercise is more useful, imho. We've seen an improvement in confidence as the kids understand a bit of the physics of the turn and see that there's more to it than, "fling yourself into the corners and hope the brakes are good enough".
