Mountain Bike Tips: How To Hit Drops

Riders are being taught a number of different ways to go off drops and all have their place. Today we're going to talk a little bit about correct basic form, racer style, and a little bit about preload. With correct basic form, which is my go-to, I'm simply going to approach the drop edge being a little bit forward on the bike. And as my front wheel rolls right to the drop edge, I'm going to start shifting rearward. And I'm going to shift rearward the whole time from the moment my front wheel gets to the drop edge all the way until the moment my rear wheel gets to the drop. This means that on a slow drop I'm going to make a bigger hip shift and on a faster drop I'm going to make a smaller hip shift because of the amount of time it takes for the rear wheel to get to where the front wheel left the edge of the drop. So as I approach the drop edge, I'm going to be approaching in my neutral thrown position with knees over toes. When I'm about a bike length and a half away from the edge of the drop, I'm simply going to shift forward at the knees, giving myself some space to move. And as the front wheel rolls onto the drop edge, I'm simply going to be shifting rearward, building pressure into the fronts of my hands. So I'm not pushing forward on the bars, I'm simply building pressure into the fronts of my hands, which is going to allow the bicycle to maintain its level path off the drop. The best way to warm up for this is to do some small manual wheel lifts out in an open area. So you're simply going to move forward to the knees and shift rapidly rearward, extending your arms to where they're almost fully straight, with the goal being lifting the front wheel a couple inches off the ground. When you get to the drop to practice, start small obviously, and use the same technique, but without actually trying to lift the wheel. On a drop, all we're trying to do is simply maintain the horizontal plane. Once you get this super dialed, you can move into more advanced techniques like racer style. With racer style, we're actually able to make the drop appear to be a lot smaller, because we're going to be moving down through the bicycle off the drop edge. This is only going to be done by advanced riders and only at high speed. So with racer style, as I approach the drop edge, I'm actually going to stand very, very tall, and about a bike length before I get to the drop edge, I'm going to start rapidly shifting rearward and downward simultaneously, allowing my helmet line to start to make the fall off the drop edge before I've even reached the edge. It's really important that if you're practicing this, you start small with just a little bit of downward movement, and as you get really good at this, you'll be able to make drops appear to be much smaller than they actually are. This is super effective, because it allows us to get our wheels on the ground very, very quickly going down trail, and allows us to set up for an upcoming turn. Even correct basic form will allow us to turn while we're on a drop eventually, which is a huge advantage over preload. Preload is still a functional way to drop, and we still employ it, but we're going to use it when we want distance. So maybe I have a drop that has a landing out in front of it that I need to get to, which would actually be called a step down. In that instance, I'm going to press down through my feet, standing over the bottom bracket, and create compression, which is essentially going to give me an upward arc in the air, allowing me to clear something down trail. So go ahead and give these different techniques a try, and you'll find they open up all kinds of ways to deal with drops on trail.