MTB Tips for Conquering Tough Features in The Winter!

That catcher berm man, it's insane. It's gonna be insane man, look at this like just like look how big this jump is. It's huge. Today we're back out in Cumberland, BC doing a double black lap that is normally deemed unrideable in the winter and today was definitely icy, snowy, rowdy. It was pretty insane. Let's go. Looking far ahead, letting off the brakes. This is black ice of mountain biking. Yeah. We're heading up Chunder. Yeah, almost there. Man, there's a lot of snow up here. We are first tracks of this snow and it's pretty crunchy. All right, Josh and I have made it to the top of Chunder finally. There was a lot of snow on the way up and it looks like, yeah, we're gonna have to navigate our way through this to get to all the features and today's video is all about like how to approach raw, rowdy, natural features. Here in Cumberland we have some of Canada's best winter riding, especially when it comes to like raw, natural features like this. This is a double black lap. We're doing Chunder into Prohibition. There's some pretty rowdy features. We do have some snow on the ground, so it's going to be, yeah, it's going to be a rowdy one and we're going to stop at some of the bigger lines and take a look at how to approach them. So we're going to break those features down and walk you guys through it. Okay, Josh, you ready? We might just be walking right off the bat right here. Let's try it. Oh, buddy. Oh, we're in the clear. This is already more clear than the climb was. Okay, yeah, oh, I haven't been down here in so long. I'm pretty washed out. Also got to keep an eye on for trees. We've had a lot of wind storms. Yeah, first big feature coming up. Oh, nice. Someone's been through with a saw already. Here's the first main drop on the trail. The snow disappeared quick. I know. That was sick. Yeah, dude. And the trees are like, there's a pretty big tree that was down there. You can see, like, someone's been through here with a saw already. Yeah, you can smell somebody cutting. Fresh wood, the smell of fresh cedar. Oh, that was wild, man. And the smell of brakes. That's squirrely at times. Yeah, I hit a couple, like, little gaps there and then, like, front wheel lands on a little snow patch. Okay, so here's, like, the big drop on Chunder. It's a pretty, like, I'd say that's like a solid 10 feet of vertical. I think you're airing off the top here. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I've never gone off this part here. Okay, so what's your line? I've always gone right down here. Yeah. And just bumped off this little rock. Okay. Yeah, then there's... You could roll this, even. I think you, yeah, it's doable. I mean, there's quite a compression at the bottom there, but there's also, like, the roll line. So maybe we'll approach this from a few different ways. So if you look at this drop from the side at the bottom, there's not a very steep landing, and there's really, like, no gap. Yeah. So I usually, if I'm going off the very top, I would like to pre-hop it. Yeah. Because then I'm getting, like, a little more of a gap. Yeah. And speed, and I can snipe the top more with speed, and it's a bit smoother. Yeah. Or you can do, like, your go-to line is kind of, you're saying going, like, slower and rolling off the lower rock there. Yeah. Yeah, and then there's, like, a pretty rad roll down line, so. But I don't know if it's going slow. I feel like the slower approach would be the higher one because the higher one is going to shoot you further down, no? It's definitely, like, a slow plumb drop if you just go off the very peak. Oh, yeah. That's why I like to pre-hop it a bit. You mean, like, that right? Yeah, yeah, there. Oh, I'm thinking bumping off the left side rock. Okay. Yeah, this thing has a really nice run out, though, and that's, like, the biggest thing with drops is having a good run out. The dropping is easy, the landing is the hard part, right? That's it. The air time and doing the gap or whatever is never the problem. It's always, it's always, will I be able to stay in control when I land? So, first hit on this, I'm going to come off here and I'm going to basically bunny hop, like, a few feet before the edge. Oh. Yeah, I'll kind of show you how that looks. Okay. It makes it pretty smooth because, like I was saying, you can just kind of stay low and hot, like a low kind of subtle hop, and then you can snipe more of the top of the landing because as soon as you go more than, like, half a bike length down that landing, it's basically a huck to flat. Okay, a slow low hop and just get ready for the top of that landing. I might try to approach that one more time without the pre-hop and we'll compare, like, how much of an impact that is because that did feel a little more harsh than I remember. I think that landing's really flattened out. Are we on Chunder? Are we riding Chunder? I'm going to start with even less of a run-in this time. Really creep slow right to the edge of that top lip and just kind of light bar turn scrub off it. Snipe the top of that landing. Okay, drop. Yeah, that was smoother. It felt a lot smaller, but I carried more speed as I landed. That was nice. What Mark just did was a little to the left of what I'm going to do. So I'm going to be coming straight down here and I'm going to do a slightly lower bump jump off this thing. It's a little bit of a safer route, I think, so you're not fully committing off this rock. It doesn't look like much. It's about a foot higher, but this is gonna, you're almost kind of in a descent before you hit the bump jump and then do the drop. It's smoother to go where I went because if you go to where you're standing, Mark, it almost wants to shoot you onto these jagged little three rocks that are sitting here. So there's a little bit more technique involved from your drop. It's funny because there's, looking at it, it's like, what the hell's the difference? But they're actually two very different drops. I'm good. And then we have like another drop here that's pretty sketchy. It's not huge, but it's got a weird setup. Oh man, those rocks are like ice today. And there literally is like patches of ice frozen onto the rocks. We got into some more snow there. Yeah. This little guy is always kind of weird, hey? Cause you're like, and especially you're going to be like sliding on these rocks today and you're going to want to give it a good pull to that case. And the run out is so, it's flat, but it's always kind of rough. It's like, it matches the vibe of the trail. It's just straight up chunder after this little drop here. Yep. Yeah. And then you have a ride on adoption too, but honestly, I don't think it's any easier because the ride around has got like some pretty gnarly little tech section here. That's always kind of off camera and weird. I agree. The first time I did this trail, I did this ride around, went back up and did this one. And I haven't touched this ride around since this is a, this is a very technical ride around. Yeah, it is. You almost, it's not a ride around. It's a, it's just an alternative. All right. Yeah. We good? Do it. I'm a, I'm a little nervous right now, to be honest. Cause it, cause it's icy. Yeah. And, uh, I think it's going to be okay. Yeah. But I also, this is another thing that trips me up when I ride this trail top to bottom every time. So I don't even have time to think about this stuff that's coming. I know it's coming. Yeah. So when we stop, we look at it, we take a break and we say ready. Then it, it adds a little jump in my heart. Just don't use your brain. Let's go. Yeah. Okay. There we go. That was sick. Smooth. That was easy. Super chill. Yeah. All that hype. And then you just cruise off. It's nothing. Yeah. All right. Lead the way, brother. down it? Yeah, let's do it. I love that section. I've never done it. No, it's steeper. It's better. We got like a little punchy section for like maybe a few meters there after the compression. And then we're into the steeps again. I might do a lot slower on this. Oh yeah. I love this stuff. Oh, buddy. That is steep. Yeah, buddy. That was sick, eh? Yeah. It's like very... Such a way more funner. Way more funner, yeah. Yeah, man. I'm glad that's open again. They should keep that open. Everything you're excited about, I'm scared about. Starts off very off-camber and tight. Anytime I try to go full pin, I like... Especially right here. That's the section. Okay, now we're opening up. Just a couple little side hits here, but I don't know if they're rideable right now. Holy crap. That is wet. Yeah. Oh, I missed that one. Oh, this is nice. Yo. Oh, not done yet, but that is so cool. Oh yeah. Nice. This is new. Oh. Oh, dude. Rocks and roots. Hell yeah. They made that run in so much better. It's going to be insane, man. Look at this. Just look how big this jump is. It's huge. Let me stand down there to give it scale. That's cool, man. From the bottom of this... We're in a gully, so... I mean, it's a jump out of a gully. It's a natural mega ramp. It's cool they made this a big roller, too, because it used to be a pretty janky step down, and the compression would always throw you off. Yeah. And I think barely anyone ever cleared this how it used to be, especially with the takeoff being... always being this tall, but like no dirt on it. And then let's see if there's an actual landing zone now, because there used to never be a landing. It's like an uphill landing right now. I'm sure after some testing, they'll build this up some more. Yeah. Nice dirt pocket in here. Yeah, that's cool. Damn. It'd be so rad to like transfer and land up on this edge here. Hey, man, I'd be down to go back to the top and rip down that again. Should we hit that again? Okay, let's do it. Just because it's really well built. It is. Yeah, it's sick. Let's go get it, and then we'll just rip right past the step up and keep going. Oh, that's gonna be sick. There's so much speed there. Oh, I'm in hard gear. Oh, man, that's awesome. Yeah, that's gonna be sick, hey? Yeah. And we're going into this high line, and then we're back onto the rock blocks at the bottom half here. Oh, man, I don't trust this rock today. It's so wet. You can normally gap right there a little bit, but it's so slick today. And then, it's probably one of the biggest rock rolls in Cumberland up here. And the landing, or the run out is sketchy. It's the craziest one, right here. Yeah, it does, just saying. They haven't built up this yet, looks like that. Oh, man, it's gonna be scary today. I was like, I was thinking like, oh, it'd be cool to like approach this a few different ways and get really rowdy on it. Yeah. Because on a dry day, you can do that. You can go like. I'm not hitting this today. No, so like on a dry day, see this route here? I'll like double up. Well, here's the full line. So, when it's like a really nice day for conditions, it's really hard to show on video, but we're dealing with like, basically like sheets of ice on rock. This is black ice of mountain biking. Yeah. Yeah, it's like not a hundred percent, but as you run your fingers on it, you can hit little patches of ice. So, I'll have to save this for another day, but like my go-to line when the conditions are like perfect, is kind of like do a pre-hop here, air this little hump I'm in, kind of land a little outside, like where you are. Yeah. It's like a cool transfer into here on the dirt. I mean, that wouldn't be too bad today because you're laying on dirt. And you straight line, pump through, and then you can bunny hop off this route, and kind of like hip jump into the rock because the rock's not like crazy steep. It's like, it's like as steep as a dirt jump landing, but it's just like sustained grade. And then that run out is so gnarly. That catcher berm, man. It's insane. Yeah. And I think right after the berm is the gnarliest part because you have like an off-camber little rock drop with like slippery roots everywhere. Today's going to be especially greasy. My approach today will be hit this at like 60% speed. So, if I was like really in the mood for sending it and conditions were ideal, I would just charge this. And even on days like that, you're pretty much drifting down this rock and then punching that sketchy catch. And then the run out is always like a pinball. Like you feel like you're riding through a pinball machine, just getting tossed around. It's pretty rowdy. And based on what we're experiencing on this lap so far today, I'm going to be smart and approach this at a mellower pace, stay close to the ground, and then really control my braking, nice even braking, really modulate my speed. So, I might like let the brakes off a little more and more as I go down the hill rather than trying to like grab too much brake at the bottom of the roll. I'm going to let off as I'm going down and then I'll be able to manage my speed really well through that sketchy catch turn. That's kind of the move for features like that. Allow yourself to go faster and be comfortable with faster versus starting off fast and try to slow down. And yeah, it's going to be kind of scary today, actually. Normally, I'm like pretty chill on this thing, but yeah, that's insane. This like black ice like surface today is pretty intimidating. This is one feature. There's a few features I haven't done yet, but this is one of the big ones in the network I haven't even tried yet. Okay. And hell no. Well, if you're going to watch me do it today, like at a slower pace than I normally would so you can see how it looks on the run out, especially like the run out so rowdy. Mark, I think I can see black ice right now. I know. I know on that surface. Like I'm not going down. This is not my guinea pig day of this, of this rock slab. Not doing the double today here. I already drifted looking far ahead, letting off the brakes and punch it. Whoa. Oh my God. That is slick. Oh man. That was like such a chill pace, but still pretty rowdy. Watching Mark go down a rock slab that is patched with ice was wild to watch. All right, we're going down the slow, tedious way here, bud. You want to stay alive for the rest of the ride? Yep. Yeah, this is what we do. I'm not guinea pigging a prohibition rock slab today, but one day, one day I'll get down that thing. Oh, you okay? Yep. I tried to go slowly down this tech stuff. Nope. Dude, this is insane. All right, I'm safe. Oh, nice one. It's really hard to convey how like crazy that is right now, right? So slippery and just janky. The big rock was fine. It was just the run out was sketchy. Like especially the rock after the berm, that part is so sketchy. Like the part you fell on, I almost went down on that too. It was on the edge. Yeah, the tech stuff's the hardest part whole thing. Yeah. Yeah. Big crux of the network right now is that spot. All right, now we got switchbacks. That's the last big line of the trail. That's the last main feature on the trail. Now we're just doing like tight, steep switchbacks all the way to the bottom here. Pretty fun. Kind of hard to open up, but it's still a good time. That was awesome. Just like frothing on grippy dirt right now, since we've been on ice all day. I'm getting carried away. Oh, that is a day. That's a lap. That's fun. Well, dude, we survived the day. I was expecting like a normal winter riding day without a ton of snow or ice. And we got pretty much the complete opposite of that because we went high in the network. We went to a zone you normally wouldn't ride this time of year. And there was blow down, there was black ice, there was snow patches. It had all the risky stuff and lots of washed out steep sections. You hit some lines you've never hit before. Yeah. This is stuff that scares me in the primest conditions. So I can't believe we just did this in January. It was sick. And I think the biggest takeaway you can get from this video is when you're riding rowdy stuff, especially in less than ideal conditions, it's super important to not charge things at a hundred percent. We stayed at like, or at least I stayed at like 60% speed all day. I was at 90. You're at 90? Yeah. 60 and 90. Good ratio. Yeah, it was good. We took the time to analyze features, look at things and realize how sketchy the conditions actually were. If I was just riding by myself, I'd probably maybe come into that stuff a little more blind and I might've gotten myself into a little more spicy situations. Not to say that we didn't have some like kind of gnarly on the edge moments, but we kept it pretty safe and we got to the bottom, no problem and had a really good time. So that was the end. The goal was achieved and that was super sick. I wouldn't even come here alone this time of year. I'm in the Eastern block just getting some exercise this time of year. So this was wild. Yeah. Well there you have it everyone. That was Chondor into Prohibition in January. Now you know what to expect. Thanks for watching and stay tuned for more soon. See you later.