Obviously, one of the most important skills to master in mountain biking is the art of balancing. Unless you don’t mind going 1mph down a piece of singletrack with some training wheels, it’s a very good idea to enhance your balancing skills off the trail as well as on. If you’re like me and are a slow learner, you may have learned to ride in a straight line by trial and error. For me, this meant riding like a kid coloring outside the lines. Due to my underdeveloped ride “strategy”, I frequently crashed, fell off, or just plain looked stupid while riding.

Here are a few techniques that have helped me and a multitude of others increase their balance skills.

1) Trackstands

This is simply standing completely still while on the saddle of your bike. Most often we’ll spent a minute or two before and after a ride doing this, but in reality, we should devote a few hours a week to “training sessions.” On a day where you don’t have enough time for a good ride, haul the bike outside and do trackstands for 20 minutes. After a few practice tries, you should be able to stay still for around 20 to 30 seconds.
At first, it’s easiest to do trackstands on an incline. You want to keep your crankarms horizontal, and apply enough pressure so that you don’t start rolling backwards. After a while, you can start doing it on a flat surface.

2) Ride on Narrow Objects

In order to get good at riding narrow (sometimes dangerous) pieces of singletrack, you need to practice riding on something that won’t kill you. For example, a 2X4 is skinny enough to do the trick, yet forgiving if you fall off. By the time you develop enough skills to ride across a narrow object with no problem, you’ll find everything out on the trail is easier. Practicing removes a lot of mental barriers and allows you to get the feel of your bike. Everyone’s balance technique will be slightly different, but all can benefit from exercises like this.

3) Work Your Bike

This is the idea that if you put your bike in all sorts of off balance positions, you’ll have to learn how to recover. For example, if you swing your body around at a low speed, the goal is to have your bike emulate your movements. Instead of jerking to the left and flying onto the ground, you need to learn to pull your bike back into its prime riding position. This takes a lot of time to master, and frankly, I’m still working on it. Oftentimes I’ll get all excited that I just recovered from a near-fatal move only to get overconfident and wind up crying on the ground. However, practice makes perfect, and with time and patience anyone can be an expert.

Balancing is truly an art. It’s not something that someone can simply tell you how to do; it must be practiced and mastered on an individual level. Though novice riders like me still frequently panic and end up far from the bike, simple exercises like trackstands have greatly improved my ability to stay where I should.