Why are tight left turns harder than rights?

[madisongrrl]

I am used to leaning my body to turn and barely moving the handlebars at all. That doesn't seem to work on singletrack! I guess I need to turn the handlebars more, but why would it feel so much harder/scarier /impossible to the left than to the right?

Emily

I was just at a Norba and took a skills camp with Alison Dunlop. One of the things we spend a significant amount of time on was cornering. She said it is a misconception that you lean your body into a turn (especially tight switchbacks).

The four components that we focused on were:
1. Counter weighting the outside foot.
2. Moving our handle bars & arms/hands as we enter the turn (hard to accurately describe over the internet).
3. Not leaning into the turn, keeping our weight over the back tire so we keep traction. Possibly sitting back or forward on the saddle depending if the switchbacks are up or downhill.
4. As we enter the turn, focus turning our head to the exit.

Before I took this clinic, I always leaned into (all) turns. Now I realize that it is not always the thing to do. This is probably why I have so much trouble with technical switchbacks....something to work on for next race season.

[littlegrasshopp]

I am left handed and have more trouble with right turning switch backs. I can handle up hill ones just fine but down hill gets me. A friend told me to aim for the tree and then turn...that didn't work AT ALL! I went from riding off the trail to hitting the tree! I HAVE noticed that I keep my body in nuetral (as far as leaning) and put my weight over the back of the seat and tap my breaks...then once I'm "aimed" out of the turn I pedal faster. It's not working all the time yet but more each time

[Susie]

I took a mt. bike clinic this spring and had some issues turning. Basically, I had crashed earlier in the day and had tweaked my neck. I could turn it to the right, but not to the left. Later in the day, we were riding some switchbacks and I was turning right just fine, but couldn't go left to save my life. I have to admit, it was pretty funny -- I'd make the right turn, get to the next switchback and have to stop, lift my bike, and turn and then get going again. Apparently, you have to be able to turn your head in the direction you're turning or you can't make the turn. Is this perhaps your problem?

Susie

[snowtulip]

Another helpful thing for me was getting used to letting go of the brakes on switchbacks, at the apex of the turn let go of the brake (slowly) to let the momentum carry you through. I practiced this plenty when we did a mtb. tour of the Colorado trail, in one section we had 23 tight switchbacks in a row (it was crazy)!

[emily_in_nc]

I took a mt. bike clinic this spring and had some issues turning. Basically, I had crashed earlier in the day and had tweaked my neck. I could turn it to the right, but not to the left. Later in the day, we were riding some switchbacks and I was turning right just fine, but couldn't go left to save my life. I have to admit, it was pretty funny -- I'd make the right turn, get to the next switchback and have to stop, lift my bike, and turn and then get going again. Apparently, you have to be able to turn your head in the direction you're turning or you can't make the turn. Is this perhaps your problem?

No, I can turn my head just fine, but this sounds exactly like me otherwise! Right turn - check - left turn - miss the turn, start veering into the woods, stop, lift bike, start again. Really strange! I am definitely going to keep working at it. I obviously have some sort of body imbalance (or brain imbalance!!!)

Emily