Quote Originally Posted by Becky View Post
How are you handling them now? Lots of brake, no brake, steering through, leaning? Downhills or uphills? (Sorry for all the questions- trying to get a good picture of what's happening! )

Your statement that "what happens is I wind up off the trail in sketchy stuff" makes me wonder if you're trying to steer the front wheel through the switchback and understeering.
All good questions. The trail in question is a 2-way out and back so I ride the switchbacks both directions. While there are a couple I walk both ways, there are one or two that I can ride in the down hill direction - and that includes two armored crossings that are quite close to each other on a curve.

I THINK that I am probably trying to steer around the curve - I can't remember what I do with the brakes. My instructor at this year's clinic advised us to point our belly button in the direction we want to go - but it is a bit difficult to do that on a switchback...

Generally I wind up in the brush on the inside of the curve or I try to ride up and over the berm (if there is one)...where there is typically a dropoff So stopping has become my preferred way of dealing with this - which is fine unless I am riding with others and also means I never improve.

This next week I've 5 days to camp/ride in this same park and I am going to practice a lot on this trail. I also have practice cones to play with in a grassy field...