Course Handbook: MTB Course LILA

Course Summary: MTB Course LILA

Positioning – Active Position in Technical Terrain

In the Purple course, we start using our body position even more actively to create control, speed, and flow on technical terrain. The focus is on letting the bike move beneath your body while you maintain a stable and balanced position.

We work more dynamically with our center of gravity depending on obstacles, speed, and incline. A low, active position with slightly bent arms and legs helps you absorb the terrain and provides better grip, balance, and control as your riding becomes faster and more technical.

Cornering Techniques (Level 2)

In the Purple course, we start working more actively on traction, speed, and pedaling through the turns. To understand why your position is so important in turns, it helps to understand how the tires work. Mountain bike tires have center knobs that primarily aid in braking and reduce rolling resistance, while the side knobs are designed to provide traction when the bike is leaned into the turn.
To achieve maximum traction, the bike must therefore be leaned over properly so that the edge knobs make solid contact with the ground. Many inexperienced riders don’t lean the bike over enough and instead end up on the transition zone between the center and edge knobs, which often results in poorer traction and an unstable feeling in the turn.

To lean the bike properly, you need a good basic position with your elbows out and a relaxed upper body. As the bike leans, your inner arm will extend while your outer arm bends. At the same time, try to keep your body centered over the tires rather than leaning in with the bike as it turns. This helps you maintain pressure on the tires and provides significantly better traction and control.

In gentler turns, it’s often a good idea to “drop” the outside pedal by lowering your outside foot and keeping the inside pedal higher. This lowers your center of gravity, increases stability, and reduces the risk of the inside pedal hitting the ground or rocks. On berms and in corners with plenty of support, however, you can often stand in a more neutral position on the pedals to pump the bike and generate extra speed through the turn.

Your line of sight is also very important. Always try to look out of the turn and toward where you want to go, not down at the front wheel or at obstacles you want to avoid. Your body almost always follows your gaze, and keeping your eyes up also helps you plan your line and braking earlier.

Try to finish braking well before the turn and let the tires focus on maintaining traction through the turn instead of having to brake and turn at the same time. In some steep or fast turns, you may occasionally need to apply the brakes lightly for support, and in those cases, it’s usually best to use the rear brake gently to reduce the risk of the front wheel locking up.

Up and Over Higher Obstacles (Level 3)

To achieve a good flow when trail riding, you need to be able to clear obstacles such as logs, rocks, and ledges in a smooth and controlled manner. You do this by using the kinetic energy from a quick but controlled shift of your center of gravity to first lift the front wheel over the obstacle and then help the rear wheel follow.

The first step is to execute a stable and well-timed front-wheel lift. The movement begins with a small, light “jump” upward as you rise slightly onto your toes on the pedals. Then, push your hips quickly and powerfully straight down toward the saddle by bending your knees explosively. When your hips are almost at the saddle, push them straight back until they’re positioned above the rear wheel and your arms are fully extended.

We usually describe the hip movement as an “L”—first straight down, then straight back. This is a very important key to lifting the front wheel effectively without having to jerk the handlebars hard.

A common mistake is for the hips to go down and then immediately back up again, or diagonally backward and upward. In that case, the center of gravity doesn’t shift far enough back, and it becomes difficult to lift the front wheel properly. When you instead use the correct center-of-gravity shift, the movement becomes both much easier and more energy-efficient.

Feel free to practice the front-wheel lift using reference points such as cones, sticks, or small obstacles to work on your timing and precision. A very good exercise is to try placing the front wheel on top of various obstacles and pausing briefly, as this trains both balance and control.

Once the front-wheel lift starts to feel secure, the next step is to add a rear-wheel lift. Here, the movement begins by shifting your weight off the bike and compressing the rear suspension. Then, push off explosively as if jumping with both feet, diagonally upward and forward, while angling your feet downward and creating pressure between the handlebars and pedals—almost like coiling a spring.

As you push off, pull your legs up toward your body and use a light “scooping” motion with your feet to lift the rear of the bike into the air. With the right timing, the rear wheel will follow much more easily than many people think.

The rear wheel lift is often easiest to start practicing separately on flat ground using small reference points before combining it with the front wheel lift. Once you’ve got both movements down, you can start combining them into a controlled flow over real obstacles out on the trail.

This is a technique that many find quite difficult at first because timing and balance are such crucial parts of the movement. So try to be patient and give the technique time—for many, there comes a moment when everything suddenly “clicks” and the movement starts to feel natural.

Drip Technique (Level 2)

In the Purple course, we continue to develop drop-off technique and start working on more speed, greater confidence, and better control in the air.
The technique is still based on the same movement as a front-wheel lift, where the goal is to help the bike out from the edge rather than just “falling” down from the drop-off. How explosive the movement needs to be depends largely on speed and how steep the landing is. The slower the speed, the more active the movement needs to be.

The goal is to time the movement so that the front wheel lifts just before it leaves the edge and both wheels land as softly and controlled as possible.

Once both wheels have cleared the drop, you’ll want to quickly return to a neutral position in the air with your legs and arms slightly bent. Keep your gaze up and focused forward while letting your legs absorb most of the impact of the landing.

Once you’ve mastered the technique, drops will feel much calmer and smoother than many people initially expect, and you’ll have much better control heading into the next obstacle or turn on the trail.

Pump Technology

Pumping is about building speed over the terrain without pedaling, by using your body’s movements and applying pressure to the bike. Instead of just “going with the flow” of the terrain, you actively work your arms and legs to generate speed.

When pumping, you want to lift yourself lightly over the crest of rollers, bumps, and terrain features, and then actively press the bike down on the back side of the roller or obstacle. It’s especially during the descent phase that you can build speed by pressing the bike into the ground with your weight through your legs and arms.

The goal is to use the terrain as a pump track out on the trail. The better your timing when pumping, the more speed you can generate without having to pedal, and the less energy you’ll need to expend.

Pumping technique is also very much about rhythm and timing. If you push too early or too late, you’ll lose speed and flow instead. That’s why we start with simpler rollers and terrain features to get a feel for it before we use the technique more actively out on the trails and in the turns.

Pumping is also a very important foundation for jumps, bunny hops, and more advanced trail riding because it teaches you to control your center of gravity and actively use the bike’s kinetic energy.

Jumping Technique (Level 1)

In the Purple course, we introduce the basics of jumping technique. The focus isn’t on jumping high or far, but on understanding the flow of movement and how to use the terrain to get the bike off the ground in a smooth and controlled way.

The movement is largely based on the same fundamentals as the bunny hop and front-wheel lift. First, you load the bike by compressing the suspension and creating pressure against the ground. Then, you use your body’s movement and proper timing to help the bike lift off the ground instead of just “jerking” the handlebars.

We’ll start with smaller, natural jumps, rollers, and ledges where the goal is to understand timing, balance, and how the bike behaves in the air. Your line of sight is very important—always try to look ahead to where you want to land instead of down at the front wheel or the edge you’re jumping off.

In the air, try to maintain a neutral and relaxed position with slightly bent legs and arms so your body can absorb the landing softly and in a controlled manner. The goal is for the jumps to feel calm and stable rather than big and explosive.

Just like with many other techniques, timing is the key. It’s completely normal that it takes a lot of repetition before jumps start to feel natural and relaxed.