Arms in corners: pushing, pulling or what?

Hi Lee, great site and book.

Thanks to your tips my cornering has improved but I’m still not sure what to do with my arms, should they be relaxed, semi flexed or pulling upwards?

Thanks, Vito

For this flat, loose turn I’ve shifted my weight forward onto my bars. The foot isn’t just out to the side; it’s forward too. The front tire is sticking, and the rear is drifting. Pretty good, except that right elbow is lazy!

Hey Vito. Thanks for the kindness.

Make this your default:

– Arms relaxed, elbows out.

– Weight driving into your pedal(s).

– Hands weightless. Let your bars do what they want.

Once you get that dialed, you can start getting tricky:

Lean forward onto your bars to increase front traction. Watch the pros drifting in the MTB videos. As Steve Peat told me, as long as your front end is tracking, it doesn’t really matter when your back end is doing. Keep your arms as relaxed as possible, and let the bars turn naturally.

There are more tricks, but I save those for clinics and my DVD, which we’ll start shooting soon.

BRAAAP!

— Lee

A nice berm and plenty of traction. My arms are poised for anything, but they’re very relaxed. All of my Awesome PowerTM is crushing the right pedal.

I’m pulling close to 3 Gs — I weigh 180, so that’s 540 pounds pressing sideways into the berm. To corner this hard, you have to support yourself with your legs. This was a great day. Link goes to my old site.