How to Ride Switchbacks on a Mountain Bike

One of the most surprising things about riding switchbacks on a mountain bike is that you should enter on the inside of the turn. As a matter of fact, the tighter the switchback the more inside I’ll try to approach it. My goal will be to leave my back wheel as close to the inside of the turn as I can. The definition of a switchback turn is a turn that’s too tight for the front and rear wheel to take the same line. By leaving my back wheel low on the trail and taking my front wheel high, I’m able to get this outcome.

In this image, I’m making my pre-turn. I’m using footwork to make this happen - notice that my right foot has gone down and back. Being a left foot forward rider, my left-hand turn is accessed by my back foot. As I get into the actual turn, I’ll be making a front foot (right-hand) turn.

With my pre-turn, I’m riding high into the outside bank, buying space. Pretty much every switchback you encounter will have some sort of berm on the outside. This is because switchback turns are by nature built into steep hills. I can use this to lend support to the front wheel.

In this image, I’m just starting my actual turn, which is a front foot turn. Notice that my feet are now level. In the next image, we’ll see my front foot moving forward and down for the actual turn. Notice that my rear wheel is way inside of where my front wheel is. This is what allows me to make a switchback turn quickly and easily.

In my actual turn, looking where I want to go. Notice the compression in my fork which has been created by driving the left knee forward over the toe.

If you look back through the last few frames, you might notice that my back wheel hasn’t moved all that much. My front wheel has effectively arced around the rear wheel. You might see tire marks on the banks of switchback turns and a very tight rut on the actual trail. The tire marks on the banks are from the front tires of experienced riders and the rut is from their rear wheel. Note that my outside elbow is high, which is helping to turn my shoulders.

On my way around. The wheel path of my front and rear wheel are about to meet up at this point. The double-footwork I used here takes a bit of practice, but once you have the skill dialed, riding switchback turns on your mountain bike becomes easy, flowy and fun!