Hi, I'm new to the racing game here in Michigan and having issues with ruts.  I'm racing enduro's and hare scrambles and the tight single track stuff is kicking my butt!  I just had my bike revalved and it's like night and day but I have a hard time getting any kind of flow through the rutted out stuff.  The kind of ruts where there's basically one grooved out technical trail with tons of tree roots and rocks and mud!  I feel like I'm constantly fighting to keep my bike in the "groove" and I'm dabbing my foot a ton when my front tire starts walking up out of the groove so I don't dump the bike.  This stuff is tight, there's only one line so I can't pick a different route.  My buddy suggested to look further ahead and let the front tire just follow the groove without trying to steer the bike and let it do the work.  I'm going to try this next time, but any other advice will really help me out.  Ideally I'd like to find someplace to practice such gnarly tight stuff but all the state trails around here are like highways compared to the races.

If your front wheel is climbing out of ruts you have your weight too far back, shift forward.

Wow, that never even crossed my mind!  I'd been hearing to keep the front end light so I've had my weight back for sure, thanks!

I don't race but I do crash a lot in ruts, so I am with you. I have also found that if I look down I crash. If I look ahead, and keep up the momentum, things get better. I rode some wet snotty ruts this weekend with better success using that technique. Good luck. Troy341

tribalbc, on 25 June 2012 - 03:50 PM, said:

+1   Keeping your weight forward and throttle on is the key.

If your sitting through the ruts give standing a try. It's much easier to move the bike around underneath you and balance if you are off the seat and on the pegs. It should also help you get forward.

Edited by Die_trying, 25 June 2012 - 05:51 PM.