Mountain Bike Cornering | Finding The Correct Body Position

Your vids keep getting better and better Aaron! So cool to see you giving back. You’re a good dude 🤘🏻

Having an icon, a legend who up with Greg Minaar and Nico and select other downhill greats, explain all of these techniques on Clip-Share for all of us us to enjoy and learn from is indescribably awesome. Just points to his character to be giving so much back to the sport.

Natural instructor. Great reasoning, straight to the point without complexity which can dilute the lesson.
Please continue this.
Subbed, liked etc.

Loving your videos Aaron. Your breakdowns and explanations are so clear and easy to understand. I can't wait for the rain to stop here so I can get out and work on my turns. I broke my rib after washing out on a berm a few months back and have lost a heap of confidence coming into flat turns and berms. Need to build that back up again and you've given me a great place to start. Cheers!

What a master class of a series Aaron! You definitely rock & are helping the whole world along with stuff like this 🌎🚲💨😎

This was immediately useful. Been riding for decades and flat turns were always my biggest challenge. I learned more in the first 8 minutes than in all or the 4 or 5 other videos I’ve watched. Clear explanations broken down simply. Great video, thank you.

Even for me who’s an experienced rider these back to basics videos are much appreciated. You’re a brilliant mentor Aaron. Thankyou.

Really great to have a pro rider teaching fundamental bike skills. That knowledge and experience really comes through and the style of teaching is really accommodating. Thanks Aaron

Great video Aaron! Loving the "how to..." videos. I am interested in learning more about dynamic weight shifts throughout supported and unsupported turns; how your weight shifts from front to rear as you move through the turn. Any advise on this would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!

After coming back to mountain biking after 10 years, I’m glad to find new mentors, like yourself, to level me back up. Been working on cockpit setup, using my heels, and suspension tuning on my Intense 951 XC for the last couple of months. Some rides are better than others, but I learn on every ride. Gonna throw these drills into the mix. Time to buy some short cones! Thanks Aaron!

Thanks for confirming what I've always thought about the 'range of foot drop' for different cornering situations. Growing up motocrossing, we always weighted the outside peg - and I've maintained that line of thinking with my mountain biking. That's where experimentation and rider experience really factors in. But, this is the first time I ever heard a rider of Aaron's caliber describe this nuance so effectively. Great video!
Little mental trick - draw a straight line from your tire contact straight up, no matter the lean angle and the perceived center of mass is always straight up from there - gravity always follows the path to the center of the earth, so orienting yourself within this vertical path provides the most cornering grip into your tires.... (and illustrates why when Aaron says not to lean your body into the corner, as this takes you off the center of mass path)

Started watching your learn to series. I loved the previous one and learned a lot (the use the whole trail if you can to look for a faster path not just the main trail) You're a natural instructor! Very clear explanation and easy to understand

Another fantastic video. I’m definitely going to incorporate the oval and figure 8 drills in my training. I tend to jump to the slalom drill too early.

Master Coach! Thank you for sharing THE developed knowledge and perspective in a super dynamic and conducive format complete with beautiful scenery and great production!

Great video! I came from dirt bikes and haven't ridden bikes since I was a kid and just couldn't get comfortable. I could see my friends do this in the first turn or 2 until they lost me but I couldn't break the mental cognative dissonance and get it right. Thank you for the explanation and video examples.

Thx Senor Gwin!! Would love it if you could talk about weight distribution between the tires in your upcoming videos. When are you centered on the bike, when do you weight the front or the back tire . Fear of loosing traction in my front tire is what slows me down the most.

Such quality information. Cornering correctly in different types of turns is one I struggle with. It’s easy to forget just one of the many parts that goes into it. When you do get them all together and rail a corner the feeling is so good. Thanks for posting and sharing the techniques used. Now once the snow melts I can get back out and rewatch this video. Cheers bud 💥💯🤙

Thank you for the instructional video. I'm 54 and I've spent about 2 weeks total on a bike. I recently bought a fat ebike and quickly realized that I need to develop some basic skills. Just learning to ride with my right foot forward is a challenge. It will take a while to get the right muscles strengthened so I can maintain the correct form during turns. You've taught an old dog some new tricks. Thank you again.

Very clear and detailed Aaron, I'm going to use the one hand leaning with the kiddos of our bike school... I'm sure they'll have fun trying it!! 🙂

Great video! im in my late 20's and have been riding for a while now and am pretty decent and picked up some of this naturally. however, I never had the recourses to get proper instruction. Ive watched a ton on the internet and it was nice to see how you took this huge topic and really broke it down. Im looking forward to practicing this in the near future its still snowing where im at but the spring I just around the corner! I really appreciate you taking the time to do this and im definitely taking out the old go pro so I can analyze myself after the fact. I think that will help me a ton with reassuring myself that Im doing what you said to do right! keep up the great work!

In Part II id love to see you provide coaching on the “scandi flick” and to demonstrate these concepts at WC pace. Thanks for taking the time to produce these AG!

Thanks so much Aaron! I've always been curious about what handlebar grip to weight and if you should ever counter-steer on a mountain bike. And, what if anything changes on a high speed (15 mph+) gravel turn vs. generally slower trail turns. Any insight or recommendation is much appreciated :)

Thank Aaron for awesome lesson !. I used to ride downhill bike but I quit it for sometime. But after watching your video, I feel I want to ride again ! 😊😊

Aaron, just wanted to thank you for these. My daughter and I watch these and study them. She just joined the HS MTB team so anything to teach her to be faster. Great training aid, keep them coming. Murrieta local🤙🏻

Loved the video. You have a great skill in communicating the queues for good cornering technique. Thanks for sharing. .
I’m really hoping you might explore and explain the technique for a steep tight slalom loam track in a future video.
Thanks man.

Another great one Aaron! Thanks for sharing 👌 I get moto cornering basics such as weighting the outside peg and the attack position. They translate to MTB so well!

Great stuff Aaron, many thanks for sharing your extensive knowledge. In the future videos that you mentioned at the end would you help me out with fore/aft position and weighting/torsion on the bars for most grip please? I used to sit right back and look massively around the turn. Kinda made the bike do the turn on the back wheel so I can’t say I ever washed out because of it but it definitely limited my speed. Working on this aspect everything feels so much better now. Keep up the good work. Thanks again.
💪🤠👍

Thanks Aaron! This is really gonna help me ride faster at my local races. Your vids are much appreciated!

Another gem of a teaching video Aaron. Good to see you on an Ebike as well! And with that in mind, is there any tips on cornering with a heavier (Ebike) weight?

Knowing your subject good enough to explain it simply is key to a great video like this! Thank You Aaron Gwin! This will make me a better rider!

Thanks...Very helpful! Do you suggest also pointing knees or rotating body a bit in the direction you turn, or will you discuss this in a future video? I've been riding for some years now but still feel so sketchy on turns. Find good turning harder than jumps.

Thank you. I’ve been really going backwards in my riding coz of lack of confidence (& skills) in corners (choosing to walk many)! I’m gonna totally take it back to basics and try to get this dialed. Thank you.

Cheers Aaron for spending the time on imparting some of your insight to us everyday riders.
With the lean and body separation, is there a phasing that happens, I.e. tilt bike first, followed by moving hips and weighting the outer pedal? As I sometime feel I'm counter weighting between inner hand (stretched out) and weight on the outer pedal.

This is such a great video tutorial on turns! It may seem obvious, but I feel it’s important to point out (as you did) that turns are made standing.

Just bought a bike after a 25 year mtb hiatus, was dropping and pressuring the outside foot on turns and wanted to make sure I was using correct form. Thanks for the video was helpful. By the way, went with the intense taser MX expert, to substitute for my KTM 300 XC.

I'm sure my cornering technique is horrific. I'm definitely going to take some time this spring to work on this!! Well done Aaron.

This was really helpful. I learned cornering on a Streetbike where you actually position your body on the inside of the bike/turn and kind of hang off the inside of the bike in order to get a knee down and keep the bike more upright. I never realized it was the opposite for bicycles or dirtbikes.. Will give it a shot, Cheers!

Wow…I’ve always had questions on whether to fully drop the outside foot. If the corners come at you quickly, it gets very awkward. You explained this very thoroughly. Thank you.

most clearly taught flat corners video ever. Master class...

This video and the ‘Cornering with your eyes’ video just solved 90% of my problems with carrying speed through sections. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

How awesome to have Aaron Gwin himself teaching cornering! I am surprised that Clip-Share did not recommend this video to me earlier. So helpful!

revelation, bro. self taught experienced rider but i found myself countersteering and just shifting weight back every turn. your lesson was magic. works just as well on road.

Good to see you taking a stance on the foot down vs level pedal debate, with a bit of nuance added. Nice thing about your videos is that their is no question that your techniques work.

Really well explained and good detail compared to other cornering videos I’ve watched. Thanks!

Only been riding a couple years ... from understanding the elbow position and overall body positioning from your tips ... I realize my bike geo and cockpit setup might be a bit off... thanks Champ!

Love it! Thank you Aaron! I am subscribed and following! I am going to start practicing with my kids in the yard and driveway.

Aaron thabk you so much for sharing you knowledge and experience.
I've been working on my corners technique and those exercises/drills will be very welcome.
Also noticed that your videos are getting a noticeable higher quality. Thank you so much for you time, effort and knowledge.

Great video. Exactly what I what I was looking for to improve flat turn speed and traction during gravel racing.

This is fantastic! Can't wait to get out and practice these drills!!

Very detailed and easy to understand. 👍I hope I can improve this year utilizing these points. Thumbnail is on point too 🙂👍

Thank you for this. I'm really focusing on my turning right now and got a lot out of this video.

As a beginner, I have learned a lot from your technical videos. Your demonstration and subtitles helped me more cause my English is not good enough. Excellent channel. Thank you Aaron!

Good advice at the end about practice. One problem I have with cornering is figuring out where the real limit is without exceeding it.

Awesome video thanks Aaron, I for one am constantly puzzling with this. Would be sweet if you could give your 2c on handlebar pressure and how that plays a part in this cornering thing..

AG- these are awesome, please keep doing them. Two questions- how do we find out about your classes (online schedule or..?) and secondly- coming from a moto background, are you ever consciously countersteering or is that essentially impossible without a throttle? Thanks man, and best of luck in the upcoming season!!

Thanks Aaron for a simple to understand video. I know now what I am doing wrong which will eliminate the many crashes

Best technique Video i‘ve seen👍🏼 good to hear you talk not only about the „how“ but also about the „why“!this ist missing in a lot technique videos!
Keep it up 🤟🏽

Great stuff Aaron. It just feels so awesome when you get this technique right. It's not natural for me yet so I really need to concentrate on it while cornering.
I've got this old and bad habit of wanting to put the seat against the inside of leg while cornering which then puts me in totally the wrong position. I fall back to doing that a lot.
The 'over exaggerate your position when practising' tip has helped me a lot.

To get this type of content from arguably one of the best is amazing! All the best in the up coming season mate 🤗

Really good advice and technique shown in this vid. I've 3 boy's ....all avid mtbers, all at different levels. this will help us all. And help close the gab in levels so we can all ride together going forward as a group. 3 great drill we can practice in our spare time at home. Then take it to the trails on the wkends . thanks a million.....!!!🚵🚵🚵💪💪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

Brilliant, if only I'd seen something this good years ago! Thanks Aaron

This guy Aaron Gwin may have it down pat. He should think about racing downhill mtb. He may even win a race a world cup or even win one without a chain.
Keep up the great work and thank you for giving back to the younger generation and old dudes like myself to remember things to stay up with my 19 your old Son. Well at least to ride the same trails as him. haha Thanks again.

Thank you so much for the advise! Keep up with the awesome videos!

Love the video.
Exactly what I was looking for.
Clear direction, slow-mo action, drills for home and you get right to it with no guitar solo, MTB porn intro. ✌✌

Fantastic !!! Thank you so much that was so well explained and great practical tips , Stay healthy and happy 🤩🤩🤩

Super helpful! thanks for the breakdown and simple drills

This is helpful stuff! I especially like the part about different foot forward vs left or right turn.

Awesome tutorial! Probably one of the best cornering video I've seen.

I like to imagine the amount your outside foot should drop roughly matches the angle of the turn. (ie 45 degree turn = outside foot forming 45 degree angle from bottom position). Any turn 90 and over and your outside foot can just be bottomed out.

These tutorial videos are really good. Any tips for jumping with flat pedals?

This technique is terrifying on dry desert conditions.... Ever since i started setting my body on the inside of the bike's axis (think moto gp style turning) ive been able to carry A LOT more speed through turns and on exiting turns. This works incredibly well on dry & slippery berms. With my body just inside the bike's axis, I can smash the bike into berms without feeling like I'm going to die. Took me ten years to figure this out because it isnt what anyone ever advises.

This is awesome, thanks Aaron. I’ll be practicing this as soon as the snow melts:)

This is excellent I've been riding for a few years but still find cornering difficult

Wow. amazing, been riding years but learned loads !

Excellent! Very helpful. Great job 👏🏻

Love the emphasis you put on the feet rather than just pressure from the hands that I tend to see from a lot of mtb guys, coming from moto it makes a lot more sense!

When I saw "Aaron Gwin" and "Cornering" on my feed I was pumped to watch the video. Awesome tips! Can't wait for more to come. Between Aaron's channel and Ben Cathro's recent series I'm sure learning a lot.

What’s the pressure distribution between your inside and outside hand when cornering in this video? To achieve the proper position are you trying to push down on your inside hand, your outside hand, or both evenly? Also, do you somehow push the inside hand down to create lean angle (to start) but end up on the outside?

Thanks Aaron I'm gonna try it this week and dial in my turns! Keep the video coming!

Thanks for the video Aaron , regarding the body movement , i am very interested in your position of your head relative to the handlebars eg how far you position your head and body down the axis of the bike (forward ) as this has a big factor on front wheel wash out due to weight over the wheel. This is where i go wrong. Many Thanks

very helpful!! just what I was looking for 🙏

Thank you. Excellent communicator of technique and application while simplifying the complex.

Love these videos dude, always look forward to watching them. Keep it up!!

Thanks arron the video was amazing.
Really helps when you explain everything probably.
Keep them coming.🤙

Thanks Gwin. I especially appreciate the MX references. Your videos are very helpful. Keep it up.

Great vid. Your stance looks so natural, fluid and functional compared to the guys who go on and on about ‘the hinge’.

This video really helped me improve my cornering. Thanks!

i was dubious about watching an almost 20 mins vid about cornering, now I'm glad i watched it!
great presentation dude, big respect to ya!!

Thanks a lot. I am riding bikes for years now, but it's super heplful to get reminded on the most important basics!

Priceless! How low the chest should drop in a turn? I'm grateful for your sharing

When dropping the outside foot only partially in turns that have a larger radius, do you weight the inside foot to keep the tension and help achieve partial outside foot drop on the pedal?

Hey Brother, tried this cornering technique while riding some scary flat turns today. I could not believe how much confidence I had using this technique👊🏻😎

Didn't think I'd watch a 20 min video on cornering after years of riding but that was good :)

Hi Aaron
Your videos are great. Thanks for sharing!
Am I supposed to do something with my hips during the corner?

Great video! you're an excellent teacher.

Subbed. I really like that you gave specific examples of how to move your body instead of just saying "separate bike from body."

Muchas gracias por este gran trabajo amigo,
Muchas gracias.

I watched another video that said to keep your pedals level - not drop your outside foot. I have no idea how people do this but I find it near impossible to get the seat out of the way if i dont drop my outside foot. My seat hits my inner thigh and severely limits how much lean i can achieve while also feeling more awkward. if I had a longer dropper post, I could prob drop the seat another 1.5 inches and make it work, but I'd be willing to bet alot of people need to drop that foot.

Pretty much what we teach per the BICP program. Great points Aaron!