TPS Archives

Reprints From The Professional Skier

Spring 1994 - "Carving The Pavement Brings Vision of Skiing" by Mark Weinberger

This article is reprinted from The Professional Skier. All copyrights apply. Please see our copyright and disclaimer notice page.

Imagine cruising down a smooth hill. Seeing the ideal place to carve a left turn, you begin the movements to slice a crisp arc. Your upper body moves to the inside, your hips move inside the turn while pointing slightly to the outside, your legs stay to the outside, and you put more weight on the outside foot.

Sounds like a description of a clean carved ski turn, doesn't it? The elements are there for a smooth turn, but this one's on a road bike on a paved hill. Those of us who ride mountain bikes regularly experience moving our bike around obstacles while our upper body takes a relatively straight line. But we often overlook the same feelings of orientation experienced on pavement with road bikes.

Cornering on a road bike uses many of the skills common in mountain biking and skiing. Call it " bikeulation" if you will - angulating on two wheels instead of two skis. It may not improve your skiing dramatically, but you'll experience some of the same feelings in the summer that you get on skis. Besides, why should mountain bikers have all the fun? Here are three ways to "ski" on your road bike.

Obstacles

Though logs and large rocks aren't common on pavement, the cracks, potholes, car parts, and other debris often found on roads pose problems for skinny road tires. Instead of swerving way off line to avoid these obstacles, steer your bike slightly to avoid the obstacle, and move your body in the opposite direction. This maneuver mimics advanced skiing because your body moves in a straight line down the road, while the bike moves outside the line that the body is taking. You can also play with this by weaving between the dashed center fine on a deserted or closed stretch of road.

Body First

After becoming comfortable moving the bike back and forth beneath your body while riding straight, the next step is having your legs and torso take separate lines while turning. Pick a favorite corner, lean your body into the turn, point your hips slightly outside, push down on the handlebar with your outside hand, and pedal through the corner, keeping your bike almost upright (fig. A below).

Skiing skills you'll use include applying pressure to the outside of the turn, pointing your hips slightly outside to separate your upper and lower body, and moving your upper body diagonally into the new turn. You'll find that as in skiing, when you look to the inside of the turn, your upper body moves inside, while your legs stay to the outside.

Bike First

Another bike skill that transfers to skiing is a technique called "overbanking." In this turn you'll lean your bike instead of your body to the inside of the turn and pressure your inside hand more than the outside. Though you're weighting the inside hand on this turn, you'll still have more weight on the outside foot, and you'll feel strong hip angulation as your bike "carves" a powerful turn (fig. B below).

Skiing Link

Share the comparison of angulation on bikes and skis with your advanced students, especially if they are bicycle riders in the off-season. Encourage them, while on skis, to concentrate on the feelings of hip angulation required in bicycling. Isolate the feeling in the hips, and suggest that your students key in on the physical responses (pinch in the side of waist, etc.) they receive while turning a bike. Encourage your students to develop hip angulation awareness during the off-season to improve their skiing for next season.

Aggressive cornering on a bike is fun to play with in the off-season because it brings back the feeling of skiing. Think of your road bike as a giant slalom ski for "carving" long elegant turns on pavement, and your mountain bike as a slalom ski for making short turns around the rocks and tree roots found on dry mountain bike trails. And use both bikes to keep those ski feelings fresh through the long, hot summer.

Mark Weinberger is an instructor at Afton Alps in Minnesota and is on the Examiner Training Squad in Central Division. A PSIA member for six years, he practically lives on his road bike during summers spent training and racing.