Skidded turns and skidded traverses on a peg ski bike

by G. Kunkel

One of the biggest challenges to a first time peg skibiker is producing a skidded traverse.  One must tilt the handlebars downhill so the skis will have a low edge angle to the snow.  It's counter-intuitive to how one would normally ride a bicycle.

Most first timers want to lean into the hill which gets the skis up on a carve.  The rider will then find themselves unable to control their speed or stop the bike.  This a bad place to be for a beginner.

Most think they are tilting the handlebars enough downhill to produce the skid.  90% of guests are incorrect with this assumption.

A dead giveaway is the tracks that the skibike is leaving in the snow.  A carve is going to produce a narrow track in the snow with obvious force on the uphill edge of the track.

A carved skibike track

A skidded traverse or skidded turn will produce a wider more schmeary track in the snow due to the low edge angle.

A skidded skibike track

If one leans the skibike uphill, it causes the skibike to ride on a narrow part of the ski edge.

Skibike ski edge on carve

By tilting the handlebars down, one flattens the skis and have more surface area contacting the snow.  This is what it should look like.

Skbike ski being skidded

When making a skidded turn, it's important not to lean the skis into a carve.  Keep the skis almost flat during the turn.  Use very little edge during the entire edge change.

Flattened skis to produce turn

Practice performing skidded traverses and then move on to skidded garlands before moving onto skidded turns.  Use wide gentle terrain that is uncrowded.  Find the terrain the ski school uses to teach snowboarding on and use that if possible.

Skidding is important to beginner and expert riders.  It's the technique that allows the rider to dump speed in almost any situation.  For the expert, it's handy in the bumps.


© 2013 G. Kunkel and Skibike and Snow Bike Instruction. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to G. Kunkel and Skibike and Snow Bike Instruction with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Google