Trail type
Flow trail
A trail built to be ridden on momentum: berms, rollers and small tables, one after another, so you barely pedal or brake. The easiest way to feel fast and learn to use the terrain.
Also known as: flow line, flowtrail, flow
Key facts
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Getting up
- Mixed
- Surface
- hardpack, gravel
- Bike types
- MTB, eMTB
What makes it flow
A flow trail is shaped by machine and shovel rather than left as nature made it. Berms hold you in the corners, rollers give you speed if you pump them, and tabletops let you jump or simply roll across.
How to ride it
- Look far ahead — two features, not the one under your wheel.
- Brake before a berm, never inside it.
- Push the bike into the backside of every roller: that is free speed.
- Keep your speed steady rather than high; flow is about rhythm.
Who it is for
Everyone. Beginners learn cornering and pumping without scary features; experienced riders use the same trail to practise jumping every table and linking every turn.
Related articles
- Cornering — Getting round a turn fast and in control: brake before it, look through it, lean the bike more than your body and let the tyres do the gripping.
- Bike park — A resort of graded trails served by a lift or shuttle, so the whole day goes into riding down. Usually a mountain ski resort in summer, with flow, jump and downhill lines.
- Trail grades — How hard a trail is, told by colour: green, blue, red and black, orange for pro lines and purple for transfers. Every trail on the Bikeyard map is drawn in its grade.
- Jump line — A trail made of jumps in a row, built so that one landing sets you up for the next take-off. Ridden at a steady speed, it feels like one long flight.
- Berm — A banked turn: the outside of the corner is built up like a wall, so the bike leans into it and keeps its speed instead of sliding out.