The pilot steers through ropes under the cowling. What the rules specify, how pilots learn the track and why there is no remote instruction for steering.
The pilot steers the bob with steering ropes connected by handles to the steering under the cowling. The honest answer to "How hard is steering?": it looks like small movements but decides the line in the curve. The clinical literature describes the pilot as the one who steers below the cowling at the front to navigate the track [2].
Important to know before you read anything else: steering cannot be learned from video or text. No study describes a learning path to the pilot in figures. The IBSF rulebook also says what the technology must achieve, not how to steer. It demands that the steering ropes connecting the steering handles to the steering mechanism withstand the forces in training and competition and the handles likewise [1].
The bob steers via a rotatable steel bolt on the front axle: the steering bolt may deviate at most 5 degrees from vertical [1]. 5 degrees is little, not even a tenth of a right angle. That shows how finely the system is built and why fine movements suffice.
Whoever yanks loses the line. Whoever doses finely wins it.
Entry criteria (practice standard):
Steering ropes connect the handles to the steering, which moves the front axle via a rotatable bolt [1]. The basic principle: a pull on one side steers in that direction (practice, not documented in the sources I read). The rules only demand that the system withstands the forces [1].
Milestone: You explain the steering principle to your coach in your own words.
Before every run the pilot checks steering ropes and handles. The rules provide that they be built to withstand the forces [1]. You recognise wear only if you know it: you learn that from the equipment manager and the coach. A frayed or twisted rope does not belong in the bob; when in doubt it is replaced, not hoped for. (practice)
Milestone: You check the steering ropes systematically and document it.
Successful pilots build and maintain a memory of every curve, its challenges and their tactical approach to how one curve sets up the next [2]. For this they use film, track walks and mental runs, in jargon "mind runs". They close their eyes and subtly move the upper body along, as when steering [2]. The aim is not to know the track by heart but to sharpen the feel for timing and line of every curve before it gets serious.
Milestone: You describe a curve of the track from memory in sequence.
At the Whistler Sliding Centre injury frequency fell with the athletes' experience [3]. That underlines that steering is a skill that arises through many controlled runs. The sources give no figures for learning times.
Milestone: You drive a fixed number of runs in a staged sequence according to the coach's plan.
When steering does not work out, the correction comes not by yanking but by calmly restoring the line. A coach gives you the technique for it in run analysis and debriefing; it cannot be derived from a text. The order counts: first understand what happened in the curve, then decide what should be different next time, and change only one thing. (practice)
Milestone: You get feedback per run and implement one improvement.
After every run make a curve sheet: one word per curve for how it felt (too early, too late, right). After ten runs you see patterns that film alone does not show. That is practice, not a study finding; the idea fits the observation that pilots build a detailed picture of the curves [2].
With steering handles and steering ropes connected to the steering. Exactly how, you learn with a coach on the track [1][2].
The steering bolt may deviate at most 5 degrees from vertical [1].
No. Video helps with line analysis, but steering arises on the track with a coach.
With film, track walks and mental runs ("mind runs") [2].
Through try-outs and training in the national federation. There is no learning programme of your own without a federation.
Driving the Banked Curve: One Curve Sets Up the Next