Ride root sections: stay central and loose, go as straight as possible and without braking over the roots. 5 steps with milestones and safety notes.
The honest answer first: you ride a root section in a central, relaxed position, as straight as possible, without braking on the roots, and you cross prominent roots best at a right angle. The right angle is practical knowledge, the rest is documented: active position with slightly bent joints [1], unweighting the wheels instead of lifting them [2] and an unbraked wheel that rolls better over obstacles [3].
How hard is it? The Single Trail Scale assigns flat roots to grade S1, larger roots to grade S2 and blocked root passages to grade S3, where relaxed rolling is rarely possible [4]. Root sections are therefore not one uniform task. Getting started takes hours, reliability on changing ground takes months (experience-based).
Why the effort? Roots are slippery, and when a wheel slips, the probability of head impact rises (odds ratio 3.1) [5]. Also your forearms burn on long root sections: in a study of downhill riders, riding skill and grip endurance together explained about three quarters of the differences in ride time (R² = 0.73) [6].
In a root section you win through looseness, not strength.
Eyes far ahead, look for the line on which you hit prominent roots at as close to a right angle as possible (practice). Diagonal roots deflect the front wheel.
Milestone: before the section you point out your line and then ride it.
Brake before the section, not in it. An unbraked wheel rolls better over obstacles [3]. One or two fingers stay on the brake [8].
Milestone: you reach the start of the section at target speed without braking.
Arms and legs slightly bent, centre of mass central to slightly back, elbows out [1]. Loose hands, no death grip.
Milestone: your arms do not go hard after a 20-metre stretch (practice).
You unweight the front wheel just before the root and the rear wheel afterwards, legs and arms absorb [2]. With many roots in a row you stay in motion instead of "taking" each one separately.
Milestone: you ride a section with three to five roots without putting a foot down.
If you must brake, do it where there is no root and in a controlled way [8]. After the section you return to the base position.
Milestone: three sections in a row without a wheel locking.
Wet roots are among the slipperiest spots in the forest. The Single Trail Scale explicitly rates under ideal conditions, bad weather can raise the difficulty [4]. In a video analysis of 534 crashes, 10.9 percent slid sideways [10]. When a wheel slips, the risk of head impact in a fall is higher (odds ratio 3.1) [5].
Practise on dry roots before trying wet ones. In a meta-analysis across cyclists, a helmet cut serious head injuries by about 60 percent [11], a figure for cycling in general. This guide explains and motivates, it does not replace supervised training.
Look at the gap, not the root. Your bike goes where your eyes go. That applies here too: look for the ground between the roots and let the line run along it. If you stare at a root, you steer toward it. Axel Head states the principle for corners like this: the bike goes where the eyes look [9].
Keep your learning week small. Two 15-minute branch-and-plank sessions on the lawn and one short, dry root stretch on the trail are enough (practice). More important than duration is that every repetition is clean. After the root stretch, note in one sentence where the front wheel was deflected and why. After three sessions you will see a pattern.
Active position, set speed beforehand, ride as straight as possible, unweight the wheels, do not brake on the roots [1] [2] [3]. Cross prominent roots at a right angle if you can (practice).
Usually through braking on the root, crossing it diagonally or wetness. When the wheel slips the risk of head impact rises (odds ratio 3.1) [5].
Flat roots count as S1, larger roots as S2, blocked passages as S3. Danger, weather, light and speed are not reflected in the scale [4].
Not necessarily. Your arms and legs are the first suspension. BASPO shows that an unbraked wheel rolls better and a full-suspension bike's suspension works better [3].
Not too slow, because a rolling wheel stays in balance more easily [9], but also not faster than you can control. There is no fixed km/h figure; the scale explicitly names speed as a factor it does not reflect [4].
Climbing Steps and Roots on a Mountain Bike: Lifting the Front Wheel with a Pedal Kick