Scott Scudamore: Hi! My name is Scott Scudamore and we are teaching you how to ride a mountain bike with confidence. In this clip we are going to talk about Braking and the importance of properly using your brakes to enhance your experience, while you are on the trail. The front brake is actually where you get most of your braking power from. So, I know I have had people come up and ask me But the front brake, if you put too much front brake you go over the handlebars.

Well, I suppose that could happen, but if you have your body properly positioned on the bike with your body slightly back on the paddle or on the seat when you are ridding and you are using your front brake and you do not have to use your whole hand when you are braking, you use, you only want to use one finger on the front brake. Front brake is on your left side, we are using one, maybe two fingers, the rear brake, you are going to use at the same time as the front, but you are not applying anymore pressure on that and the rear brake is primarily for control of the bike and keeping the rear wheel down and you do not want to be skidding.

When you are braking you just want to -- if the wheel starts to skid on the trail, let off and brake a little bit and come back just nice and easy. Both brakes should be used, what we call feathering, just going back and forth, back and forth with the brakes. So, something to remember when you know you have to use your brakes and you have to slowdown, make sure you have got your weight back on the saddle, very-very important. When you are braking you have got your weight back and you are just feathering the brakes with one or two fingers on each brake.

So, that's it about the brakes; if you use the brakes properly, you will have a better experience out on the trail.