Technical hill climbs.

[manual63]

I know some of you must have some pointers here. I rode The Farm yesturday and struggled with some of the technical hill climbs.

I learned to lean forward a lot more than normal as some of these hills were very steep and I needed to keep the front wheel down......actually Ed told me to lean forward more....:)....and I did and it helped.

What other tips do people have? Besides needing to be in really good shape because it's really hard work.

[nigel]

I know some of you must have some pointers here. I rode The Farm yesturday and struggled with some of the technical hill climbs.

I learned to lean forward a lot more than normal as some of these hills were very steep and I needed to keep the front wheel down......actually Ed told me to lean forward more....:)....and I did and it helped.

What other tips do people have? Besides needing to be in really good shape because it's really hard work.

Try it on a single speed. You'll learn balance and technique so much faster that way. But with gears its all about the approach, pre shift (unless you have Sram crap, HAR) and knowing the gears your body can spin or push depending on your methods.

D

[Thewavebb]

Other than stance, balance, and good preshifting.
If you have time to look at the climb beforehand, It helps me a lot of find a good line and a plan for getting up some of the technical stuff with rocks and roots jutting out. A lot of the time that is what is the determining factor. I lock my fork out flat so I lower my front end which helps a lot to. Other than that, just learning by repetition and failing.

[noise_is_life]

Try it on a single speed. You'll learn balance and technique so much faster that way. But with gears its all about the approach, pre shift (unless you have Sram crap, HAR) and knowing the gears your body can spin or push depending on your methods.

D
Hmm, The Farm on SS. First step for me would be to get a nice 1:2 gearing...

[GearDaddy]

1) Slide your butt forward on the seat so that you're sitting on front tip of the seat.
Some get out of the seat slightly so that your butt is hovering just above the
seat. Same difference. The idea is to get your center of gravity forward, but
still over rear wheel to maintain traction. You'll be surprised how well this
works.

2) Try to loosen up your upper body and not grip hard on the handlebars. Instead
concentrate on keeping good balance and applying a steady and even amount of
power from the lower body. However, contrary to this it sometimes can help to
time pulling up on the handlebars along with a hard stroke to the pedals, as
this "minny-wheely" can momentarily put more weight over the rear wheel
to increase traction.

3) Obstacles such as loose rocks, tree roots, and waterbars are an invitation to spin
your wheels and lose momentum. You'll need to roll over these instead of
power over these. This means you have to give a heavy powered stroke before
the obstacle so that you can "dead point" (i.e. do a light pedal stroke) as you
go over the obstacle. For bigger obstacles you need to get your whole body into
it, i.e. pulling up on the handlebars and then thrusting forward to sort of throw
your bike forward over the obstacle.

[Tetreves]

However, contrary to this it sometimes can help to
time pulling up on the handlebars along with a hard stroke to the pedals, as
this "minny-wheely" can momentarily put more weight over the rear wheel
to increase traction.
Be careful with this, Shad...we saw what happened to Phil...

On the hills at the farm, rear traction wasn't a problem, at least not that day. If it was muddy, it would be a different story. The problem we had was not having enough front traction for stearing/balance. I know I need to work on this as well, but it seems to help to sit on the tip of my saddle :fool:, drop my nose closer to the handlebar, then pull *back* on the 'bar, rather than up. This increases the weight over the front wheel, and moves your center of gravity forward of the rear wheel so as to avoid tipping over backwards/losing steering ability...

I'm done now...:zzz:

[drakh]

I find the best way to get up the hills at the farm is to get off my bike and walk. 'Course, i'm a wimp. :crazy:

Michael

[noise_is_life]

I find the best way to get up the hills at the farm is to get off my bike and walk. 'Course, i'm a wimp. :crazy:

Michael
I'm with you there.

[manual63]

Cool, I guess that was what I needed.

Thanks dudes!

[pwpatton]

1) Slide your butt forward on the seat so that you're sitting on front tip of the seat.
Some get out of the seat slightly so that your butt is hovering just above the
seat. Same difference. The idea is to get your center of gravity forward, but
still over rear wheel to maintain traction. You'll be surprised how well this
works.

2) Try to loosen up your upper body and not grip hard on the handlebars. Instead
concentrate on keeping good balance and applying a steady and even amount of
power from the lower body. However, contrary to this it sometimes can help to
time pulling up on the handlebars along with a hard stroke to the pedals, as
this "minny-wheely" can momentarily put more weight over the rear wheel
to increase traction.

3) Obstacles such as loose rocks, tree roots, and waterbars are an invitation to spin
your wheels and lose momentum. You'll need to roll over these instead of
power over these. This means you have to give a heavy powered stroke before
the obstacle so that you can "dead point" (i.e. do a light pedal stroke) as you
go over the obstacle. For bigger obstacles you need to get your whole body into
it, i.e. pulling up on the handlebars and then thrusting forward to sort of throw
your bike forward over the obstacle.Cool!!! Awesome advice.

#1 I know and utilize regularly.

#2 is interesting. I always try hard to keep loose but it's always easy for me to start to tense up when the hill gets tough. I'd never heard of that traction technique you described. I'm dying to try that the "minny wheelie" when I'm having trouble getting traction. (Ed, it worked, the traction was too good and my weight was too far back :) Of course a dead stop didn't help things).

#3. I usually take a run at obstacles and then "dead point" (didn't know that term) over them. That is very useful for the rock garden in the XX loop at leb. On steep hill I'm at a loss with those though.

It's also a good idea to maintain an nice even stoke, not only pulling up with one leg while pushing down with the other but using a forward and backward motion (sorta like scraping crap off your shoes) to keep the torque even throughout the stroke. This has helped me a lot during longer slower grade climbs (I found muscles I didn't know were there) but I would imagine this could be even more useful for a steep climb where losing traction is so easy to do.

[homebrewbiker]

Cool!!! Awesome advice.

I'm dying to try that the "minny wheelie" when I'm having trouble getting traction. (Ed, it worked, the traction was too good and my weight was too far back :) Of course a dead stop didn't help things).

Not that I am expert by any means, but I have found that you have to be very careful when going uphill and getting your front tire off of the ground even a little bit. Since gravity is pulling down it is easy to get your weght too far back and then a little wheely turns into a big one and next thing you know your ass on the ground.

[pwpatton]

Not that I am expert by any means, but I have found that you have to be very careful when going uphill and getting your front tire off of the ground even a little bit. Since gravity is pulling down it is easy to get your weght too far back and then a little wheely turns into a big one and next thing you know your ass on the ground.
Yes, I think you would have to make sure your weight is nicely foward to avoid flipping over backwards.

[qheuie]

Good advice everyone.
I agree with pwpatton about the pedal rotation, for a geared bike. I actually recite "circles circles circles" in my head in an attempt to be as efficient as possible on long nasty climbs. (sometimes it is neat to envision scraping crap off your shoes. haha)
on a single, i just slide forward on the saddle a lot and pedal fast into the hill. once i get up the hill a little ways, i will hover over the seat, keeping my weight pretty balanced and pedal until it hurts :) then start walking... hahah

[nigel]

It's also a good idea to maintain an nice even stoke, not only pulling up with one leg while pushing down with the other but using a forward and backward motion (sorta like scraping crap off your shoes) to keep the torque even throughout the stroke. This has helped me a lot during longer slower grade climbs (I found muscles I didn't know were there) but I would imagine this could be even more useful for a steep climb where losing traction is so easy to do.
Keep dem heels down!! Man, you'll be a roadie one day :)

[country]

I know some of you must have some pointers here. I rode The Farm yesturday and struggled with some of the technical hill climbs.

I learned to lean forward a lot more than normal as some of these hills were very steep and I needed to keep the front wheel down......actually Ed told me to lean forward more....:)....and I did and it helped.

What other tips do people have? Besides needing to be in really good shape because it's really hard work.
Only two things to add. Pull your upper body toward the bar like the negative side of a push up. The other is choosing a good line. You should try and hit all the obstacles as perpendicular as possible. The more angle you present the more likely you will spin or slide out. Lastly I have found the best way to clear large techincal objects is with J-ups? I have no idea about the name I just read it in a magazine. Any how find a large curb or small set of stairs. As you ride up you will need to be out of the saddle. The idea is to place your front tire on the top of the obstacle with your weight over the front tire. Pop the front tire up and place it on top and then transfer weight and momentum in one smooth movement. Then you pull up and foward with your arms and knees lifting your rear tire over the osbstacle. A fallen log will also work for practice.

[country]

, pre shift (unless you have Sram crap, HAR) and knowing the gears your body can spin or push depending on your methods.

D
what's the deal with the SRAM trash talk?:p You still have to preshift, it's not their fault the big S chooses to lock riders into a one gear per shift system:)

[nigel]

what's the deal with the SRAM trash talk?:p You still have to preshift, it's not their fault the big S chooses to lock riders into a one gear per shift system:)
hehehe the debate could go on for years, at least until sram goes out of bussiness once and for all hehehe, oh c'mon im only kidding....or am i?!?! :crazy:

[country]

hehehe the debate could go on for years, at least until sram goes out of bussiness once and for all hehehe, oh c'mon im only kidding....or am i?!?! :crazy:That would be a pitty, then we couldn't have these fruitless debates. And of course communism in cycling gear works great. We'll all be happier with no choices. :crazy2: