- Climbing is always going to be
a fitness test to a certain degree.
When things get harder, some skills can help you out.
Loose, rocky climbs can be really hard work.
Momentum is going to be your friend here.
So, that means you're going to pedal hard.
But also your skills and good line choice
can help you keep that momentum.
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You can find the back wheel spinning
up on the loose rocks which is super frustrating.
So this is a bit of an exercise in agility,
trying to keep your line but also keep your balance.
I'm often sort of swinging my weight
side to side but try to stay seated.
Try to keep the bike in the right line
but move my body around to keep my balance.
Keep pedaling where you can and just try and plug on.
Shorter, steep sections you might find
that you can use that momentum to find your way up them.
While the longer ones you have to keep plugging away
and get a sweat going.
Trying to find the well-worn line
and avoid the biggest of the rocks.
They're just going to move if I hit them
and try to keep that all important momentum.
Which, is going to get harder
because this climb is quite long.
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While climbing up steps, it don't
have to be very big to stop you dead.
Sometimes on the smaller ones you can just
plow into them and use your power to drag you up them.
But when they get bigger, you can now
start unweighting the wheel.
So, I've got a big log step here.
On the way in, the best thing to do
is to wheelie up your front wheel.
You're never going to get a manual,
so you're not going to be able to
get the speed to start pedaling.
So wheel your front wheel up and
then use your hips up and forward to
again, pick the back wheel up,
get it back on the floor as soon as you can,
to get it driving again.
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On the steeps of sections or steps,
like I've just done, you're gonna need
to get your front wheel up and over
and then it's a real big thrust of the hips.
That's just the same as doing that second-half
of the bunny hop, we're trying to lift the back wheel.
It's all about really throwing your hips up
and forward and scooping with your feet
to get the back wheel up.
On something like this, it almost becomes
a trials maneuver because it's so slow.
And next, we're going on to how
to use trials to get up steep climbs.
We've done a few videos on how your trial skills
can help your mountain bike skills overall
and it really does help here.
So, front wheel lifts, rear wheel lifts,
short bursts of explosive power, track stands,
they're really going to help when
you haven't got the space to use momentum and speed.
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So, I'm actually going to need a bit of momentum
to get up this step, which means pushing a big gear,
then using that hip thrust. Oh!
It's quite tiring, that.
Right, spot my line, use a track stand, and away I go again.
Oh, loads of power made up that easy bit,
seat up and I can dig in for the proper climb.
On tricky sections like that,
it's really important to be in the right gear.
Actually pushing a slightly harder gear
is going to be hard to begin with
but when you get into the meat of the climb,
that's when you need that gear
because you really don't want to be shifting
when you're under loads of power like that.
If you really do have to shift,
give it a few hard cranks then back off.
On steep but smooth climbs, balancing the weight
from front to rear is going to be key.
You need to keep some weight on
that rear tire to keep it driving.
If you let it go too far back,
you're going to start wheelie-ing
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Again, speed's going to really help
get up these steep climbs, help you keep
that grip on the rear tire.
But once you commit, you've got to be sure that you'll
be able to keep that effort up all the way to the top,
otherwise you're gonna run out of puff and have to stop.
So, a few key things that will
help you with technical climbs.
Just try to plan your gear shifts as early as you can,
practice your trial skills, and getting fitter
is always going to help you climb a bit better.
If you want to hear some information
from the cross country race pros,
click over here for that one.
If you want some skills for your loose corners,
click over that one.
Give a thumbs up if you like challenging yourself up climbs
and hit that sub button.