I absolutely love riding technical climbs. Getting up stuff without stopping to put a
foot down or even walk is just ridiculously satisfying, in a slightly
geeky way. Anyway, here are some tips that you can put into practice to help you get
up that unrideable climb. Perhaps more important than any other point while
mountain biking, your line choice has a huge impact on your ability to ride up a
climb. Grip is a main limiting factor, so you need to look for a line that offers
the most amount of traction. Now, that's probably the one free of obstacles,
and you also really need to pay attention to the surface of the trail.
In dry, loose conditions, often the most-used line will be polished free of
debris, so that is a good place to start. However, in wet conditions,
often the opposite is true. The most-used line can tend to be much more slippery
than undisturbed dirt, so consider blazing your own trail in conditions like this.
If speed up the climb isn't a concern, then look all over the trail for possible
lines. It could mean traversing it to get from one good line to another,
or just to avoid the steepest parts. Generally speaking, being seated in the
saddle gives you more traction than being stood on the pedals, although for steeper
climbs, you'll need to keep your weight forward as well to stop the front wheel
from lifting off the ground. And for those committed enough, you should perch
delicately on the nose of the saddle to balance your weight.
If you've got the fitness, then speed, it can be really helpful by giving you
momentum to roll over things. If you haven't, though, then try to break the
climb down into little sprint sections to get you over the difficult bits.
So pedal really hard to build up momentum to clear one challenge, and then if
possible, back off and try to recover a fraction before you have to do the same
again for the next technical bit. Of course, not all technical climbs can be
broken down like this, but keep in mind as an option for when it does present
itself. Now, because much of the time in technical climbing we're going to be in
the saddle, we need to make sure that our seat is in the right position to generate
the maximum amount of power. So, if you've got a dropper post, make sure it's fully
extended, and if you haven't, make sure your seat is in the right position if you
lowered it for a descent. Now, we could debate the relative merits of wheel sizes
probably for close to eternity, but there's no question that when it comes
to technical climbing, 29ers rule the roost. The increased wheel diameter
means that you get more traction and the wheels roll over small obstacles
more easily, so it's a no-brainer, really. You can also lower your tire
pressure, obviously, to get that little bit of extra traction. Now,
when it comes to gear selection, you can change gears on the cassette
underload relatively easily, but what you will struggle to do is change chainrings.
So that means that you need to pre-select your chainring before you hit
the climb, so you don't grind to a halt in your middle ring trying to get into your
granny ring. If you run a single ring, then that's obviously not a problem.
The lunge technique. It's not quite a trial's move, but it's getting close.
When you get to a really technical move like a rock step, or a root section,
or, in fact, just a slippier section of trail, then a well-timed lunge can help
you launch your bike over the obstacle. And even if it doesn't clear it,
when you land, the extra weight through your back tire can sometimes temporarily
add enough grip to keep you moving forward. It's not inconceivable for you to
be able to bounce your way up really technical bits. You can take it one step
further, and the lunge becomes a hop, and this, too, is absolutely invaluable to
technical climbing. Choosing a slightly higher gear than you might think could
really help. This will lower your cadence, and that can mean that
you find more traction. Applying more torque generates more grip, and
keeps your pedaling smoother. The only problem with pushing a bigger gear is
that it's easier to stall, and so you need to balance out how much strength you've
got with your gear choice. So there you go, then. Technical climbing is a mixture
of line choice, body position, and then using your speed and little trial's
moves to get you over the most difficult sections. Now, it also
helps to really knit this together, to be able to ride really slowly. So you
can practice this and then track standing as well, anytime you've got a couple
of minutes of spare, maybe whilst you're waiting for your mates at the trailhead.
Now, if you want to see any more in-depth skills videos, then I suggest you check
out these two to the side of me here, and of course, don't forget to subscribe to
GMBN so you don't miss another video. Just click on me to do that.