- Do downhill sections freak you out?
Do you find them hard to commit to?
Let's take a look at how to ride downhill sections
and the things you might need to improve.
(loud boom)
First, let's look at the bike. (soft soothing music)
Let's not try and blame the bike
but there might be something in the set-up
that's making it harder than it needs to be.
Now first thing to look at is having
the space to move back on the bike.
So having the seat nice and high of course is great
for pedaling but when it comes to riding steepest
of downhills you wanna move your body weight back
and get in behind that saddle.
It's more of a safe place to be.
So of course if you got a dropper post use that,
get it out of the way.
If you've got a quick release or even a bolt really
for steepest downhills it's good to move it out of the way
and try and get back behind the bike.
Your bar and stem will also make a difference.
So simple fact is the shorter your stem is,
the easier it is to get behind the bike,
so your weight is just further back on the bike.
But you need to really balance your weight out
and depends on the type of riding you do.
So here, this is my brand new Lux,
Canyon Lux Cross Country bike.
So I need to balance around the front wheel
cause I'll be climbing this bike quite a lot.
It's got an 80 mil stem in it to make sure that front wheel
doesn't (mumbles) or lift off the floor when I'm climbing.
So this is bike is slightly compromised when it comes
to riding downhill but it doesn't mean
that a long stem and a high saddle
will stop you from riding a steep downhill,
just makes it a little bit harder.
Of course, if you do have a dropper post,
it'll make it slightly easier.
(smooth music plays)
Also tires.
Soft rubber and big knobbies are not only
gonna give you grip in the corners,
they're gonna help you stop as well.
So for the steepest of descends,
we're gonna need all the brakes you can get.
The tires with a lot of grip are also gonna help you out
and use the maximum power of those brakes.
Lastly, but an obvious one,
is make sure the brakes are in tip-top condition.
They're the most important thing on the bike.
So if these things are squealing and warbling,
could be caused by oil on the rotor
and that's really common to get some on the rear rotor
from lubing your chain and getting a bit of over-spray.
So make sure they're working really well
and you can use just the one finger to stop your bike
so you're using the rest of them to grip onto the bars.
Okay so your bike is set up,
no excuses should (mumbles) anything steep now.
So, let's drop into this steep section
and let's talk about the technique you need to use.
I've kind of talked about it a bit already,
this is trying to use that space at the back of the bike.
It's when you roll into this,
your bike is really going down the hill.
If you stay in the middle,
extra weight just goes to that front tire.
So if you just drop your hips
towards the back over the rear tire,
what you're actually doing
is maintaining the weight over both wheels.
A really steep section,
just try and roll in as slow as you can.
If you drop in too fast,
you won't be able to scrub that speed off.
So nice and steady in.
Just enough speed to keep balance and keep your head up.
(tires whiring)
(upbeat music)
On a steep section like this,
I'm gonna have to let the speed build.
Cause if you try to brake to stay at that same speed,
I'm gonna lose grip and potentially crash.
So make sure the run out is nice and clear
and try not to panic when you do get faster.
This is a good example of quite a steep technical section
and I'll talk you through what I'm doing here.
So I'm definitely making sure I don't drop
in too fast cause I've got real hard on the brakes.
And this rock is actually really slippy.
So I'm dropping in, both brakes,
getting to the back of the bike as we've talked about.
Keep my head up, spot the exit.
Cause this is really important.
There's a big stump here that I really need
to go aside otherwise we're gonna be in trouble.
So as I drop in I'm actually coming
off the front brake a little bit.
So I've got to turn around those rocks.
I really need that front wheel gripping.
If it slides, I'm in trouble again.
So I'm still on the back brake
and that's what I'm really using it as an anchor
like I said earlier just to slow me down.
Even if it's skidding around a little bit
I really need that front wheel gripping.
Soon as I've got around those rocks
and I'm heading straight down here.
I'm keeping my head up and then ease off the brakes
so I don't slide to the bottom,
head out at a decent bit of speed.
Okay that's some set up tips and a little bit of advice
to getting down in those steepest of the downhills.
We do skills videos every Wednesday on GMBM on YouTube.
So let me know in the comments down below
anything you might be struggling with
or anything you'd like to see me do
and I'll try to help you out in the upcoming weeks.
If you wanna see a couple videos from GMBM
click over there for the First Aid kit we think
you should take with you when you go for a ride.
Down there for some advice on protection you might want
to choose to wear when you're riding.
Give us thumbs up and hit that subscribe button.