Hill climbs over rooted ground...

[tricky69]

Right i am having issues with this... i have a hard tail bike and my neck of the woods is norrow trails which are heavily rooted which makes climbing pretty tough

I have good tyres but every climb i seem to get stuck on roots and the wheels spin way before i run out of energy.... is there a technique that i am missing ?

[chrisga]

Something which I had forgotten about until someone mentioned it the other day is letting a bit of air out of the tyres to make them kind of fold round the root slightly to increase grip. Might help, or you may be doing this already.

[tricky69]

chrisga said:

Something which I had forgotten about until someone mentioned it the other day is letting a bit of air out of the tyres to make them kind of fold round the root slightly to increase grip. Might help, or you may be doing this already.

ahh yeah not a bad idea that, my bike is set up for road riding so that might be the problem...

[neil_bolton]

You need to master feathering whilst climbing: The art of moving your weight back and forth in order to garner maximum grip over the rear without tipping back.

Its a bugger, but a skill worth having (I don't) - the first rooty climb at Cymcarn being the perfect place to learn!

ETA Tyres play a fairly large role here too: no high pressures nor semi slicks here!

Edited by neil_bolton on Wednesday 6th May 14:17

[ewenm]

Like Neil says, you can make huge differences to grip and traction by changing your weight distribution. Try putting the your weight further back just as you put the power into the pedals when you're on the roots.

[tricky69]

ewenm said:

Like Neil says, you can make huge differences to grip and traction by changing your weight distribution. Try putting the your weight further back just as you put the power into the pedals when you're on the roots.

not sure that would help as i have my weight a long way back anyway... with the front wheel barely touching the ground as i have to lift it over the route in the first place... the only way to get further back is to sit on the back wheel like when doing a steep desent... but then you can't climb

[ewenm]

tricky69 said:

ewenm said:

Like Neil says, you can make huge differences to grip and traction by changing your weight distribution. Try putting the your weight further back just as you put the power into the pedals when you're on the roots.

not sure that would help as i have my weight a long way back anyway... with the front wheel barely touching the ground as i have to lift it over the route in the first place... the only way to get further back is to sit on the back wheel like when doing a steep desent... but then you can't climb

It's literally only for a moment, I shift my weight all the time while climbing.

If it really doesn't help then my sequence of moves would be this:

• Weight back to help front wheel over root.
• Hard pedal stroke to put some momentum into the bike.
• Weight forward just as the rear wheel hits the root to make the back light and help the wheel over the root.
• Don't pedal hard again until the wheel is over the root.

You need to avoid putting the power in while the wheel is in contact with the root, but put enough power in just before that to take the bike over the root.

[tricky69]

ewenm said:

tricky69 said:

ewenm said:

Like Neil says, you can make huge differences to grip and traction by changing your weight distribution. Try putting the your weight further back just as you put the power into the pedals when you're on the roots.

not sure that would help as i have my weight a long way back anyway... with the front wheel barely touching the ground as i have to lift it over the route in the first place... the only way to get further back is to sit on the back wheel like when doing a steep desent... but then you can't climb

It's literally only for a moment, I shift my weight all the time while climbing.

If it really doesn't help then my sequence of moves would be this:

• Weight back to help front wheel over root.
• Hard pedal stroke to put some momentum into the bike.
• Weight forward just as the rear wheel hits the root to make the back light and help the wheel over the root.
• Don't pedal hard again until the wheel is over the root.

You need to avoid putting the power in while the wheel is in contact with the root, but put enough power in just before that to take the bike over the root.

yeah think thats where i am going wrong... too much power when the tyre is on the root, maybe use a higher gear ?

[mikee boy]

tricky69 said:

yeah think thats where i am going wrong... too much power when the tyre is on the root, maybe use a higher gear ?

I don't think the gearing is that important. The key is that you try to avoid the wheelspin by not powering at the split second. If you're travelling uphill with momentum just before your back wheel hits the root you almost don't need to pedal until the back wheel has passed the root. However, if you're putting a lot of power down as you cross the root the wheelspin throws you off balance which is the biggest problem.

I tend to push the bike forward to get it over the root before getting on the power again, so I move forward before the root gets to the back wheel and then backwards as the back wheel gets to the root which helps get the bike over it. Mind you I ride a solid bike so it may be different for hard tail or full sus.