Steep slippy step-ups

ellieb

Bit of a technique question for those who know.
If you are going up a steep granny ring, slippy hill. How do you get over small steps (3-6") in your way. I have been practising all morning and my rear wheel consistently spins on the wet wooden step. The only way I can get over is to unweight the back end and stop pedalling so hard. The problem is if there is an obstacle immendiately after the step, I don't have the momentum or body poistion to keep going because my weight is so far forward. So what do you do?

Zeroman_IR

There's a climb on on one of our local trails here, pretty steep with a series of roots about 6 inches high in one spot (and wet roots at the moment). There's about 4 of them to go over if I remember and you hit them one after the other so pretty similar to what you're asking. I've found that as my fitness improves I'm able to just power at them and throw my weight forward. The tough part is getting back on the power so you don't get hung up on the next obstacle. That said, I can clear it most times now unless it's REALLY wet. So just keep trying, if I can do it anybody can HTH

Bikerbaboon

yep its about getting to the roots or steps with enough left in the legs for a burst of power to have momentum to clear.

Captain Turok

Bikerbaboon wrote:

yep its about getting to the roots or steps with enough left in the legs for a burst of power to have momentum to clear.

+1 Lack of momentum IMO means you need to carry a bit more speed into it. Maybe a different line? Interesting to see what everyone else says?

I've had a fetish for steps for quite sometime! (most of these are wooden and slippery when wet).
:oops: Similar thing happens to me. Although my problem is generaly trying not to impale myself on the stem, as I'm throwing myself forward when the bike has ground to a halt..