Drop offs and steep hill techniques????

projectsome

Ok, I'm not so good at doing them. ok the last time I attempted one I ended up in a crumpled heap.

I've slowly got my confidence back and can do the small steep stuff but any long descent is a big no no at the moment.

Any advice on body position etc and braking?


Thanks

Helen-mtb

i'm also interested in this post... i dont even have the guts to do things like that!

someone? lol

mellex

Personally I find that mindset is the biggest issue when it comes to things like this. Spend too long looking at the challenge and you'll convince yourself that you can't do it. Blasting at it can also see you come up short and taking a tumble.

When I'm on a steep, drawn out decent, I try to approach at a speed that I'm comfortable with. That stops me grabbing a handful of brake and ultimately allows me to keep both wheels under control. Shift your weight back over the saddle and keep your peddles level. I find that helps me balance.

Hope that helps.

bomberesque

I'm going to jump in with some off the cuff advice here. I'm no expert but have been practicing a lot recently so here's what I've noticed.

drops, start small (like; off a kerb) and work up. I found I needed 3 things to do drop offs

1. Timing to pop the front wheel at the right moment to get the landing just nice; both wheels landing at once, if anything back wheel a little early. Get this dialled off a 6" kerb and you'll find the only other thing you need to worry about is the angle of the run off
2. Confidence that my bike wouldn't break
3. Confidence that my legs wouldn't break

up to about 2-3 ft drops now and currently working on skill no. 3 to take it further

steep stuff likewise is about practice but 2 things I'd say;

1. going into an extended descent, drop your saddle *way* down. you can always drop it a little less on the next run but to begin with get it right the f%^k out of the way. you will have loads more room
2. weight right back, palm pressure neutral on the handlebars (not pulling up on them, not heavily weighted)

Brakes the best advice is stay off them as much as your confidence will allow. as you get faster you will find yourself using them less and less. Don't brake whilst cornering unless you're in the sh1t already, brake in the straight before the corner then rail through it, you can brake a little on the other side if you feel that you've exited a bit fast. Session a single corner over and over to get a feel for this. wierd thing is I really discovered this for myself playing Gran Tourismo, gekky sado that I am. :roll:
Try not to drag your brakes, concentrate on using them in a focussed manner. dragging brakes is not good for them.

miss notax

Weight way back, keep loose on the bike and tickle the brakes - no slamming them on! That'll get you down most stuff

I agree that thiking about it too much is also a no-no - have a quick look, think positive and go for it!

bomberesque

oh, and the old mantra; look 3-4 metres ahead at your line (not at the tree/rock/rut edge, that's how you guarantee hitting it). If you find yourself looking right in front of the wheel, it's time to stop for a minute and get your composure back

Stoo61

Definitely mostly a mind set thing. A certain bit I can think of locally I used to sh*t out of but now do it without thinking....even trying to do it faster and get a bit more air etc. ~

Took a noob mate down it, he tried to stop and about ended himself.

Work up the confidence and keep rolling through.

.blitz

Weight right back, stay loose and look well ahead. Target fixation is your worst enemy.

If you need to, modulate/pulse the brakes like anti-lock brakes on a car. It really works.

ride_whenever

Find yourself a very steep slope and see how slowly you can go down it. Ideally a wet grassy one so if you're not careful you lock the wheels up.

This will give you a chance to really get the position right and practice controlled braking.

Once you're comfy you can go faster, the other thing is, if it isn't too technical stiffen your forks up a little for really steep stuff, stops them diving enough to make the bike feel really twitchey.

Zeroman_IR

You don't mention your level of experience so I'm sorry if this comes across as condescending, not my intention. I'm a relative newcomer myself, only been MTBing for about 5 months at this stage.

For drop offs, I keep my weight well back and just let the bike do it's thing on anything up to about a foot and a half. Any bigger than that and you might need to pop a wheelie/manual to stop the front sticking and pitching you over the bars to land in the aforementioned crumpled heap.

As for long descents, I presume you mean dirty rough steep long descents. Just keep your weight well back. I use both brakes, the back a little more than the front. But make sure you're well back before you grab the front. The brakes are more to control your speed than to slow you down, a little speed can help smooth out trail obstacles and stop you getting hung up on them (but not too much speed as I learned at the weekend. Landed on my head, my neck is still sore...how's that for a crumpled heap? It was just at the end of the descent too, I actually landed in the ferns at the side of the fireroad )

But getting back on track... I tend to clamp the saddle between my thighs too, it keeps the back end a little more controlled. When you start, you'll probably find you're right off the back of the bike, with the back wheel buzzing your shorts but as you get more of a feel for it you'll learn to find the balance point where your centre of gravity is just behind the front wheel to help keep weight on it and help you grip. Keep loose, don't tense up. If you feel you're going too fast and REALLY need to brake, pick a reasonably smooth spot, drop your heels to put your weight through your feet and then brake as hard as you can with both brakes without sliding.

And good luck. Like many skills, it's just something you'll improve at over time.

infoxicated

All of the above advice about getting the weight back is good stuff.

One other thing you can do to help is to get someone to video you and then watch it back. It's amazing the quirks you can see in your own technique when you do that.

For example, you might think you're really hanging off the back of the bike, but when you watch it back you might see that you're sticking your arse out, but hunching forwards at the same time, throwing your centre of gravity out.

I remember trying for ages to do that endo/pivot twist thing when I first got into mountain biking and I just couldn't work out why the bike wouldn't swing around for me until I saw a video of myself. I was essentially trying so hard to do an endo that I was up too far to swing the bike around - all I was doing was knocking myself over sideways.

I think within a week of seeing what I was doing wrong I was able to sort my technique out and get it done.

dot1

basically what everyone has said here. get your arse back and stay relaxed. put some trust in your bike aswell, its suprising how much sh*t they can get you out of. mine has saved me quite a few times.

failing all of that, get yourself a 9 inch travel DH monster and let it do all the work for you

llamafarmer

Something I think is really important is taking a rolling start at it. Go and have a look over the edge and pick your line by all means, but where I think a lot of people fail is trying to start right on the edge of a nasty steep section, so they get no chance to get settled on the bike and they're unbalanced right from the off. Then they grab a handful of brakes or try and step off over the crossbar and......

Start a few metres back if possible and roll up to it at a comfortable pace, get balanced and go for it! Move your arse over the saddle as the rear wheel rises, imagine you're pivoting your body around the bottom bracket.

lawman

check out the line first but only look at it for the clearest line, turn back get your bike weight back and let it go, dont brake until the ground levels off again but if you see and an obstacle just dab the brakes and whip the back end round it. then go back and do it again and just launch in at full pelt. dont think about it and use your handling skills to keep it together. alternately, imagine its falt and ride as you would if it was just a flat piece of trail. this tends to work for less experienced or confident riders and as you build your confidense up, you can look at the trail whilst rolling into it and just go for it. its a great skill to have and can give you much more speed and thrills.

joolsburger

Speed is your friend on both drop offs and drop ins.

I cant add to what's been said about drop offs just start small and work your way up to the big stuff and remember flat landings are not ideal!!

Steep drop ins are a doddle really it's just having some balls, getting your weight back (often not as far as you think) stay off the brakes, keep your head up and look at your exit point not your front wheel. Theres quite a steep drop called deliverance near me and so many people wipe out by over braking, just ride the chute and brake at the bottom is my motto!

delcol

some pretty good advice here,, to add my bit...

what kind of surface is this steep terrain..

lower saddle keep weight as far back as you can heels down, chin up (this puts you in a natural lay back position,) look ahead (don't watch the front wheel)

walk it first visualise your line think how you will be and what you will be doing on the bike. when your confident and only when your confident try it. DO NOT attempt it if your only half sure..

now depending on the surface (wet dry) mud rock clay ect.. use the brakes i would say slightly more front than back (it's easier to lock up the rear and skid) think about modulation you don't want to lock up the brakes you want to stay in controll..

if there is any rough parts of the decent them back off the brakes and get back on them when its safe to do so,, remember weight back heels down chin up... controlled braking...

good luck and enjoy that buzz when you rail it for the first time and you can't wait to get back up for another go...

supertwisted

I'm still very much in the middle of my own learning process, so it's more a tale of my own experiences than advice that I have to offer.

Initially I took a lot of the advice about getting my weight to the back of the bike to heart.

Sure enough, my weight was well back and I never got flipped over the front of the bike.

However, I was basically stretching out rigidly and hanging off the back of the bike grimly holding on to the bars.

The upshot being that on rough downhill sections the front wheel would wash out and be too slow to turn in and on jumps and drops I'd bounce straight off the pedals and fall off the back of the bike.

I've since adopted a more neutral posture, keeping my weight lower as well as to the back, but not so far that I'm hanging onto the bars by my fingernails.

The other big improvement I've made is to losen up. Going stiff with terror at a fast approaching drop is a difficult habbit to break, but once you do the chances of landing it smoothly shoot up.

I'm still a long way off where I want to be, and it's slow going, but I am improving.

projectsome

Excellent,

thanks for all the advice

Northwind

For me, it's all headology, I look at a drop or slope and think "I can't ride that" and then I do, and it turns out to be a total piece of p**s in most cases and I get to the bottom thinking "Oh, is that it". But, that doesn't make it any easier to roll over the edge into what my brain tells me is certain doom.

But, what I've discovered is that while I can't overcome my brain (no matter how feeble it is) for the whole maneuvre, I can switch it off for just long enough to get past the point of no return. It's not so much commitment, more total paralysis, I probably look like a total mong when I do it but it works, for me at least.

mhuk

I'm sure there was a series of articles here:

http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/feature

gnarly-ass-rider

stay low on the bike
get ur ass over the back end
look as far ahead of the trail as you can
stay off the brakes
hope for the best :P

passout

P. M. A.