Learning how to ride rocky terrain correctly is an essential technique that enables you to refine your technical riding skills, as well as prevent damage to your bike, as well as minimize the possibility of injury.

Rocks come in all shapes and sizes, but the fact remain that – if rocky terrain is ridden incorrectly – they can inflict damage to your bike and your body. Here are a few tips to enable you to refine your rocky terrain riding.

1. Increase your tire pressure: The advantages of running lower tire pressures off-road outweigh the disadvantages in most situations, but riding trails with a lot of sharp and/or big rocks can call for higher tire pressures (at least 35 PSI, but I don’t recommend you go over 40 PSI). Firmer tires will minimize the possibility of pinch-flatting and cuts to your tires’ sidewalls. When buying tires, choose ones with thicker sidewalls and more aggressive knobs, which work best on our dry and rough trails in Egypt.

2. Gear choice and pedalling technique: On long stretches of rocky terrain, pick a gear that will enable you to maintain a constant, smooth pedaling over the rocky sections. Pick too tall a gear and you’ll risk stalling. Try to stay in the saddle and focus on a smooth pedal stroke and let your suspension do what it is designed to do.

3. Choose a good line and commit to it: This last point seems to be common to advice in riding most situations. Keep your head up, scout out the trail as far ahead as possible and plan your entry and exit on various sections. If, for instance, you’re riding fast and flowy singletrack littered with rocky sections, pick up adequate speed, loosen up your elbows and knees and concentrate on “floating” your bike over the rocks by shifting your body weight and loading/unloading your suspension. With enough speed and good technique, you’ll be surprised at how you can quite easily ride through some very rough sections.

Do you constantly find yourself  having to get off your bike and push it uphill while watching the rest of your friends easily cycle to the top? If that is the case, then this article is for you. This article is also for you if you want to learn a few techniques to get you higher up that hill with less effort.

Contrary to the popular belief that it’s all about how powerful your legs are, in reality it’s 90% technique and 10% muscle. The name of the game is how to balance your weight on the bike far enough to the back so that the rear tire doesn’t slip and at the same time forward enough to prevent the front tire from doing a wheelie. That’s it.

Balance and Riding Position

The trick, then, is to get your weight back and keep your weight on the front wheel. To do this:

• Lower you chin as close as possible to the handle bar while looking forward, not down.
• Keep your elbows close to your side and flexible.
• Don’t pull on the handle bar. This achieves nothing.

This will lower your center of gravity and distribute your weight evenly between front and back. How far to lean forward is determined by the slope of the climb and the traction of the terrain that you are riding on. Another very important technique I learned is to:

• Shift your seating position (i.e your buttocks) to the very forward tip of your seat, almost as if you’re about to stand up. (I know that this hurts, but this is probably the most important tip in this article).

With practice, all of these will come together and your body will naturally fall into the right position.

It is important to remember that there is no such thing as a perfectly straight climb in mountain biking. You will have to keep on ADJUSTING your balance and riding position every few seconds to react to the climb.

Other things that will help:

• Don’t lower your seat. You only do that for downhill. Don’t have it too high either. Keep it in a position that allows you to pedal comfortably (maximum utilization of your muscles)
• If you have an adjustable fork, then drop your fork at the lowest travel. This will allows you to put enough weight on the front to keep it from lifting up on very steep climb and keep it going where you want it to go.
• If your have a full-suspension bike, switch on pedal platform or lock-out your rear suspension if your shock has that functionality. The bobbing motion from pedaling can result in significant energy loss (although many modern well-designed suspension designs and technologies mitigate this effect rather efficiently)

Pedaling and Shifting

• If you are starting a climb from a stationary position, then it is natural to start on the lowest gear possible.
• If you are approaching the climb with speed, then there are two techniques you can try:
  • Beginner: While coasting, shift to the lowest gear possible and then STOP pedaling. Let the bike go uphill on its own until you approach the point of zero velocity (otherwise you would probably spin out on the low gear). 2-3 seconds before that, you should start pedaling.
  • Advanced: As your pedaling and shifting techniques improve, you should work on attacking a climb in a way that preserves as much of your forward momentum as possible. While coasting, try to be on a gear that will allow you to comfortably do 1 rotation per second, then start your climb. Then start shifting down one by one until you reach the lowest gear possible. Never shift too many gears at once, or else you’ll hear lots of snapping and popping and could easily snap your chain.

Pick a Good Line to Climb

Scan the climb first and try to get a feel of the terrain and obstacles. Gauge how much traction you will have. Choose a line that has the following:

• Less obstacles, such as rocks. Trying to steer around obstacles just increases its complexity
• Avoid soft sand and loose gravel or anything that will make your tires slip, if at all possible.

Manage Your Energy

Try to manage your energy so that you have enough juice to make it to the top. Here are some tips:

• Pedal at a constant speed (rotations per second). Don’t pedal too fast during the first part of the climb or you’ll run out of breath before you reach the top
• Breathe!!
• Take a break before a steep climb and wait until your heart rate falls to a normal rhythm. I find myself having to do that more and more the older I get

Pumping For Speed and Control

How to jump a mountain bike

Steep Terrain

Handling rock gardens

Switchbacks

Drop-offs

Your pedal movement rotates the crank arms, which turn the chain rings, which drive the chain, which rotates the rear sprockets and ultimately the rear wheel and propel you forward. You have three chain rings on the front and 7-9 gears on the rear sprockets (depending on whether your bike has a 21, 24 or 29 speed drivetrain). Different combinations of the front chain rings and the rear sprocket gears will make it either easier or harder to pedal, depending on terrain elevation and surface. The front and rear derailleurs do the job of shifting the chain to different gears.

The chain rings (also called “crank rings”):

Shifting the front chain rings is done using the left-hand shifter.

The smallest ring (the innermost one) is the slowest, easiest to pedal and used to climb or riding in rough or difficult terrain (sand, for example). The middle chain ring is harder to pedal than the smallest ring, but using the middle ring gives you choice of the full range of the rear sprocket. It is usually optimal to choose the middle ring if you are cycling on level terrain. The largest gear (outermost one) is the most difficult to pedal and should be used for going downhill at higher speeds.

The rear sprocket:

Shifting rear sprocket gears is done using the right-hand shifter.

You should have 7,8 or 9 gears on your rear sprocket. The higher numbers are more difficult to pedal, and vise versa. When riding in a terrain with variable elevations or surfaces, it is usually best to use the middle chain ring and use the rear sprockets to fine-tune your gear choice.

It is important to avoid “extreme gear” combinations (also known as “cross chain” combinations) which put the chain at a too large an angle from the frame. Therefore, do not put the chain on the smallest rear gear when you have it on both the largest chain ring and largest rear gear, or vise versa. The middle chain ring will give you the full rear sprocket range.

Shifting technique:

As a general rule, you should shift “before you have to”. This means that you should not wait until you get right to the section that requires shifting (difficult climb, fast descent , sand, etc), but rather you should shift early and before you actually need to shift. Anticipate the optimum shifting point in advance and make your choice of gears when you are still on easy terrain. Shifting when or after you get to the difficult section will strain your muscles and your drive train.

If you have to shift after the optimal shifting point (after you actually enter the difficult section), it is best to shift when there is least tension on the chain. To do so, pedal hard once to gain some momentum, then shift right after the power pedal stroke.

It goes without saying that it is important to keep your drivetrain components in good working order (derailleurs, chain and sprockets clean and properly lubed).

Picture source

Basic technique:

Sandy trails can vary in the thickness, type and consistency of sand. On trails with thicker sections of loose sand, you should focus on controlling your front wheel and throwing more of your weight on your rear wheel. It is important to keep your front end light so that it doesn’t dig into sand and keep your rear firmly planted to maintain traction. Use a low gear and keep your pedal movement consistent and maintain your momentum. Limit handlebar steering (in deep sand you will easily loose traction at the slightest movement of the handlebar) and try to change directions using your own weight instead. In really thick sand sections, you might need to stand and pedal hard. It is usually best to gain speed on harder terrain and try to” float” your bike over sandy sections.

Sand uphill, sand downhill:

If you encounter sand going uphill, you need more speed and momentum. If the thicker sections are on your way down, you will need to focus on traction and bike control while throwing even more weight on the rear end.

Bike setup:

Trails with deeper, thicker sand require wider tires (such as the WTB Motoraptor 2.4) and lower tire pressure. On trails with light sand on a harder surface, a narrower tire can be an advantage since it will slice through the light sandy surface and allow you to push more on the harder surface below. In Egypt, most trails involve a variety of rock, sand or a mix of both, so your best bet is to run wider tires full-time. If the trail involves a lot of thick sand, it might also help to lower your saddle a few centimeters.

If you find yourself frequently plowing in deep, loose sand more than the usual, you might consider getting a “fat bike” with over-sized tires (3′+) and a frame and fork to accept them, such as the Surly Pugsley.

• Your torso should be neither too outstretched to the front (as if you are reaching for something), nor too upright.
• There should be a slight bend in your elbows.
• Your grip on the handlebars should be strong enough for adequate control, but not too strong so as to fatigue your forearms.
• Keep your body relaxed and your knees and elbows loose. At the lowest point of the crank movement, your leg should only be slightly bent (adjust your saddle height accordingly, preferably to be level with the handlebars).
• Keep your head up and look ahead of you, not at the front tire (or the back tire of the rider ahead of you) or to the sides. Your bike has a tendency of going where you are looking.
• Pedal to an easy rolling speed, then stand and coast. The crank arms should be at the 3 and 6 O’clock positions (parallel to the ground), your knees slightly bent and body loose and ready to absorb bumps.