Trail Climbing

MTB trail climbing is difficult, exhausting, fun, and exciting all at the same time.  What goes up must also come down, so keep that in the front of your brain when you feel the pain on those long, technical, and grueling climbs. 

Follow these 7 trail climbing tips and you'll be on your way to tackling steeper, trickier, and more advanced trails than you ever thought possible. 

1. Clipless shoes and pedals:  Clipless systems double your power.  They take a little practice, but once you experience the increase of power there is no going back.  You'll find that you can not only push down, but you can also pull up every pedal rotation.  Now all your leg muscles are benefiting from this amazing sport.  More on trail climbing with clipless shoes and pedals.
2. Balance: Balance is essential to any biking technique.  The better balance you have, the more technical trails you can ride. 
3. Trail climbing position:  Sitting down with your weight forward in proportion to the incline is perfect; as long as your seat is adjusted high enough to give your legs enough room to fully extend without locking.  Sitting allows you to take full advantage of the pushing and pulling of each leg simultaneously if you use a clipless system.  However, you may want to stand up to use your upper body to "pump".  The only problem with standing is your weight shifts almost entirely to the front and you'll start to skid and loose power in the rear.  To avoid this, pull up on the handle bar of the same side as you push down on the pedal.  This technique helps increase your traction on the back tire.  It takes a little practice but  thankfully doesn't not require a lot of brain power.
4. Starting midway up a hill:  The best advice is never stop halfway up a hill, but that's not reality!  The idea is to get your momentum going again, so clip your favorite pedal in, move the pedal just below the top of the stroke, and start pedaling as hard as you can while trying to clip in your other foot.  If the trail is wide enough, you can decrease the incline by zigzagging up the trail to get going.  This is the hardest part of trail climbing so avoid stopping halfway up a hill if at all possible. 
5. Rotations Per Minute (RPM): Don't sweat this one too much.  You will naturally find a good RPM over time.  But for the beginner, it is worth noting that you will do better on a climb if you have a relatively fast pedaling cadence (RPM).
6. Shifting into a climb:  This technique will also come naturally with experience.  Shifting too late into a climb will cause you to loose your speed, so make sure you shift to a low gear just before you approach the climb so that your pedaling cadence can already be in full throttle. 
7. Hopping:  This technique is for those technical climbs featuring roots, rocks, and other obstacles in the path.  Hop your front tire over small obstacles, and both tires over large ones. 

NOTE:  To practice hopping, find a curb and slowly approach it with your bike.  Just before your front tire hits the curb, lean back and pull up on your handlebars enough to hop your front tire up. 

The back tire hop requires the use of your feet and pedals.  With a clipless system, you can easily jump up the curb and the bike will follow since it is attached to your feet.  If you don't have a clipless system, you must turn your pedals slightly vertical and use this traction to hop the back tire up the curb.

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