steep hill descent

Is there a trick to descending steeper hills? I've got this hill project
that I am working on and can't seem to complete. It's not huge but it is
really steep at the top and there is a bump at the top that I have to
get over and then drop right in, it's sandy with some small round rocks.
I started out going down and would eject over the front, so I tried to
compensate and today I wound up on my butt most of the time. I have made
it about halfway down but it wasn't very pretty!

I suspect it's just a matter of riding the slides and maintaining really
great balance. But any tricks that anyone might have would be extremely
helpful.

I have a KH 24 Freeride with a brake if that matters.


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I had a look at you site and the hill looks fairly easy but it's hard to
judge from photographs. I would just go slowly and then when I got to a
certain point (maybe 3/4 the way down) speed up and roll out. If you
leave it for a week or two you may find that you can do it easily.


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briguymaine wrote:
*Is there a trick to descending steeper hills? I've got this hill
project that I am working on and can't seem to complete. It's not huge
but it is really steep at the top and there is a bump at the top that
I have to get over and then drop right in, it's sandy with some small
round rocks. I started out going down and would eject over the front,
so I tried to compensate and today I wound up on my butt most of the
time. I have made it about halfway down but it wasn't very pretty!

I suspect it's just a matter of riding the slides and maintaining
really great balance. But any tricks that anyone might have would be
extremely helpful.

I have a KH 24 Freeride with a brake if that matters. *


Try blasting it; instead of spending a lot of energy controlling your
speed, try to ride it quickly. If you keep the uni under you and keep
the pedals turning, you'll tend to get to the bottom of any hill. It's
mostly a question of getting over your nervousness.


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if its not too long then u could go slow if ur not up for speeding down
it
all u hav to do is lean back and instead of pushing the pedals like
riding u just prevent them from spining quickly (its all in the quads)
or u can go quickly


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unigamer wrote:
*I had a look at you site and the hill looks fairly easy but it's hard
to judge from photographs. I would just go slowly and then when I got
to a certain point (maybe 3/4 the way down) speed up and roll out. If
you leave it for a week or two you may find that you can do it easily.
*


Those pictures are a bit decieving, even to me! I look at them and
think, it's not that big darn it, why am I having this much trouble! The
top 5 feet or so is the trouble spot, it's nearly vertical and made up
of loose sandy gravel, my wheel slips and away I go.

Thanks for the replies, I'll try a bit of all of your suggestions!


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zig zag down it


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zoharj - Level 4
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Looks safe.

Tips:
Stare at the pictures.
Get to the top and imagine the pics in your mind.
See yourself riding down the "easy" slope.
Then, like tholub said, pedal quickly.

The key is to see the success in your mind first.


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I wouldn't worry about going fast because there's plenty of flat ground
to run out onto (or roll if you fall).
I'd bomb down that first 5 feet of loose stuff, then use your brake to
gradually slow down.
or try the inverse, go slow and slide through the sandy stuff, and if
you're still on your uni, then bomb down the rest of it or use your
brake or a combination of the two

good luck

i just got a brake for my Freeride and i'm lovin it. i got it because I
couldn't do some hills that were really steep (like that or steeper) and
also a 1.5 mile singletrack descent rendered my quads useless for the
next few days


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Ditto on the 'The key is to see the success in your mind first.' Thats
important.

Also, pull on the handle, as if your pulling yourself down on the
pedals. Forget about the hill and speeds and techniques, and just
concentrate on staying on the pedals.


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The trick to doing steep dirt (as you described) is to limit your speed
without back-pressuring the pedals so hard you punch out of traction.
Keep a slow, even spin going, as opposed to a stop-and-start jerky
motion, which can quickly skid you out, especially on steep shale or
loose dirt. Most of the hard trails in my hometown (in the Sasnta
Monica mountains) are on shale/dirt, and it took me months before i
could ride most of the single tracks without skidding out, often right
onto my ass, a dozen or more times a trip. The looseness makes it hard,
not the steepness.

Steep, loose terrain is much, much easier is a brake. It is amazing how
slowly and smothly you can descend on super steep stuff with a true rim
and a Magura. Sometimes I have the brake nearly locked and sort of bleed
down the trail. One single track in particular is easily twice as hard
and three times as strenuous without a brake.

I think one of the sketchiest kinds of terrain is steep shale-loose dirt
that also has steps or drops. You can sometimes bomb this kind of
terrain but I´ve taken some aweful falls trying this. The slightest
bounce on the steep loose stuff and you´re off. One time I couldn´t run
out a UPD (too steep and too fast), summersalted down and got all tore
up. There´s a pretty notorious single track, called Suicide, in the San
Fernando Valley that Teacherdad put us onto, with one section of
insanely steep shale strewn over twisty, rocky ledges. If it were hard
pack it would certainly go. I don´t know if anyone could maintain
enough traction to ride it over shale. It was the only part Eyal and I
could not ride--we did not even try.

This would be a really good subject for a comprehensive video
tutorial.

JL


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