Stone Steps - newbie

[Jim77]

Any tips for a newbie mountain biker for dealing with stone steps? I was at Coed Y Brenin at the weekend and found the stone step sections very tricky and kept falling off! They were going slightly up hill which meant i had to pedal and found i was catching the pedals on the rocks which caused me to lose balance. Any tips? How do you keep momentum and do the drops without catching any part of the frame /pedals ?

Cheers.

 

[bonj2]

do you mean the very first bit?

 

[spence]

Momentum (speed) is your friend.

As you approach the step position yourself centrally on the bike, arms slightly bent with your head up looking where you want to go. Choose a gear that you can peddle with ease but not to high that it could spin out. If peddling keep it constant but as you approach the step, stop and keep the peddles level. This should keep you in the "attack potion".
At the front of the step pull back on the bars and transfer you weight to the rear. This will pop the front wheel up the step. Now put in half a peddle stroke in to keep the momentum returning the peddles to level thus minimising any contact.
As the rear wheel starts to ride up the step transfer you weight forward lightening the rear so it can follow up the step. As the tyre rides up the edge of the step onto the flat start to peddle, keeping moment for the next.

As for descending, again keep the momentum up hesitation will cause you problems. keep you weight to the rear, back behind the saddle if really steep and again peddles level. Look where you want to go. Keep off the breaks as much as possible, feathering the rear if you need to. Let the bike do the work, they are far more capable then we are.

Most of all have fun.

 

[JonGW]

All about timing the pedal strokes, after a while you just learn when to pedal. Or just pedal like crazy and hop them all.

 

[Jim77]

Momentum (speed) is your friend.

As you approach the step position yourself centrally on the bike, arms slightly bent with your head up looking where you want to go. Choose a gear that you can peddle with ease but not to high that it could spin out. If peddling keep it constant but as you approach the step, stop and keep the peddles level. This should keep you in the "attack potion".
At the front of the step pull back on the bars and transfer you weight to the rear. This will pop the front wheel up the step. Now put in half a peddle stroke in to keep the momentum returning the peddles to level thus minimising any contact.
As the rear wheel starts to ride up the step transfer you weight forward lightening the rear so it can follow up the step. As the tyre rides up the edge of the step onto the flat start to peddle, keeping moment for the next.

As for descending, again keep the momentum up hesitation will cause you problems. keep you weight to the rear, back behind the saddle if really steep and again peddles level. Look where you want to go. Keep off the breaks as much as possible, feathering the rear if you need to. Let the bike do the work, they are far more capable then we are.

Most of all have fun.

That is very useful thanks. I will give it a go.

 

[Jim77]

do you mean the very first bit?

Yes I do. Embarrassing eh! - Any specific tips?

 

[bonj2]

Yes I do. Embarrassing eh! - Any specific tips?

erm, well, what spence says is largely right, all i'd add is don't try and take it sitting down in the saddle, you want to be standing up, and weight back most of the time.

 

[spence]

Yep, sorry up off the saddle. It's just a guide really, everyone develops their own technique, just keep at it.

Have only ridden at CyB the once since they moved everything across the road. It did strike me that the very first section was a bit out of place, especially watching a family on some Halfords specials struggling and giving in.

 

[bonj2]

Yep, sorry up off the saddle. It's just a guide really, everyone develops their own technique, just keep at it.

Have only ridden at CyB the once since they moved everything across the road. It did strike me that the very first section was a bit out of place, especially watching a family on some Halfords specials struggling and giving in.

i think it's a good taster of what's to come, nice to have a technical bit early on rather than a grinding climb.
the position of the rocks is apparently designed to be 'flowing', as in, they are more rideable than they would be if they were more off camber, the design of the camber enables them to be really tricky whilst still rideable. Once you've ridden them a few times you'll realise you can actually do almost mini trackstands on some of them while you pick the best line.

 

[barq]

CyB aren't alone in putting in "Granny Stoppers" at the start of the trails. At the former site there was a fairly stiff climb which was clearly intended to make people think twice before they embarked on something like the old Karimor trail. I think they are right to do it even though it seems a bit mean.