MTB 101 - Skills »
Cross country skills: riding over obstacles
Most mountain bike rides include obstacles — logs, root ledges, rocks — that, one way or another, you’ll need to get over. Sometimes you can just continue pedalling right over these things, although there are times when the edge of the obstacle (like a root) can cause your rear tire spin out. If you can’t pedal over it than you either need enough speed to jump it completely or you need another method to get over it otherwise you are walking.
This article talks about two methods of getting over an obstacle when you don’t have enough speed to bunny hop it completely. As always, comments and correction are welcome from the advanced riders out there.
The Kiss Hop
The Kiss Hop method of clearing an obstacle combines the skills of the previous post. The basic idea behind the Kiss Hop is to first get your front wheel onto the obstacle, and then immediately hop the rear wheel forward. Ideally, you’ll have enough speed / momentum going so that you can stop pedaling before the obstacle and so your forward motion will allow the rear wheel to land on top of the obstacle after you have hopped it.
Charlie B has the best description of using this method for getting over a log I’ve seen. He makes a very important point that had messed me up for a very long time. Specifically, when you get your front wheel on top of the obstacle you have to have your weight forward. If your weight is too far to the rear you’ll have problems.
Timing is the real hard element here. It really depends on how fast you are approaching the obstacle (log, ledge, rock). If you are moving at a good clip than as soon as that front wheel touches or kisses the top of the obstacle you hop. If you are going too slow then you might not have enough forward momentum to carry your rear wheel over the edge of the obstacle.
Practice on something small like a curb. Roll towards it a speed that is probably tad faster than you really want to. Keep your strong foot forward. Lift your front wheel onto the curb, as soon as the front wheel touches down hop the rear wheel. Try to keep your weight forward when the front wheel touches on top of the obstacle.
It’s important not to think of this skill as one complete movement, but rather as two distinct skills performed one immediately after another. Kiss your front wheel on top of the object, keep your weight forward, then hop the rear.
The Pedal Up
The pedal up is required when you don’t have enough forward momentum going to stop pedaling and coast towards the obstacle before you go over it.
A good example of this would be when you’re climbing some single track and come across a root ledge that you need to get over. If you stop pedaling on the climb in order to do the kiss hop, then you won’t have enough speed to make the jump forward. Or you are too much in the red to get a couple strong pedal strokes in to build up the speed you need before you reach the obstacle.
With the pedal up, you replace the lofting of the front wheel with a wheelie generated by a 3/4 -1 pedal stroke. The 3 keys to success on this move are:
- Starting the wheelie the right distance away from the obstacle.
- Finishing the wheelie so that your strong foot is forward in the horizontal position ready for a hop.
- Keeping your weight forward when the front wheel lands ready to throw it over the obstacle.
My strong foot is my right foot. In the series of pictures below I am initiating the wheelie with my left foot. My front wheel is about a bike length away from the edge of the obstacle. Popping the front wheel with my weak foot is one of the harder things for me to learn.
Note that my weight in the first few images is still mostly in the saddle. Had this been on a steep incline, I don’t know if it would have worked because my weight should really have been forward in the saddle.
In the pictures below, you can see that my front wheel landed farther forward than I expected, given how far away I was when I initiated the wheelie. Elevator…going up!
Years ago I could do this move really well but somewhere along the line, I lost the ability to make it work. I’ve just re-learned how to do it, even though I haven’t been able to recreate the pedal up on the trail.
When you’re practicing, remember that there is a lot of timing involved with the pedal up. You have to judge your speed accordingly so that you can start the wheelie with the proper foot, and land the front with your strong foot forward. You have to chose the right gear so that it is high enough to loft the front wheel. Too high or too low a gear and you won’t get the wheelie.
You don’t have to initiate the wheelie with your weak foot either. You can try it with your strong foot with a 1/4 jab stroke, or a 1/2 stroke with a 1/4 backwards ratchet. A lot depends on your approach speed and what you are more comfortable with.
The most common mistake is starting the wheelie too late. By the time your front wheel lands on top, the rear wheel slams into the edge. Another mistake is waiting too long to hop once the front wheel has landed. And just like the Kiss Hop, it is almost one fluid motion. Bam bam, right after another, land the front wheel then hop.
Suggested reading
Conclusion
I don’t know about you, but I hate to walk. With these two skills, you can get up an over a lot of stuff you come across on a typical cross country ride.
Remember that these skills are not easy, or intuitive — it will take you some time to get them down. I practice these skills in a safe and flat environment with the hope of ingraining them into muscle memory. Once there, it will take some more practice and patience before I’m totally comfortable with the moves on the trail.
1. Posted by Cory | 8:18 am, 21 March 2006
I find it useful to preload the fork by pushing down a little bit before I move up and over an obstacle. Doing this gives you a little bit ‘extra’ and makes getting the front end up a little easier, especially during technical bits.