After crashing and injuring myself in a race by going over the bars in classic cartoon fashion when trying to ride through a perfectly wheel-shaped ditch across the trail I’ve lost any confidence in the idea I’ll ever get across one without dying in a fireball.
And this was despite riding through it without a second thought the lap before.

What technique are you supposed to have when your path goes down very sharply then back up very sharply across a short horizontal distance?

Pump.

Weight over the back wheel, let the front ride through it (if you’re a wuss like me). As above, pumping and unweighting the front wheel is the other option.

As you’ve pointed out, you want to make sure you’ve not got your weight over the front wheel, as the entire bike will just pivot around the wheel…

Lift front wheel up before it or bunny hop it

What size ditches are we talking about?

I’m having the same problem at the minute.
One of my local routes has several steep sided ditches which are wheel shape/size at the bottom,if you try to ride through them it’s straight over the bars but because it’s a bit boggy I can’t get enough speed up to hop over them so it’s a case of trying to to get the front wheel up enough to land it on the other side and hope the back one follows.I came off a few weeks ago and now lost confidence and find myself trying to ride round them or even getting off :oops:, what am I doing they’re tiny ditches ffs!
I know I really need to man up but they’re in the back of my mind now everytime I’m out on the bike
Sorry,no help what so ever but I feel your pain 😀

what you need is a 36er,

Just pop the front wheel over it.

what you need is a 36er,

Said nobody, ever.

😆

Surely a 36er is 7 better than a 29er?

Would you be allowed to ride that 36er wearing anything other than a top hat on your head? 😯

Back on topic – I found just such a ditch on a recent ride, and have to confess to dismounting as I couldn’t rationalise any way the bike would successfully roll down into and up out of it! I’m sure it’s all in me head..

Attack the ditch at a slight angle if possible, rather than perpendicular, and pump, as noted above.