[Closed] Whats your technique for wet roots?

i carry a microfibre towel with me for this kinda situation, a quick dry down and you (and the people bunched up behind you) can carry on safely.

Hit them square on with confidence and no front brake.

fast & light. hit em straight on (90°) if possible.

look forward not down.

don't have your tyres too hard. 🙂

i usually find that my technique involves folding the front end completely beneath me followed by immediate granite eating.

i put this move into practice yesterday and everyone marvelled at my skillz.

panic like mad

huw - Member
Hit them square on with confidence and no front brake

+1 - just gotta keep the momentum, the amount of times on a climb I end up not attacking and the back wheel just spins.

Hit them as square as you can (where possible)
Stay loose
Your wheels will slide - don't expect grip
Pump!

it would depend on exactly which roots you're talking about.

soft tyres make a big difference

avoid them if possible - ride around or jump over

otherwise hit them at a right angle if possible, and if not, or in any event, go as light as you can over them. pull up on your front wheel and just skip the back over them. use the first root as a ramp to launch the bike into the air so you just skim the surface.

except sometimes you do the opposite and put extra weight down, but generally the rule is to go light over wet roots.

be prepared to slide a bit - try to make it on the rear wheel not the front wheel.

you do not want to be changing course while you're on the wet roots - keep a steady line. Generally the key with wet roots is to pick a big, simple, straightforward line rather than to flick the bike around all over the place. That is, flick the bike around as much as necessary to AVOID the roots but if you must ride OVER them, keep it in as straight a line as possible.

15psi tyres

Speed & no brake. And tubeless.

Relaxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hit them high and fast - i still come off! it all depends on how polished the damn things are!

Stay relaxed, easy on the brakes and hit them straight, stay loose, it works as I hate roots and took me a while to get the hang of them.

a coating of marmite on my tyres.

most roots hate it.

You have to [i]believe[/i] your tyres will stick. For some reason that's very important.

they never seem to be square on unless they are also on an off camber slope, in my experience.

My approach is;

1) spot approaching root, tense up
2) slow down a bit to have a squint at it.
3) realise it's wet, at an angle to the trail and that there's no way to go around it.
4) slow down some more body now fully rigid.
5) reach root.
6) hoik front wheel over the root and land it just on top of the other one that was lurking behind it.
7) realise that I've slowed down too much and now have no momentum.

at this point I either

a) stop dead as all forward motion has now ceased there's an unseemly scrabble to get my foot unclipped prior to hitting the ground with my shoulder.

or

b) have just enough speed to let the front wheel slide on the second root and disappear off sideways whilst there's an unseemly scrabble to get my foot unclipped prior to hitting the ground with my shoulder.

I manage to do all of the above constiently throughout the wet months of the year despite endless visualisation and 'mtfu' talkings to from myself.

*sighs*

jota180 - Member
Relaxxxxxxxxxxxx

DONT Do IT!

Momentum. Also staying loose on the bike, it's going to slide and go all over the place, the trick seems to be for your momentum to carry you through.

Hit roots - fall off - swear lots - inspect body for breakages.

Cheers guys, makes me feel better, that I'm just avoiding them. I thought it was just me who was scared of them 🙂

I leave off the brakes and lighten the wheel as it goes over the root if you are going slowly, or use your momentum if going faster. Jumping right over them is good where possible, I was following (well, trying to) an ex-pro rider through the pie run at glentress and her solution to the slippy clusters of roots in there involved lots of speed and air whilst I was mincing around and over them at 5mph trying to weave my bars around the trees at the same time.

Don't touch the front brake, let the bike run, don't turn on them. Unweight the front wheel, and if you can as mentioned use the first one to hop and unweight, the faster you are going the less you'll touch. Super tacky tires are good too!

Dunno but there are plenty to practise on around the top loop of the Aston Hill XC course at the moment & it you've mastered those there is always the damp boarded section lower down to hone the technique to expert level

as others have said; hit them square on as possible and 'stay loose', i.e. dont break too hard and dont tense up

Good tip from Andy at Dirt School - approach the section on the downhill side of the trail and aim to finish it on the uphill side.

You're still doing all the good stuff above about hitting the roots square-on, light on the bike, etc. but the slight change to the approach angle helps to counteract and slip and does a lot for your confidence!

Pick a line that minimise the 'allong' and goes 'across' the roots as much as possible, then look at whatever's next and let the bike ride itself over the roots.

Brake, if you have to beforehand, aim high and light - that's the theory - which becomes, brake, panic too much speed, brake again, bugger not enough speed, slide, ooph ffs that hurt - check limbs.

As for boarded sections, Laggan spate me off in 20 metres - god was i tense afterwards.

i usually find that my technique involves folding the front end completely beneath me followed by immediate granite eating.

i put this move into practice yesterday and everyone marvelled at my skillz

Same as him 🙁

Mince and slam.

See that really crappy bit of trail at the bottom of the roots that your trying to avoid... that's where your going to end up so just hit that bit as hard and fast as you can.

or

See that really crappy bit of trail at the bottom of the roots that your trying to avoid... that's where your going to end up so try and get your front wheel past the roots and expect your back wheel to end up in the horrible bit, if it does end up down there you were expecting it, but if you sail on past you've won.

trailmonkey - Member
i usually find that my technique involves folding the front end completely beneath me followed by immediate granite eating....

I try to follow riders who do this and then there's plenty grippy surface.

If I'm in front, then it's me who provides the grip. 🙂

Don't think anyone's mentioned power yet.. Don't put the power down when the back wheel is on a root or it will slide out.

Good tip from Andy at Dirt School - approach the section on the downhill side of the trail and aim to finish it on the uphill side.

You're still doing all the good stuff above about hitting the roots square-on, light on the bike, etc. but the slight change to the approach angle helps to counteract and slip and does a lot for your confidence!

I don't quite understand what you're getting at here, can you explain it again, slowly, for the *tards?

Good tip from Andy at Dirt School - approach the section on the downhill side of the trail and aim to finish it on the uphill side.

You're still doing all the good stuff above about hitting the roots square-on, light on the bike, etc. but the slight change to the approach angle helps to counteract and slip and does a lot for your confidence!

I assume this means you're less likely to slide along the root if travelling across it up the slope. Seems to make sense.

Vorlich -

OK, so you're approaching a rooty section of trail. For the sake of argument, let's say the trail is straight!

The trail will be contouring across the hillside and will have some kind of outslope itself, so one side of the trail will be downhill, the other will be uphill. Even if the trail is completely flat (let's say you live in England or something... 😉 ) the roots themselves will have some slope - they'll be higher closer to the tree.

As you approach the section, position yourself on the downhill side (outside) of the trail.

Just before you hit the first root, aim your bike at the uphill (inside) edge of the trail at the far end of the rooty section.

At the same time, unweight the bike (use the first root as a boost if you like). "Float" the bike through the section, ideally not re-weighting it until you reach the far end. This will, of course, depend how fast you're going, how good you are at popping the bike up and how long the section is!

The slight bit of inward steering compensates for the slippiness without being enough to mean you're not hitting the roots straight-on.

If you're not sure what I mean by weighting/unweighting the bike ("pumping the trail"), might be best to get some input from a skills day or a more experienced rider. Not the easiest thing to learn on the web!

EDIT: Top-tip - look at your exit point from the section, not at your front wheel! (Also applies to riding North Shore and riding rails on a snowboard!).

wwaswas - I love that post!!

I usually find that suicide grips and a quick prayer works well.

don't have your tyres too hard.

Aim to hit them square on, stay loose, don't brake and just as I'm passing over them close my eyes. Working well so far this winter 🙂

I try to follow riders who do this and then there's plenty grippy surface.

bah.. Trailmonkey rolled to the side of the trail pretty swiftly.. most unsporting in my book..

Target fixation seems to be a common theme too. Don't look at them, look at the next bit of trail. Chances are you'll be long past them by the time you remember to fall off.

Bunny hop them.

Vorlich -

OK, so you're approaching a rooty section of trail. For the sake of argument, let's say the trail is straight!

The trail will be contouring across the hillside and will have some kind of outslope itself, so one side of the trail will be downhill, the other will be uphill. Even if the trail is completely flat (let's say you live in England or something... ) the roots themselves will have some slope - they'll be higher closer to the tree.

As you approach the section, position yourself on the downhill side (outside) of the trail.

Just before you hit the first root, aim your bike at the uphill (inside) edge of the trail at the far end of the rooty section.

At the same time, unweight the bike (use the first root as a boost if you like). "Float" the bike through the section, ideally not re-weighting it until you reach the far end. This will, of course, depend how fast you're going, how good you are at popping the bike up and how long the section is!

The slight bit of inward steering compensates for the slippiness without being enough to mean you're not hitting the roots straight-on.

If you're not sure what I mean by weighting/unweighting the bike ("pumping the trail"), might be best to get some input from a skills day or a more experienced rider. Not the easiest thing to learn on the web!

EDIT: Top-tip - look at your exit point from the section, not at your front wheel! (Also applies to riding North Shore and riding rails on a snowboard!).

Thanks for that lengthy explanation. I think I understand what's being said, but isn't that advice contrary to the 'hit the roots perpendicular' advice most people seem to suggest? I've read Ned Overend's book, so I'm familiar with many techniques, but my ability to put them into action varies considerably from one day to the next, depending on testicular fortitude, etc... 😉

Simply build a sanitised "all-weather" trail over the top of them.

so what's the best line across these then?

[IMG] [/IMG]

across that path at the top 🙂

Thanks for that lengthy explanation. I think I understand what's being said, but isn't that advice contrary to the 'hit the roots perpendicular' advice most people seem to suggest?

Not really - you're just hitting the roots at 85° instead of 90° - we're not talking about a big difference. And that's assuming that the roots run directly across the trail - they might not!

Also, the bit of inward momentum is often balanced-out the slip on the roots. If you do hit them dead-straight, you may find yourself dribbling to the outside by the end of the section.

wwaswas - Jet pack?

probably a jet pack - there's a 15ft drop at the far side...