Uphill muni

[anton005]

I'm very new to this sport and am still trying to get my "legs" for just riding around my neighborhood. I was watching some muni videos on youtube with unis going down some pretty steep stuff, as a former mountain biker I remember going down similar stuff and also remember what I had to ride UP to get that payoff, plenty of sweat and really long uphills. So I'm curious, are you guys riding up or hiking up?

A

[phlegm]

Riding, of course, as long as the trail isn't too overly technical. If I could ride up it with a SS mountain bike, I'll ride it with my muni. Keep in mind that it'll probably be quite difficult when you first start. In my experience, uphill muni riding is an altogether different skill than riding on level ground, and it took quite a bit of time and effort to develop it.

[timbob1907]

Walking, of course, I dont really see the point of riding up. It usually is really slow and tiring and you usually UPD on a small root or rock or it just gets too steep to continue. I just walk up cause the fun part is going down.

[Jerrick]

50/50.

[tholub]

On a typical weekend ride, I try to ride as much of the uphill as is feasible, but on a big event ride, where I know I'm going to be blasted at the end, I'll relax a bit and walk more. But at big events, some people walk 100% of the uphill, and most people walk most of the uphill.

[dangerlaef]

60/40

.. but I choose my uphills

[Unicorn]

I have gotten pretty good at riding up steep stuff. As with a bike it is very tiring. Actually I ride with mountain bikers mostly and on the uphill is the only time when I can ride as fast as the bikers and even pass them sometimes!

It all depends how I feel. I like the challenge of riding uphill and feel that it really developes good muscles and coordination. Now that I am into jumping and pecking Li love to just challenge myself up a rocky steep slope and amaze my Mountain Biking partners. However sometimes I am just too tired so I walk the uphill sections.

Unicorn

[john_childs]

I ride up whenever it's possible. I ride up so I can get my gravity karma for the ride down. You have to ride the climb up to collect the karma. Too much walking or shuttles and you go in gravity karma debt and that will catch up with you.

Most trails will have a logging road or fire road climb to get to the fun downhill singletrack. Logging roads and fire roads are generally ridable but can get a bit steep and washboarded which can make the climbing more difficult. A few trails will have an easier singletrack trail going up with a more challenging trail going down. The trail going up should be ridable unless the trail system was designed by a masochist.

Climbing is a lot about technique. With the right technique the climbing is more efficient. With poor technique the climbing will be impossible. It becomes a mix of technique and fitness with technique and determination being more important. The fitness just means you'll be able to go faster and go longer between rest stops.

[Unicorn]

One of the most common uphill riding mistakes is not leaning forward enough. If you lean forward enough you start to fall and correct this by putting weight on the forward pedal giving you a lot of climbing power. Also try to avoid going over rocks. A steep hill is much easier to ride up if it is smooth with hard packed ground rather than littered with stones. If there are a lot of stones then "snake" your way through to avoid them ass much as posible.

Unicorn

[joemarshall]

Fat people don't ride uphill. Some people say "I don't ride uphill, I'm a downhiller" as if it's a concious choice. It *was* a concious choice that they made when they ate all those pies (although I guess some people might disagree and go out and sue Pukka Pies for force feeding them pies, but that's not the point).

Everyone else rides uphill until they physically can't. If you don't try, you are officially a 'pie specialist' or 'built for downhill', simple as eh.

All really good muni riders ride as much uphill as possible. Kris Holm for example is a pretty neat uphiller. Uphill is part of how you develop the strength and skills you need to improve your downhill and flat riding.

It's also pretty skillful too, who was it, Bevan I think, who I rode with in California, could ride up some insane stuff, not because he was fitter than me, I think I was a fair bit faster downhill, but because he totally had the skills. I've never seen anyone else climb like that.

Riding with people who don't ride uphill is hassle cos they moan at every little undulation, and you have to wait hours at the top of hills. I don't mind riding with people who try and fail to go up hills, but people who don't even try because they're fat and lazy that's just rude, and they're always so slow on the downhills too.

It's awesome when you get a ride where everyone is an uphiller, cos the ride just flows so much better, I've organised a couple of muni weekends that turned out like that and it was great.

Joe

[rob.northcott]

Eek, Joe... that was a bit of a rant mate

I agree with the point that technical uphill riding is more down to skill than strength. I'm not very good at it, but I'm quite good on leg strength and general fitness from years of bike riding.

There are a couple of rocky hills on my usual commuting route that I can ride easily downwards, but my (lack of) technique is to plough over stuff and use speed and momentum to get me over it. That doesn't work uphill - you need to be a better technical rider to ride the same stuff uphill. I tend to sprint up rocky or rooty hills until I trip and fall off (or occasionally make it to the top), whereas a more skilled rider would ride up in a more controlled manner.

But to answer the original question, yes I ride up anything I can (which is most of the time as I'm more of a cross-country rider than a hardcore techy).

Rob

[lowlight]

Riding up hills is great fun. My mentality with Muni is that i want to do everything i used to do on a mountain bike, and more. So getting up the hills (riding) is all part of it. Getting to the top of a hill in one go which had beaten me before is a great feeling and personally gives as much satisfaction as clearing a tricky downhill section.

Technique wise, recently i have found concentrating on staying relaxed and smoothly spinning the cranks has been much more effective than charging at the hill and usually falling off the front.

i think it takes lots of practice to get up them, keep riding and having fun

[phthoruth]

vanuni mainly ride on 2 mountains:

mt seymour is a 'shuttle' mountain. we park at the bottom and one car takes us to the top.

mt fromme has no car access. we walk to the top.

Vancouver mountains are steep, downhill skiing mountains. Riding up isnt really an option. Trails that are ridable are more cross country than muni.

[Into the blue]

Look at this bunch of pansies walking up Snowdon!
Pffh!

[kington99]

Originally Posted by Into the blue

Look at this bunch of pansies walking up Snowdon!
Pffh!

Yes well the trouble they've got there of course is that they came up the wrong way!