Hill Climbs & Descents

Hills magnify mistakes. On flat ground, a spinning tyre or a grabbed brake costs a second. On a steep climb it costs the hill, and on a steep descent it can cost a crash. Most hard enduro races are decided on hills, from long rocky climbs to the steep, rutted singletrack pinches you meet on every club ride.

The skills are the ones you already have: traction management with the clutch, gear selection, both brakes and a calm restart. What changes is the price of getting them wrong. That's why this lesson leans so hard on line choice, commitment and knowing when to stop.

Stop at the bottom. Look all the way to the top. If you can't see it, walk up.

• Grip. Look for dry, packed dirt, bedded rock and roots running across the line you can use as steps. Avoid loose rubble, wet roots running along the line and polished rock.
• Ruts. A rut can hold the bike straight, or it can swallow the bars when it gets deep. Know where each one goes before you commit to it.
• Steps and ledges. Note every place the front will need lifting.
• Flat spots. Pick where you'll stop if it goes wrong. A stall on a flat shelf is a restart. A stall on the steepest part is a turn-around.
• The top. David Knight's advice to Transmoto: "Chop the gas before the very top, as you never know what might be there once you arrive." Know where you'll land.
• The run-out. On a descent, look for the bottom. A flat, clear run-out makes a steep descent a lot less serious.

There are two ways up a hill. Neither is "right": they suit different hills.

This is the momentum climb, the one most riders need first. The technical crawl uses the same body position with the clutch doing more of the work.

Steep, stepped singletrack is climbed slowly, not attacked. Australasian Dirt Bike Magazine's hill series calls attacking such a hill with a big handful "the worst way to approach a steep, snotty hill". The crawl is first gear, walking pace and the clutch working at the bite point. The engine note should "sound like it's low, almost stalling and not spiking."

For steps on the way up, use small lifts, not one big one. ADB: "Doing several small front-end pops is much better than doing one big one and going too far or looping out." Keep your foot over the rear brake for every lift, as the rear brake lesson explains. When you need to change direction between steps, the rear-wheel pivot in the pivot turns lesson is how you do it.

Every rider fails climbs. The skill is failing safely.

• Decide early. Steve Hatch told Dirt Rider that "the biggest key, when you're not going to make it, is to try to give up a little earlier than most people." Knight: "If you have doubts about getting to the top of a climb then knock it on the head early and try again."
• Stop it in gear. Hatch: "It's safest if you kill the engine at this point and leave it in gear." Hold the bike on the rear brake with your left foot down.
• Step off and keep it leaning into the hill. Get off on the left, holding the left grip so your hand stays on the clutch, as the kill/start lesson shows. Keep yourself and the bike leaning towards the high side of the hill so if it goes, it slides rather than rolls.
• Get back on carefully. Once the bike is turned, remount slowly. Hatch describes riders on steep hills who rush it, "catch their boot on the inside of the fender, then high-side or cartwheel down the hill".
• Turn round and go again. The full turn-around routine is in the kill/start lesson. Try again from the bottom with a better line or more speed rather than restarting on the steepest part.

Never let anyone stand below you on a climb. If a bike gets away, it comes straight down the line.

Body. Stand, with your hips back and your knees bent, so your legs take the forward pitch and your arms stay free to steer. Dirt Bike Magazine's advice for big drops: "Stand up, body back, arms and torso relaxed." Grip the bike with your knees. Look down the hill to where you want to go, not at the front wheel.

Speed. Set it at the top. Dirt Bike Magazine's drop-off feature with Michael Lafferty: "It's critical to moderate your speed at the top of the obstacle-Not Later!" Once a steep descent is running away, braking harder only locks the wheels.

Brakes. On steep, loose ground the front tyre can take only so much before it slides, so the rear does more of the work. Lafferty's split on drop-offs is "30% front, 70% rear force"; Ty Davis uses "more rear brake than front brake" on steep, soft downhills because "if you use a lot of front brake, the front end's going to dive and throw your weight over the bar." On grippy descents the front can do more, as the front brake lesson explains. Either way, squeeze the front progressively and keep both wheels rolling.

Don't lock the rear. Use light, steady rear brake pressure with the wheel still turning, as in the rear brake lesson. Knight: "Don't lock your rear wheel on the way down – you'll gain speed if you do." If the rear steps sideways, "take your foot off the brake then gently reapply." On very steep, loose ground, or when the rear keeps locking, Knight pulses the brakes, "applying them for no more than a second or two at a time". On long descents, short firm applications instead of constant drag keep the rear brake cooler and help prevent fade.

Over rocks and ledges, let go. Dirt Bike Magazine: "Release your stranglehold on the brakes so the tires will roll over the obstacle." A braked wheel hitting a rock stops; a rolling one climbs over it.

A starting point. Read the ground on the day and set the balance before you need it.

Stay in gear. Engine braking holds the speed down and keeps the brakes cooler. The usual choice is first or second. If first gear's engine braking makes the rear skid, go up one: Johnny Campbell told Dirt Rider he rolls long, steep downhills "in second or third gear--first would tend to yield too much engine- or compression braking and possibly skid the rear tire".

Keep a finger on the clutch. If the engine stalls on a descent, the rear wheel locks. Campbell: "If you kill your engine, then you're fighting a rear tire that's locked up, which you don't want to do on a loose downhill." Pull the clutch the moment the engine note drops.

On a two-stroke, long descents on a closed throttle can foul the plug. Knight's fix: "pull in your clutch every once in a while and rev out your bike."

Use a spotter when the consequence is high. A spotter stands to the side of the line near the top of a climb or the bottom of a descent, never in the bike's path, and can grab the bike if you stall.

Practise your bail-outs before you need them: the stop button, the rear-brake hold, stepping off with the bike leaning into the hill, and turning it round. A bail-out you've practised on a small hill is one you'll use calmly on a big one. The STOP/GO criteria help you decide whether to ride the hill at all.

Use short, known hills with clear run-outs. Alternate climbs and descents so you practise both while fresh.

Use one hill with a flat run-out. Rest at the bottom between runs and let the clutch and brakes cool.