How To Climb With Lindsey Voreis - Video

 This was meant to be about climbing but I can see how it can roll down thehill rather quickly...

 Or e-motors if you want to be ethical.

 Bahhhh! It's all about Earn your turns! love being able to drink beer and still have a 6 pack..

 @bohns1: you should drink those last 6 beers nancy

 @LuvAZ: Lmao

 @bohns1: yeah I climb everything I descend. I have that six pack too. But I keep it in an insulated cooler.

 @LuvAZ: best comment ever

 @jeremiahwas: If the lithium for the batteries is sourced from Congo, it is likely to fuel the conflict there as well. The same may go for the device you're watching this website on (unless it is a desktop computer connected to the mains) tough obviously batteries for electric vehicles use more batteries.

 @jeremiahwas: well it's not like aluminum grows on trees.. Or carbon waste is an easy thing to deal with

 Waking the Well Fed Troll. ????

 @LuvAZ: 6¿??? MY beer is a growler worth of micro dude!

 @Someoldfart: well, as long as u got one somewhere..

 @Someoldfart: A keg beats a six pack anyday.

 @jeremiahwas: Old Land Rovers are environmentally better than a Prius as they can be fixed and you can retain the embodied energy.

 God likes SUVs because they annoy vegans, atheists and feminists in Europe. SUVs also melt ice caps faster and that kills polar bears. Polar bears were gay grizzlies which went to arctic to stay away from mud and be clean. All gay creatures go to hell. Jesus drinks The American

 @WAKIdesigns: Jesus uses the womens restroom in America.

 @WAKIdesigns: how do SUV annoy atheists?

 Point bike uphill Pedal

 @maxlombardy: that works too but sometimes the hill is just that bit too rocky or steep it takes time to pick a route through the loose rock and slate in the Lake District.

 @Heywood165: I know I'm just messing around

 Here's another tip - Hammer

 Yeah. Lowering your center of gravity helps a ton (boobs to the bar), so does sitting on the nose of your saddle. Only stand when things get really sketchy and at that point, crouch as much as you can and pedal STEADILY just fast enough to get moving without spinning the rear wheel. A harder gear can help but too hard will stall you. Rear wheel control is key, it takes quite a bit of practice to get it right but once you figured it out, your climbing woes will be a thing of the past.

Find a steepish slick rock (or a rock garden) and spend a few hours trying to climb it. If you're struggling with steep/slippery/loose sections, it will help immensely.

 Standing pedaling is a skill my brotha... Hit the weights, get more flexible and work on movements in the gym that build strength in the body parts you need to be more efficient on the steeps.

 I usually stand unless it is a very small incline. Hammer through it and done.

 @PLC07 yeah climbing technical and slippery stuff is a whole other skill set... I'd advocate just "hovering" over the seat a bit when the climb gets rocky or rooty, for better balance, more power and to preserve reproductive function. Also getting a good fast run-up at short, steep climbs, not downshifting and mashing the pedals simultaneously if your drivetrain is of as debatable quality as mine, and that thing where you can backpedal then reset and stomp to avoid stalls and pedal strikes. Oh, and line choice.

 Thanks for the flatland climbing tip. For really, really steep shit that has lots of grip like sandstone or grippy hard pack, you'll have to be out of the saddle. Also, newer people and people that push themselves on each ride on difficulty, distance, or both will find it just fine to climb out of the saddle from time to time to help give other muscles a rest.

 @IronBender: But if you have poor traction (wet clay) it is almost impossible to maintain traction while standing. But I agree when traction allows alternating standing and sitting has merit to change muscle positions - but overall sitting is more efficient than standing.

 standing pedalling is the only effective way when climbing through a rock garden as it allows you to maintain balance and use movements of the whole body to accelerate and get your wheels on top of the stuff. Shifting to harder gear before a rocky section does wonders to grip, balance and ability to accelerate. Also much easier to do pedal timing. Lift weights, do sprints, train balance skills. There is nothing worse than a dude cranking 100RPM through a rock garden, usually a kind of person bitchin on BB height.

 @deepcovedave: Here's yet another...Eat properly!

 @WAKIdesigns: Another effective way is to stop being a shuttle bitch, thus negating the effects of becoming a FAT mess!

 Tips for climbing

1) stand up
2) hammer it
3) vomit just a bit
4) walk the Las 10 ft in order not to vomit more

 @StackingItSince1991: I'm just making a point that is similar to the 50t controversy. Some times the answer isn't always get into better shape. There are legit uses for people even in shape for a 50t ring not looking for high end and standing up. Slickrock trail pitches are steep as shit and you'll need a good granny gear and you WILL have to get out of the saddle to clear everything. And on longer riders, no one can maintain the same energy levels.

 @IronBender: gearing choice depends mostly on muscle structure, a mix of genetics and kind of training you do. Riding steep on high cadence is fine when you have abundance of grip, but just won't work if it's slippery as hell because you will be putting too much power per rotation of the wheel and won't be able to modulate power as well as on harder gear. It is also harder to keep the front planted when spinning fast but this is something one can eventually get used to.

 @WAKIdesigns: So many people here either don't ride at all or only ride very short rides. No one can just pound out miles in the seat over tech and steep stuff before they begin to tire and need lower gearing so they don't have to stop for awhile to recover. Also, the giant variance of people riding locales differ wildly. There's lot's of places where really low gearing is a requirement or else you will be walking and so many people have no clue about this.

I am friends with a genetic monster that makes his living as a professional athlete and it's kind of funny how not even he can sustain superhuman climbs in the seat with higher gearing so he can't legit go home and type out on his keyboard how everyone should be seated at all times and pounding out a really high geared setup.

And if your cadence is really high on the "steep" section, then I guess we aren't talking about the same degree of pitch.

 It's about slow vs fast twitch muscles, period. Yes there may be some very fit people truly utilizing 50t but that is because their body is predisposed to such cadence by genetics and type of training. Those are none the less freaks. If you look at latest bike checks from XCO World Cups, those guys use XX1 or XTR with rather large chainrings. I heard it all about legendary climbs from proponents of high cadence. If you really want I can quote numbers from app which tells what speed you can achieve at which RPM based on gearing and wheel size. You will find that those speeds come very close if not slower to a man pushing a bike up the hill. Most of those very steep climbs are a nice challenge to climb and agreat subject for sea monster stories, but on daily basis riding them up makes no sense since pushing becomes a viable option. I too know a genetic freak and he rides single speed on stuff most of us locals crank on lowest gears. Then You have Tracy Moseley and Justin Leoc on front mechs, asopposed to Jared Graves riding gruesome climbs in Whistler on 38t front and 42t rear.

 Even though her advice is useful the bit I indeed like to work on are the irregular climbs with slippery roots and holes. You need to ease off when you go over these or you'll skid and stall. So in order to keep momentum, you'll also need to boost just before you ease off. And by ease off I mean unload the wheel that rolls over the obstacle, so you'll be moving your weight around. This, or there must be another way I'm not aware of. I'd like to see a lesson from Chris Akrigg. I'm always impressed how he manages to get up stuff.

My impression is that those against light gearing relate it to very high cadence climbing whereas there is a point as @IronBender mentioned where you'll be pedaling slow in the lightest gear. Sure, just being/getting stronger helps. But no one has unlimited strength so having a lighter gear will always expand the kind of steep climbing that you can do.

 @bohns1: Wakiwisdon

 @vinay: yup but those bursts you are describing are much better on harder gear. I have some next to impossible climbs here, which are truly impossible on gearing that is not close to 1:1 ratio when calculated for 26" wheels. Both in terms of grip and capacity to generate speed on tap. So yea high spinning for regeneration be my guest but I find it highly questionable how a person who cranks 36-50 can utilize 36-11, since if your slow twitch muscles spin those 90-110RPM they won't handle 36-11. DH pros occasionally use 38t-11t, so an amateur is easily well off with 36t front. And 36-50 is damn light gearing. I ride 36-42 on 650B with 1.5 ply tyres and 160 travel, and find it spot on if not too easy.

 @WAKIdesigns: Yes you are right that the kind of steep and technical climbs I'm talking about in my previous post (I hadn't seen this post then) are probably quicker and more efficient to walk up than ride up. But that is not always the point, especially if you're not racing. There is a joy in attempting something challenging and developing skills and strength to eventually succeed. I also ride a mountain unicycle (MUni). Stuff I'm struggling with would be easy on any mountainbike, I crash a lot, speed is low so it is never going to make for great tv. That is, my riding. People like Kris Holm and Ryan Leech (yeah, him) do make it look cool. But that's not the point. It is cheap and doesn't break (and doesn't need maintenance), I don't break, it is challenging and I progress (slowly).

 @vinay: well from what you say, it seems you should be sporting quite a hard gear for balance, acceleration and grip. Now... are you in Ryan Leech church of balance (too)?

 @WAKIdesigns: Nah, I found about him later. I once noticed Surly had their Conundrum unicycle frame (before fatbikes were common other than their Pugsley) and it seemed like good fun. I liked the challenges of mountainbiking but I got to dislike being out with injury and/or a broken bike. So I wanted something that felt challenging but without the risks and costs. But Surly didn't sell anything other than the frame, tyre, rim and tube and directed me to Kris Holm for the other stuff. So I just got a complete Kris Holm unicycle instead, which was cheaper. So no, it was through Surly actually.

I also just noticed that you were talking about 50t in the rear. Allright, that's a different story. If I'm climbing steep, I run 22t in the front and just left of the middle on the rear, I think. Never counted how many teeth that one has. The cassette has 11-32 or 34t, 9sp, 26" rim. Oh, I think I'm not properly prepared for this discussion . The unicycle is single speed direct drive, I can tell you that . And I'll have to walk a lot.

 @WAKIdesigns: Again, I seriously think you misjudge how grippy very steep pitches can get without it even having to be sandstone or rock. You'll destroy your drive train or bust your chain before you climb up a lot of pitches in the area that I live if you try and run low gearing. It isn't going to force you into a high cadence once you are climbing the pitch. If that where the case, I wouldn't be arguing anything here and I wouldn't consider what the person is riding to be a real pitch either.

Walking up these steep pitches is a bitch as well, so you'll go up faster if you can keep pedaling the bike. It's just that the comment section on PB doesn't really line up with the reality of what people around here are utilizing to ride the trails rather than walk them. If you are geared high, you will naturally be out of the seat a lot more on actual steep pitches as well.

 @IronBender: I have a few climbs here that make me worry about the chain. I could do them if they were double as long, but not longer. Despite deadlifting and training sprints this year, I am still getting to max pulse on top of them. One of them, a 30m long steep slab is barely doable on 1:1 ratio in wet, and virtually undoable on a granny, both because of grip and front wheel lifting up, despite sitting at the very tip of the saddle. When I set the chainstay on my hardtail under 410mm, I can't climb it. Perhaps Plus tyre could help. But I can say directly that it cannot be a fatbike or 29+ because as much grip as they have, they are too heavy for my power output.

Make no mistake I am a climb fetishist, I may lack power but in terms of skill the area where I could improve is now trials skills, hopping in particular. I am friends with max pulse, that blessful place where it just stops to get harder. I also ride with an incredible powerhouse, a dude who broke his rear mech so it got stuck on 3 hardest gears, with 36t front, and he still climbed up a climb he never rode before that I managed to do only once in dry. I often find the way to go a steep pitch by behaving like a BMXer at the start gate and first straight, rather than vroom on Mont Ventoux. But my muscles are just built that way.

 @WAKIdesigns: If your front wheel is still lifting up you shouldn't be on the saddle at all, not even on the tip. Be in front of the saddle close to the handlebar. It is still fine to pull up on one side of the handlebar where your leading foot is driving down. I ride with platforms. My bikes are relatively short by modern standards. I'm a shade under 6ft tall and reach on my 16" DMR hardtail is about 375mm or so (forks extended). You may actually have more room. So yeah if your front wheel is lifting, move your weight to the front. Doesn't have much to do with the gearing, does it?

As for gearing maybe I really don't know what is best, I'm just taking advice. As a kid I was just running and playing soccer. Sure riding bikes a lot and fast, but not as a sport. Then later as a student I got into rowing and I had to learn to bring my tempo down and apply more force. After two years I quit and started mountainbiking which I always wanted to get into. With how I was trained as a rower, my cadence was low and I applied a lot of force. I was told I should increase my cadence as this would damage my knees. So that's what I did, didn't want to wear out prematurely. Recent years advice has shifted to bring cadence down again especially as I'm standing up and riding with platforms. So I'm probably in the middle somewhere. I don't row anymore, but I still run a lot and ride the mountain unicyle so my cadence varies a lot depending on whether I'm going up or down. This implies I'm rarely at what is supposed to be ideal. But then really, I've been going back and forth between fast-light and heavy-slow so often that I don't know anymore what's ideal. I just ride, don't race. So as long as I'm having fun and working on challenges I'm happy.

 @oneplanka: on point brother

 Didn't read most of the debate, I'm tired of the whole "everybody should run X chainring".

First, a few years ago, the pro XC riders rode 36/36 setups so if you tell me that's what you're riding, you're either on the XC world cup, the full of shit world cup or your trails are flat.

Which brings me to the next point: it is very terrain dependent. I go to kingdom trails on a 32/36 setup and I do fine. I hammer ~30km casually within 3 hours and I could do more. Then I come to my local trails and I can only hammer through ~13km within 3 hours and I'm dead after that. I've talked to some of the craziest technical climbers I've ever seen and they don't run anything past 28-30 either because it is suicide on the local trails according to them. They're guys who ride 5 times a week and do spinning/fat bike in the winter so I assure you they're fit.

Which brings me to the next point: training. When I started riding XC a few years ago, I could squat 2x bodyweight, deadlift 2.5x bodyweight and bench 1.5x BW and I had decent cardio. Guess what? I f*cking sucked beyond anything you could imagine when I was riding XC. Fast forward 4-5 years, I can't lift half of that today and I'm about 20lbs fatter but I'm a much much much better rider and I'd like to say, better technical rider than most people I meet. Why? because I practiced the hard stuff a lot, not because I spent even more time in the gym. Meanwhile I see a ton of cardio bunny moms and spandex XC racer who get destroyed by the first significant rock/root they encounter while I don't even think twice about it. So yeah, training is nice in the winter if you got nothing else to do but as far as I'm concerned, unless you're part of the world cup, just practice and greatness will come.

Also, your condition/genetics will dictate what you need to train if you need to train. If you're shaped like a fridge, hitting the gym won't do much, you'll snap a chain before you need more power. If you're a tooth pick, your legs could tire out before you make a significant use of your cardio. So telling people they must hit the gym without knowing much about them is not wise, at all. Most of the early gains will be achieved by better riding technique/bike setup, then you can assess your main weaknesses and train accordingly if you feel you can't reach those goals on a bike. Oh and while strength training is extremely fun, to my experience, getting very strong legs only helps if you're doing DH, but they'll tire out extremely quickly on XC runs, better focus on endurance work if that's what you want as just getting more muscle won't solve your problem.

 @PLC07: which basically brings us to the conclusion that physiology (fast twitch/slow twitch + neuroconnections, posterior chain, mobility) dictates your choice of gearing then terrain, and any sort of this cadence, chainring this crank length ideology is straight bollocks... I spent (wasted) 2 years on volume training, my body just does not respond to it. The guy next door may not get anything frome table deadlifting and sprints.

What annoys me most on the subject is knee injury crowd. A few unfortunate dudes trying to raise awareness, bringing fear to the table, messing it all up even more. All I can say is I acknowledge your pain, I heard you, I feel sorry for you, you are still lovable despite your knees being fkd, chill out.

 @WAKIdesigns: i totally agree. Its so dependent on individual physiology. Look at Lance armstrong vs Jan Ullrich. Lance spins and Jan pushes. Now i know road is TOTALLY DIFFERENT with mtb being trail specific grip wise but those 2 road cyclists chose very different climbing styles dspite climbing the same roads. Both very successful ( both on drugs ????) and both guys look similar build wise. So when we look at different body shapes/types/wgts then it becomes even more personally related to physiology. Im a former track sprinter so guess which style ive adopted on the trails ( always ridden mtb xc/dh for fun and x training)?? With me its a combination of conditioning and physiology. Even in an obviously all power strength/endurance sport like track sprint there are a mix of spinners and pushers!!

 @WAKIdesigns Pretty much. I respond extremely well to Intensity (high weight, low reps) but for anything on the endurance side of the spectrum, it seems there is just nothing to be done about it, I suck. I tried running all winter to get more endurance, which I thought worked fine for the first few rides of the year but I rode today when it was very hot and very humid and it was probably one of my worst ride of all time. So I'll keep being the guy who likes riding the technical trails but has blown all his energy after 2h even if I'm a retard that rides a 28/40 setup because no gear will save me.

 Damn it :/

 'boobs to the bars' sounds like an all female pub crawl.

 onza........purple ano.

 @stacykohut: Just make sure it doesn't clash with the purple of your Ringle' stem.

 @DrPete: no worries, running a girvin.

 You don't \need to be a wanker about it.... In order for me to enjoy the downhill, suffering a little bit on the climb in just what the doctor ordered.. Yes, I enjoy suffering, and it's good for me...

I am sorry you won't ever know that feeling... your loss. Moto/BMX rider After all we call it MOUNTAIN biking riight ? does that not imply that climbing is going to be happening ? sheesh...

 The term " earn your terns" came about from bike park riding. Come ride xc with me and see how you feel!!!!

 Here's a thought. Sign up Get a password Watch the video THEN COMMENT!!

 I like her voice. I don't care for Howard Walowitz's old lady's style voice though.