riding down steep hills

anton005 said:

Any tips for riding downhill? I can now ride up steeper hills than I
can ride down. I'm not sure if I'm not leaning far enough back, but it
feels like I am getting tossed off the front trying to fight the hill,
I feel like if I didn't fight it I would end up going too fast. I'm
riding a 29er with 150's.

Here are a couple things to practice, at a place where there's a short
bit of steep downhill followed by a flat section (to reduce
intimidation/risk).

1) Control. Lean back, dig in, and more or less stop the unicycle with
each pedal stroke.

2) Speed. Lean forward and pedal quickly until you get to the flat
section.

The more you're able to control, the more comfortable you will be on
steep downhills. When you can handle speed, it improves the steepness
you're comfortable with, and gives you another option when you're near
the bottom of the hill.

Good luck!

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According to me this is all to do with your leg strength controlling the
pedals.
Once your leg muscles build up you will be able to control your
pedalling speed on declining better.
More or less what im saying is try not to pedal as fast, put pressure
on the opposite direction when you are riding down.
Hope this helps.
Peace.
J

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a brake helps a lot. makes it feel like your riding on flat. otherwise
practising and building up your leg strength is best

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Longer cranks give much more control.
I have resisted the move to 150mm cranks because of the lost power when
riding steep and technical stuff. Yes a brake would also really help.

Also try sideways hopping down really steep stuff instead of just
riding it.

Unicorn

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tholub said:

1) Control. Lean back, dig in, and more or less stop the unicycle with
each pedal stroke.

curiously I do not agree with this one: I control while leaning forward
a lot and controling the ways pedals go up.
apparently I am not alone in doing that so it seems there are two
different "schools"

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tholub said:

1) Control. Lean back, dig in, and more or less stop the unicycle with
each pedal stroke.

This is how I did my first very steep and long hill. I really didn't
think I was going to make it and envisioned pieces of me splat at the
bottom with people hovering around pointing and shaking their heads. I
had to fight this image out of my mind as I mounted at the top of the
hill. About 3 quarters down when I realized I was actually going to
live, I leaned forward and did the rest with some speed.

I was on a wonderful high. But I didn't try the hill again that day.
Why tempt fate? 😉

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Unibugg

Into the blue said:

You should see this fella ride up kerbs. He makes it look annoyingly
easy.
Ants make me UPD.

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Actually you don't really lean backwards. You put your hips back and
your shoulders forward to compensate. You must ALWAYS maintain a center
of gravity over the wheel. Sometimes it feels like you are leaning
backwards because the slope of the hill makes the ground glosser to
your back than it would be if you were on flat ground. Wobbling bear
and Tholub have kind of a miscommunication but I think that they both
mean the same thing.

Unicorn

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anton005 said:

Any tips for riding downhill? I can now ride up steeper hills than I
can ride down. I'm not sure if I'm not leaning far enough back, but it
feels like I am getting tossed off the front trying to fight the hill,
I feel like if I didn't fight it I would end up going too fast. I'm
riding a 29er with 150's.

At first I had trouble controlling my speed downhill. I think that was
because I didn't often ride hills (very flat here) and so I didn't have
the technique.

On the flat or uphill, you're always pushing on the downstroke of the
pedal to keep you going forwards. On a downhill this isn't really what
you want. On a steep downward slope, I find I'm doing something I call
"anti-pedalling": I'm mostly pushing down on the -upstroke- of the
pedal. Not much, just enough to hold it back.

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Unicorn said:

You put your hips back and your shoulders forward to compensate.

right : I often cite skiing where it is an error to lean defensively
backwards and where you need to have head and shoulders towards the
slope. This said while skiing you create instants of disbalance
downwards (when you turn) I do not know if we can imitate that with a
uni....

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I have a brake on my KH MUni, and used it a lot when I first started
going down steep hills. I thought the brake was essential, otherwise I
would wipe out. Then I went riding with several really good MUni
riders, some didn't even have brakes! They could roll down anything
under tremendous control. That is when I learned the importance of
backpressuring on the pedals, and holding yourself into the seat really
hard. Just a few outings later and I can ride down the same hills I
used to use the brake on with no brake, and my control is much better.
It also helps to have 165's on my 24 inch MUni. 150's on a 29er sounds
like it would be a little more difficult to backpressure. Good luck!

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Maybe a dumb question, but are you pulling up hard on the handle? You
have to do that to avoid being lifted out of the seat on steep hills.

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seriousslacker said:

Just a few outings later and I can ride down the same hills I used to
use the brake on with no brake, and my control is much better. It also
helps to have 165's on my 24 inch MUni. 150's on a 29er sounds like it
would be a little more difficult to backpressure.

Some people say that a brake complements 150 cranks, which is what I
have on my 24" muni. With 165 cranks the "anti-pedalling" action has an
increased effect so a brake is not needed as much.

For long rides a brake can be essential, since you can save leg energy
on the downhills and not quite be as tired later on.

--
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Robust back-pressuring is key. Another oft overlooked point is that when
it's steep and bumpy, your feet oftentimes slip or get bucked off the
pedals. My success rate on the "steeps" got better once I changed over
to super grippy pedals. Though pricey, Drilliums (sp???) are starting
to be the go-to pedals for steep Muni.

JL

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unibabyguy said:

Maybe a dumb question, but are you pulling up hard on the handle? You
have to do that to avoid being lifted out of the seat on steep hills.

O.k., I think this may be a large part of my problem. Up until know
I've been flailing my arms about for balance, now I'm good enough to
hold on, but I guess it never occurred to me that I needed to.

Lot's of good info here, time to go out and start hittin the downhill
hard.

Thanks

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mark williamson said:

On the flat or uphill, you're always pushing on the downstroke of the
pedal to keep you going forwards. On a downhill this isn't really what
you want. On a steep downward slope, I find I'm doing something I call
"anti-pedalling": I'm mostly pushing down on the -upstroke- of the
pedal. Not much, just enough to hold it back.

This is explained really well! 🙂 Anti-pedaling I like it.

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Unibugg

Into the blue said:

You should see this fella ride up kerbs. He makes it look annoyingly
easy.
Ants make me UPD.

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unibabyguy said:

Maybe a dumb question, but are you pulling up hard on the handle? You
have to do that to avoid being lifted out of the seat on steep hills.

Yup... I'm surprised no one's mentioned this yet. Pulling on the
handle keeps you in the seat / on the pedals, and also allows you to
put more pressure on the pedals. Just make sure you've got a sturdy
seat / handle combo.

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I went out to tackle my downhills some more this evening and made em all
no problem. I actually leaned forward more and that seemed to help my
balance and control. I would do a speed check every 4 or 5 revolutions
and really slow way down instead of trying to keep slow on every rev.
On to steeper hills 🙂

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mark williamson said:

On the flat or uphill, you're always pushing on the downstroke of the
pedal to keep you going forwards. On a downhill this isn't really what
you want. On a steep downward slope, I find I'm doing something I call
"anti-pedalling": I'm mostly pushing down on the -upstroke- of the
pedal. Not much, just enough to hold it back.

VERY well explained🙂
Thats what i was trying to say... it just didint quite come out that
clear😄

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