Gravel Skills: Master being Fast, Safe and in Control
By Frank Pike
Head Coach at Beyond Category Coaching
Welcome back Gravel Worlds nation! I hope you have been productive in creating your calendar for both events and training and have started to organize some specific workouts from our last blog that will provide those physiological adaptations for a successful event day. Today, I want to provide information on bike handling skills and some specific drills you can incorporate into your training so you are prepared and have confidence to roll through any terrain or obstacles and some different scenarios of when and how to use these drills.
What do potholes, sand, mud, loose gravel, tire-slashing rocks, ruts, and roots all have in common? The Gravel Worlds race organizers like to think out of the box and have a little fun with their participants, so it’s likely that you will face a combination of any or all of these surfaces in not only in GW but any gravel event you enter. Establishing a solid foundation of skills that will help you navigate your bike smoothly through a wide variety of terrain is essential for success on gravel. A deep pocket of gravel skills is the difference between feeling confident or fearful of any obstacles you may face and mastering your bike-handling skills can help you stay upright, avoid crashes, and gain free speed.
Body Position
How you position your body over the bike and where you distribute your weight are basics for handling your bike, especially when the ground is constantly changing and shifting beneath you. These skills are critical for climbing and descending, as well as riding rough sections of road and trail that may be full of potholes, washboard brake bumps, roots, rocks, and deep ruts etc.
Descending
The most important body position to get right for gravel descending is the “ready” body position. This is the position you should default to on most fast descents that are steep or long enough where you stop pedaling, as it gives you maximum stability and maneuverability if you need to suddenly change positions.
To achieve the ready position:
You should be standing with your feet at equal height on the pedals (3 o’clock and 9 o’clock if you picture the crank arms on a clock face), and whichever foot feels most comfortable should be in front.
Your knees should be slightly bent, drop your heels slightly so your calves can relax and soak up vibrations.
Your hips should be hovering over the saddle, your elbows will be bent, and your eyes will be focusing on the road out in front of you a few yards to 10 yards.
Your hands should be in the drops- I prefer drops vs brake hoods for grip, best control, access to brake lever as well as not as easily getting knocked off the hoods with a hard bump or really rough section.
The ready position on a steep descent: knees and elbows bent, hands in the drops, eyes looking forward, hips above the saddle, feet level, and heels down.
In the ready position, your grip on the bars should be firm, but the rest of your body should be relaxed to help absorb as much impact as possible. The better prepared your body is to absorb impact, the more stable the bike will be over rough terrain. If you are too rigid and stiff on the bike, the handling will be very skittish, and you will bounce off your line. You can think of your arms and legs as your suspension to keep the ride comfortable for you, and smooth and predictable for your bike. This will reduce fatigue and help maintain traction. Trust your bike, trust your equipment and allow it to do what it was designed for- navigating you over all types of terrain and obstacles. Think of allowing the bike to float underneath you and allow it to float around under you changing its path a little without fighting it.
Tackling Curves
Bombing downhill in a straight line is one thing, but when you get to a sharp turn with loose gravel in it, you have to have the skillset to be able to get through as fast and safely as possible. There is no one right way for navigating gravel curves with ease, but there are some things to keep in mind that will help set you up for success:
As you approach the turn, analyze the terrain and choose your line. Typically, there are 2 well-worn tracks from vehicles that are going to offer more traction and less loose gravel, but this is not always the case. Look for the spot with the greatest possible traction and adjust your speed (coast or brake) if necessary before you start the turn.
If you have plenty of traction, then you can approach the turn similar to a sharp turn on a road bike, with your weight on your outside foot pushing and driving into the ground and your inside arm/hand pushing down on the bar (preferable in the drops) with pressure into the turn. Think of this technique as counter steering. The pressure on the inside hand is more a gentle pressure like you are pushing your hand thru the drops on the bar. This is physics 101 and will allow you to maintain your speed and stay on your line as you come thru the turn.
If you don’t have a lot of traction (loose gravel, sand, or slippery mud), then you want to avoid leaning through the turn. Keep your body more upright and steer your bike through the line of choice. If you need to keep braking through the turn, try to use mostly your rear brake.
Remember to look where you want to go, and your bike will follow. Don’t lock onto obstacles that you want to miss, or you will end up steering right into them.
Climbing
Climbing on gravel is less technical vs descending. Many gravel climbs can be ridden the same way you would ride a standard road climb. However, as terrain gets steeper and/or looser, maintaining traction becomes an issue. To avoid the feeling of a wheel slipping or having your front wheel lift up off the ground, you can utilize a seated ready position that can be used for navigating all sorts of tough uphill terrain. Here’s how to do it:
Hinge at your hips to lower your upper body, as if to place your chin on your stem, (lean as far as you are comfortable or your mobility will allow) Drop you elbows to bring your shoulders down; don’t just hang your head. The steeper the hill the more easy it will be to get low.
Slide forward slightly on the saddle. This will help keep more pressure on the bars, keeping front wheel down, while also keeping body weight over the rear wheel to maintain good power.
Getting out of the saddle is also an option on gravel climbs, but you MUST be careful. I like staying seated over loose or steep inclines and getting out of the saddle when you have more traction. If you must get out of the saddle on steep or loose climbs, the best position to maintain is basically a standing version of the climbing ready position: upper body crouched low over the bars hinged at the hips, and your rear end hovering over the saddle. This helps to evenly distribute your body weight over the front and rear wheel so that your wheels don’t slip. Do not jump forward lest you rear tire will start slipping, when you stand come straight up off the saddle, you should feel the nose of the saddle between your thighs or on your rear end.
Pedal Smoothness
Another technique that will keep you cruising up a gravel climb is focusing on pedal smoothness. On a road climb, you can pedal aimlessly without much thought and not lose traction, but not on gravel. If you “stomp” on the pedals by pushing down hard and then easing up at the top and bottom of the pedal stroke, you will definitely need to work on smoothing out your pedal stroke to maintain traction on gravel climbs. You can improve this technique by performing Muscle tension workouts (those listed earlier), one legged pedaling drills, and cadence drills (high RPMs 100+), then practicing these on your gravel rides.
Braking Fundamentals
Similar to steep climbs and descents, braking on tricky gravel surfaces is more about traction. Most modern gravel bikes out there are equipped with disc brakes, so being familiar with how they work is key to avoiding any accidents. Disc brakes are very powerful, so you want to avoid grabbing the brakes with too much force or you could end up going over the bars or locking up your rear wheel and sliding. The best way to get a feel for how disc brakes operate is to practice stopping on a variety of surfaces (gravel, pavement, grass, etc.). Try stopping by grabbing both brakes equally, and then try stopping by only grabbing your front or rear brake. Note how long it takes you to stop for each type of braking, specifically noting how far you must pull the brake lever before your wheels locks up. Additionally, try braking on the hoods and in the drops, and note how many fingers you have to use for each position. You should know that better and more efficient braking occurs from the drops! Braking like other skills on the bike becomes very natural and almost intuitive once you practice enough.
Once you are comfortable with operating your brakes in practice, you can shift your focus to some more advanced techniques on gravel. Keep the following in mind and you’ll be in good shape:
Keep your weight between the wheels when braking. Body position is important for braking. If your weight is too far forward, then you may lose control of the bike. The inertia of braking will cause the body to want to lurch forward, but you can counteract this by shifting your body further back as you apply more pressure to the brakes. Simply slide your rear further back on the saddle!
Do your hardest braking on the surfaces with the most traction. Let’s say there is a long, hard-packed section before a sharp turn, use that section wisely and slow down quickly before you get to the turn. More distance is needed to brake on loose gravel or dirt so brake with less force and use mostly the rear brake and allow the front wheel to track on your line. Locking up the front wheel in these situations often leads to front wheel wash out.
Becoming a brake master will enable you to feel more confident and be able to tackle any terrain race organizers throw at you.
Eating and Drinking
Two more skills that are often overlooked and require moving on the bike are eating and drinking. Some riders are very comfortable riding one-handed or even no-handed on gravel and rummaging around in their jersey pockets and grabbing water bottles from bottle cages, but it can be the opposite for others, even terrifying. Having to slow down or even stop every time you need to eat or drink over the course of your event will trash your goal finishing time faster than you realize. If you struggle riding one-handed on gravel, it is uber important that you practice riding one-handed on unstable surfaces. Practice on grass or a smooth gravel road at first by taking one hand off the bars for ten to fifteen seconds and increase the amount of time as you get more comfortable. Then, add tasks like reaching behind you, reaching down for your bottle and putting it back without looking. The final move which would earn you Jedi status is to be able to put on and take off a jacket or vest!
If you have tried practicing and are still not 100% comfortable riding one-handed on gravel, then you will need to study your event’s route bible ahead of time and identify any places with pavement sections, and plan to eat and drink in those sections. Additionally, if you are comfortable fueling on gravel roads, make sure to time your fueling properly. It may sound obvious, but eating and drinking on a flat, relatively boring section of gravel is a lot safer than trying to take a swig in the middle of a bumpy washboard section. Climbs, specifically near the top are usually good places to take in some food and fluids, because speed is slower, so you can generally react to obstacles easier when you are riding one-handed.
Different Surfaces
Gravel is a catch-all term that makes for multi-different surfaces. The successful gravel rider is one who is handy in all terrains. Some of the key surfaces you may encounter when riding gravel are:
Hard-packed dirt: You can ride this surface almost like you would ride on pavement, but stopping distance is slightly greater and turning speed should be slightly slower. There are few limitations for riding in a straight line on hard-packed surfaces, so put the power down!
Loose over hard: This is loose rock or dirt over a hard surface. This is less predictable, so you’ll want to increase your braking distance, turn a little slower, and turn by leaning a little less and steering a little more.
Sand and mud: In both sand and mud, the surface will have a tendency to steer the bike for you, forcing you off your line. You will want to let the front wheel wander and float a little as I described earlier. Don’t fight the handlebars too much and correct by steering with your hips. You can achieve this by pointing your head and hips in the direction you want to go. You won’t want to turn by leaning the bike, so it is best to keep the bike more upright to maintain traction. Your stopping distance will increase and your turning speed will be slower.
Brake bumps (rumble bars) and potholes: Avoid them if possible, but sometimes hitting them is inevitable, or it may actually be faster or safer to hit the obstacle instead of swerving around it, especially if riding in a group. If you know you are going to hit a pothole (and can’t hop over it), make sure to hit it as straight as possible. Assume your ready position, turn your arms and legs into shock absorbers to separate the bike and body. The bike will track through the pothole with ease as long as you let your body really absorb the impact. For brake bumps, make sure you have a firm grip on the bars and keep your upper body as relaxed as possible while letting the bike glide up and down over the bumps. Once you are through it, continue on with your pedaling and pace as you were.
Practice, practice, practice
The most successful gravel riders have experience with all of these surfaces and understand all these skills. There is no way to master any of these skills over night; you need to practice. Be sure to research your events to get an idea of what types of surfaces you may encounter and figure out a way to simulate these surfaces in your training. If you don’t have gravel nearby, try to think of what surfaces may be available to you. A beach, an EMPTY beach volleyball or playground area can be awesome places to practice your sand riding. Experimenting in the rain or snow can be great practice for gravel mud riding. Riding your gravel bike on nearby singletrack trails can be a great way to practice riding on rougher surfaces and mastering steep climbs and descents. A grass field can be another place to practice skills such as braking, cornering, reaching into jersey pockets and shifting between different body positions. Get creative and come up with something that works well for you.
Wow! That is some good info right there! As always, if you have a question or comment or want to discuss your bike handling in more detail drop me a line at frank@beyondcategorycoaching.com and I will do my best to respond and help you out. In our next article we will be addressing all things equipment and the uber important nutrition topic. Nutrition can make or break your gravel experience. I will provide some general guidelines as well as specific requirements based on the demands of your event. Until next time, get out there and practice, practice, practice!
About Beyond Category Coaching
Beyond Category Coaching was born out of a passion for cycling and the desire to help athletes reach their goals and discover their own potential. The company is led by owner and head coach Frank Pike who has been riding, training and racing bikes for over 20 years and is based out of Denver, CO. Frank holds certifications from USA Cycling as a level 2 advanced coach and Training Peaks as a level 2 premium coach. Additionally, Frank works with Inscyd a performance software tool that can analyze and identify some key metrics such as VO2 max, efficiency, fuel utilization, lactate accumulation and clearance as well as identifying overall strengths and weaknesses. The test is done on your bike using critical power durations and is available if you are working with Frank as your coach or if you have a coach already. A detailed performance report is provided identifying metabolic efficiencies, load characteristics, metabolic footprint showing strengths/weaknesses and training zones.
Beyond Category Coaching is founded on the belief that it takes exercise science, experience and awesome customer service to help athletes reach their goals. My company aims to provide complete personal coaching for the needs of each individual athlete. I am proud to provide top-level coaching and customer service at affordable prices. I combine the expertise of professionalism, my experience and education in coaching all levels of cyclists. Beyond Category Coaching exists to empower, motivate and challenge athletes to GO BEYOND!
Frank Pike
Owner/Head Coach