Gravel Riding Basics - 4 Fundamental Tips

we love gravel and I'm sure you all do at home too but if you are coming across to the rough stuff from the road Canfield a totally different kettle of fish at times and I've got plenty of examples of being less than proficient headed off-road why are you shaking [Music] that a crash I'm down sadly so today I've caught up with an expert on all things dirt related to get some tips and tricks to get you started and up to speed quick let's Dive In Ollie Beckinsale was a pro for 16 years across roadside across mountain bike and cross country a three-time Olympian and 17-time National Champion is now a coach so it's perfectly pleased to talk us through some of the main Basics to up your gravel riding game [Applause] [Music] let's talk speed now Ollie because it is a bit of a different feeling heading off-road compared to the tarmac 100 I mean on a road bike the grip and that's the big thing on gravel is the amount or the lack of grip that you can have so on a road bike it's very black and white you've either got really good solid grip or there's nothing at all and that nothing at all feeling which is rare is super scary on row off-road you've got this massive gray area where the bike will be moving around but it's cool there will be good loose patches but it will come back to a hard patch the tires will find themselves but it does take a lot of getting used to to get comfortable and embrace that kind of middle area so I think that's probably the key difference so how would you advise someone to get used to that I would start off on pretty simple gravel terrain like this path that we're on now don't start heading off on mountain bike stuff you know you'll find the limit of the bike very quickly once you start getting on anything Rocky rooty muddy you really need to be kind of on your A-game so I'd start off on bike path gravel path simple stuff Forest roads and just kind of getting used to that the bike moving around and shifting underneath you and that feeling of when to break when to back off when to change gear so on a road bike you've kind of you can anticipate you can see what's coming a long way away on a road bike you're going to have to be a bit more on it with with thinking about things as you go okay well that's good to know because I think that's where I kind of came acroper because once I got a gravel bike I was just heading off into the woods and go and do alley so with a load of people as well that what I want to push your limits I think so yeah okay let's talk cornering now because on a road bike I think my first Port of Call would just be slamming my outside leg in leaning in and just going in for it what would I need to say I'm on a corner like this so it goes back to that bit we're talking about previously it's the loose surface okay so on a road bike unless it's pure rain you've got pretty good grip but when you're riding a road bike generally you want to the Keys points are breaking before the turn and that's what we wanted to 100 on a gravel bike if we break in the turn on a gravel bike there's a really good chance the wheels are going to lock up and slide okay so most important thing is get your speed set before you start to turn in so it goes back first of all anticipation so it's thinking well what's the surface like how steep is the corner what's the runoff like you're really trying to get as much knowledge before the corner as you can and then it's sorting out your speed that's the key A lot of people break they don't break enough coming into the corner they break in it so what we need to do is almost draw a line across the corner in our brain and you've got to get all your speed set before that line and then you go so the key is is go really hard on the brakes coming in if you need to and then on the way through the corner really no breaks for very little breaks really and what am I doing with my body in the corner am I still kind of leaning into it or am I more leaning the bike and trying to keep the body upright I'd really think about that outside foot so outside foot down and we want to be really pushing as much of our body weight as possible through the outside foot on that heel the front foot should be super light yeah I want to get as much what a reasonable amount of weight I don't want to feel like I've got too much weight on the hands because that's on the front wheel that one's for turning I want to get most of my weight slammed on that outside foot so looking around the corner and I was when you're starting to do more cornering and getting used to it on the gravel bike exaggerate the head movement so if I'm really looking around the corner the head goes the shoulders go naturally then the hips start to go so I'm encouraging that motion around the corner okay so look for the exit so if I go right back hard on the brakes get the speed sorted before you start to turn hard through the outside foot and really exaggerate looking for the exit okay nice one I'll use that next time I drop paint in the corners easy [Music] okay Ollie we've just calmed down quite a rocky gradual descent which you could take at speed it's a sort of thing that freaks me out slightly how do you approach something like that so the key is to this one like I said the technicalities just gone up a notch so once we start to get a rougher surface or steeper first thing I do is you just want to get your backside out the saddle so before we were just going along just chilling we were sat there doing nothing basically so you want to just float off-road kind of all we want to call it an attack position so a couple of inches off the saddle think about pushing your weight through your heels a bit and just keeping the hands a little lighter what we want to do is form us at that position where we can move and adapt to the trail yeah okay as it starts to get a bit steeper just think about it's not so much moving your body weight back you want to think about keeping your hips over the bottom bracket center of the crank so as the bike starts to drop you can just move yourself back and it's keeping that set your body weight Central on the bike and keeping it low that's the key but the most important thing just float off the saddle wait through the heels and then you're in a position where actually if the trail gets a bit Rocky or gets steeper again you can move around the bike okay that's good to know it gives me a bit more confidence taking on something like this I think on the road but I could have my way around the handlebars yep which I think you were saying is a bit risky yeah so think about if it gets technical always think heavy heels that's the key just think about really pushing your feet into the floor that moves all that Mass low and Central which is where we want it on a road bike where we're thinking a lot about getting low and aerodynamics a lot of time the handlebars are very low a lot of that body weight's on the hands the downside with that off-road if the front wheel deviates for some reason big slippy Rock front wheel goes a bit if our weight's on it we're going with it if you've got less weight on your hands you've got more chance of being able to manhandle or pull the bike back onto onto the track so when you drop in just really think float over the saddle heavy heels light hands perfect okay nice one I want to give it a few more tries and keep practicing let's go again yeah foreign because I think on the road it's just a question of having the strength to get up the climb that I get the impression it's a bit different on the ground a bit more skill involved yeah it needs to be more delicate and think about things a little bit more and that kind of pretty much sums up gravel in general really so on the road you can be really physical and just like say use your power and hoof up it generally you've got really good traction unless it's cobbles away or something off-road the surface is normally going to be loose I mean especially on a climb like this we've got Roots we've got rocks so a few things first of all just trying to pick your line so try and avoid the looser section or the slippier section is probably option number one what you're going to find as well is you want to keep probably more your weight on the saddle so most of the time off-road especially on a looser surface you're gonna have to stay seated another thing that can help is the front wheel if we stay seated on a steep climb the front wheel can lift so what we can do to help that is think about pulling the elbows down towards your knees okay those two things move some bit body weight onto the front wheel and also just engages the core a bit so it's a bit more power and a bit more stability on the bike the other thing we won't be able to do as well is just drop the Cadence a touch okay so if the surface is loose maybe thinking of climbing maybe one gear harder on a road bike and it's just for the loose stuff so maybe 70 to 80 RPM whereas on a road we're probably aiming more for 80 or 90. just gives us a bit more torque and a bit more traction that's what I've been going wrong now I think with all that possibly okay that's good tips well I'm going to give it a few more a few more attempts at the climb and try not to walk which is that's the key it's all about gravel it's staying on the bike if we can stay on the bike perfect tips right I'll follow your lead right we're off so there you go a few tips to help you get started on gravel coming across from the road let us know in the comment section below what you found most difficult about transferring over to the rough stuff and big thanks to Olive sharing your expertise it's been it's been super valuable and personally I've learned quite a lot as well which I'm hoping to take forward into our ride now we're gonna head off into the woods and uh have a bit of fun because at the end of the day that's what gravel's all about as well isn't it that's the thing nice one thanks for watching everyone see you next video

Channel: Global Cycling Network

Views: 88,706

Keywords: gravel, gravel cycling, gravel riding, gravel biking, gravel bike, gravel tips, gravel cycling tips, gravel bike tips, oli beckingsale, roadie, road cyclist, off road, gravel cycling for beginners, beginner, basics, skills, technique, cornering, climbing, GCN, Global Cycling Network, Sports, Cycling, Bike, Bikes, Bicycle (Product Category), Road Bike, Road Cycling, Cyclist, GCN Cycling, how to, bike skills, cycling skills, sec-how-to, sca15, ꗧ, c1, ꗶ, Ղ, n1, ሙ, ସ, ଙ, ホ, ᠫ, パ, ළ, Ꮽ, Ա, Լ, Ծ, Հ, ፕ17, ザ, ጞ, 5029

Id: 8Ad0Odm5Eh4

Length: 9min 19sec (559 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 13 2023