How to Descend on a Gravel Bike - Including Tips from Dave Zabriskie and others!

g'day trendsetters John with gravel cyclists I'm coming to you today with the video about how to descend safely on gravel roads with special appearances from three guests who have a plethora of knowledge on this particular subject matter this is a video I spent a long time contemplating as you can see from the data a draft of the original article way back in December of 2014 it took some thought and technology to progress a little before I could go ahead with this production and remember cycling and the related activity of the sending can be a risky business what follows in this video are tips you and you alone are responsible for your actions use good judgment wear a helmet are within your limits and be safe hi I'm Karen with an eraser factor bytes and I'm gonna give you some tips on how to descend on gravel so when you're descending the first thing I think about is picking a good line make sure you have the smoothest space possible and typically you'd like to go outside to end and that is the best way to keep your speed I also like to get up off my seat a little bit so that I'm not smashing down on my seat so then a little bit crouched in my position and I don't try and tense up if I squeeze and get all tense then the bike is gonna do crazy things so I kind of stay a little bit loose keep a good position and with gravel you just kind of have to remember that the bike is gonna go certain places that you may not think you're gonna go but kind of let the bike do the talking trust the bike and just be smooth and let it go a tip I rely on when descending into a corner populated by washboard corrugations or rats is to scrub off speed before I into the corner preferably on the drops utilizing mostly the rear brake with my weight shifted back then depending on the gradient I try and get off the brakes altogether and allow the bike to take the hit through the corner pulling hard on the front brake across a rut or washboard could cause the bike to dive forward especially if your weight isn't shifted back far enough in this scene on descending a very steep and rough descent I'm doing most of my braking with the rear brake pulsing it on and off and pulse braking on the front once I'm clear off the corner to help keep the speed in check I'm doing my best to continually look up the road and stay to the appropriate side of the narrow road which isn't always possible on the corners I don't lean hard into them but I shift my weight so my outside leg bears more of my weight and ideally it keeps traction in the corner in the corner just ahead I get off the brakes completely remain loose and allow the bike to take the hit when I write I spotted my body weight is well back tip number one don't have too much air in your tires you want them a little soft so they kind of grip the road tire pressure is arguably the most important factor to overall comfort on a gravel bike and during a descent it's a huge factor to safety my friends at NV have created an extremely helpful recommended tire pressure chart which I have linked in the video description below in a nutshell the chart breaks it down by body weight inner rim width tire width and of course recommended tire pressure tip number two control your speed so you're not losing the friction when you're taking that turn then you probably want to lean into it too hard on a gravel surface tip number three have some confidence always look ahead up the road scanning for potholes ruts or the unexpected if you have to make a direction change don't make a sudden movement gently a dust your line to avoid the obstacle if you must cross the middle of the road across a crown of gravel avoid doing so until the crown flattens out riding through deep gravel at speed is akin to riding sand and asking for trouble avoid descending on the brake hoods if you strike a pothole at speed you stand a greater chance of losing the bike from beneath you if your hands strip off the hoods descending on the drops provides better control and better leverage on the brake lever requiring less force to affect braking this next piece of advice is not recommended for everybody but if you use a navigation device glancing down quickly and periodically at the map screen can give you an idea of what to expect a little further up the road be extremely careful if you do take your eyes off the road even if only for a split second hey Jake from Emory composites here and today we're going to talk about a few tips that can help you descend more confidently on a on your gravel bike so I'd say the number one advice I have from a descending standpoint when you're on the gravel bike is to stay calm cool collected and relaxed you see that the same kind the last thing you want to do mid to set or mid corner in a descent is grab a handful of breaks or do aggressive shifts and body movement let's focus on keeping your body loose and in a position such that you're comfortable and to get no aggressive breaking those slamming on your front brake that's slamming on your rear brake you want to stay calm cool collected second tip I have is it's always a good idea to lower your center of gravity so for me personally I immediately go to the drops write this in the drops of our grab a bar my favorite position for descending and then I also have a dropper post I might grab a bike which helps again lower my center of gravity for again more confidence and then just a more stable fill while descending flow and then my third third tip would probably be just to I don't know if there's a third tip but that's the that's the tip right there calm cool collected in this scene from the 2017 crusher in the Tasha gravel cyclist k-dog is descending they called a crush k-dog isn't the best ascender and he's dragging his brakes way too much but he's the sinner within his comfort zone also he's sticking to the appropriate side of the road out of the way and riding predictably down the descent holding a steady line and this is an example of the unexpected happening to yours truly I didn't catch sight of the right ahead of me and you can see the result it could be way worse I can't see my camera so you will but hopefully I'm not too smashed up I feel like hey it's bruised punished or abide so I'll live just going to go down gingerly I think I loaded up the front wheel too hard with the front brake and I hit a divot and catapulted over the bars this is why you always wear a helmet be careful and always to send within your comfort zone [Music] thank you for watching I hope you found this video to be helpful and insightful if you haven't already please subscribe to the gravel cyclist YouTube channel and don't forget to click the bell button to be notified our future videos as they appear on the channel I'll see you in the next video [Music] you

Channel: Gravel Cyclist

Views: 56,777

Keywords: gravel bicycles, gravel bikes, gravel cycling, gravel cycling calendar, gravel cyclist, gravel racing, gravel grinder, gravel grinding, gravel grinder calendar, gravel grinding calendar, gravel cyclist calendar, gravelcyclist.com, monster cross, ultra cross, ultra cx, riding gravel, gravel bike, how to descend on a gravel bike, how to descend on gravel, how to descend with a gravel bike, gravel bike descending

Id: nON4UHAAgUk

Length: 8min 4sec (484 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 18 2019