Gravel Culture: Gravelling Skills Part 2 - Descending
Posted By Gravel Union
On 30 July 2021
In Part 1 of a series of articles, skills coach Verity Appleyard gave us some fantastic advice for gravel riders hoping to improve skills and confidence, with the main focus being climbing. Verity is back, and this time, she’s looking at the art of descending.
Descending is an enormous topic. It is basically writing about how to ride a bike. To break things down and work with something meaningful, I will start by looking at how we might begin to approach the matter. The first thing to consider is how to move well and how to set up our bikes to encourage this.
Descending well is about timely responses to the ever changing environment and maintaining traction as you move through it. Responding to what you see, feel and hear, perhaps even taste at times - the fear! Some people naturally move better than others, that’s obvious to most of us. Those types of people that move well will generally be pretty handy at most skill-based sports. Hence, a good gravel rider (or mountain biker) is often a decent snowboarder or skier - all are sports that require a high degree of skill.
We may not all be capable of elite levels of technique but we can all improve. Thankfully our brains are plastic and can be moulded and our muscles are exceptionally adaptive and ready to respond to change. So, if you have the time, then give your brain and body some stimulus to adapt to.
Feet first.
If you read the previous article on skills you will remember how I emphasised the importance of our feet and putting down the power through them. Descending is no different and using your feet correctly is vital if you are to stay rubber side down on the steep stuff. When descending, you need to think of maintaining most of your weight through your feet. “Heavy feet, light hands” is a good mantra to shout to yourself over and over again as you rattle down a gulley.
Amidst your teeth chattering and your hands attempting to blow off your bars, the image of a skier carving beautiful turns with their feet, knees, hips working in perfect harmony is what I would like you to be imagining. Heavy feet, light hands. If you ever watch the more extreme side of mountain biking, the gravity orientated disciplines, forget about the jumps and drops - it’s their ability to carve turns and deal with awkward slope angles that makes the riders fast.
Back to the world of gravel, how do we actually do this? Of course, this take hours of practice, so without putting in those hours you cannot expect to improve. Gravel riding is an endurance sport, with the main factor to success being a good aerobic capacity. But good skills can make the difference between 1st and 3rd, particularly at more techy events like the recent Grinduro event in Wales.
Bike set up and position.
To start with, it’s always worth looking at your bike set up. The more MTB-like you can make it, the easier it will be to handle when descending. Of course, there is a sacrifice here – the more MTB-like you make your gravel bike, the less “aero” it is. Initially, a less familiar feeling position might negatively affect your ability to put out the power, but in the long-run, you will see the benefits.
Set yourself up to succeed, so start with the easy bit. Change your bike set up position to a more downhill friendly approach - drop your saddle by 5-10mm and try increasing the stack of spacers under your stem by 5-10mm or better still, shorten your stem by 10-20mm. A dropper seatpost is worth considering - even one with only a small amount of movement. Some of the models available can be operated via your left hand shifter – a real boon on steep trails where you need to keep your hands on the bars at all times! You can practice downhill sections with this set up, but if necessary you can revert back to a more road-like position for flatter/less technically demanding events if needed. Try and be flexible and open minded. Try new things - what makes us “old” is an inability to adapt to change.
We are after a “ready position” - the position whereby you are ready to take on anything thrown at you. Your head is up to see all around you, your feet are heavy, with your heels down and your glutes being spring loaded to react to every bump and turn. The changes will make a difference, particularly on the steeper stuff. They will all help with your vision ahead and your ability to keep your weight through your feet. Remember, this is all about encouraging heavy feet, light hands. A long low stem does not encourage this.
To see an example, watch the old “Road Bike Party” video from trials rider Martyn Ashton or any of the similar videos from Danny Macaskill and Chris Akrigg and the many other extreme road/cyclocross clips that followed. They all have the saddle slammed and the bars and stem up. Of course, that set up isn’t sustainable for a whole gravel ride but would be fine for a practice session on the local trails or at a bike park.
It’s also worth noting that for real techy events that “cross top” brake levers are a game changer for me. On cable pull brakes they are easy to set up. For anyone running Shimano’s GRX groupset, you can get their hydraulic cross-top levers. Neither type are something you can easily add/remove, but once fitted, they give you an extra choice of hand position and will help improve confidence levels for some riders.
Image courtesy of Shimano
Once we have adapted our gravel bikes to make them more descent-friendly, we’ve given ourselves a mantra “heavy feet, light hands” to repeat like a broken record in our heads, we’ve started to visualise ourselves like elite skiers carving down the trail and now we can begin to practice. Practice a lot and practice in a smart way - pick a downhill trail and repeat and repeat. You can all further develop the skills of moving well on a bike.
What’s next?
For those super serious in investing in their ability, our next approach would be to look at moving well “off the bike”. What can we do outside of riding to improve our skills?
Plenty, but I’ll save that for another time…..
You can find out more about the practical skills sessions that Verity runs by checking out her website.