Technique: Riding Roots and Rocks

No, it’s not a new Black Crowes album, but riding roots and rocks can be some mountain biker’s worst fear.

Singletracks recently published an article about riding roots in their ‘Progression’ section. That may be a step up for some who are used to riding in alpine meadows, but here in the midwest, if roots steer you away from riding a given trail network, your options are going to be severely limited.

The article made some good points, but there were definitely some things that it missed. By the way, these tips aren’t just for hardtail riders. A full-suspension bike is going to be no better over roots than a hardtail if you’re riding technique is just to smash through and hope that suspension saves your bacon. Let’s cover a few tips.

Use Your Eyes

If you didn’t know it already, one of the best ways to get fast for trail riding is to move from looking mere feet in front of you to looking a considerable distance down the trail. It allows you to move from reacting (“Oh, shoot! A hard left!”, “Oh, no! A drop!”) to acting (“I have a small straight, then I’m weaving through three trees, then the trail drops to the right. Go!”)

The same applies to roots and rock gardens. Give yourself plenty of time to see the obstacle, assess it, and figure out your line and body movement.

Relax Your Hands

I know – it goes against everything in your brain to be told to not hold on as hard when the going gets rough, but over rocky and rooty terrain, easing up your grip allows the bike to float under your body a little more and to use those huge suspension components known as your legs to do their work.

It doesn’t seem like your hands could limit bike movement all that much, but if you think about the tension in your hands traveling up into your arms and shoulders you can see how it could limit flow.

Use Your Dropper

My riding buddy has to constantly remind me of this, so if you’re always riding around with your post all the way up, don’t feel bad.

Droppers aren’t just for downhills.

With the seat down, the bike (and you) can move more freely and again, you can more easily work your legs to get up and over obstacles. You’re not necessarily trying to get your weight all that much further back; it’s more about how much the bike can move up and down under you.

Speed Is Your Friend

No, I’m not telling you to find a root bed and go at it at top speed to learn how to ride roots. That’s a good way to hurt yourself.

BUUUT, after you’ve developed your other techniques and you’ve learned to move your weight around and deal with roots and rocks, sometimes just a little extra speed will help you just float over them. If you’re under a good head of steam, you’re more likely to have the bike centered under you and be looking further down the trail and that little bit of extra speed may facilitate a little bunny hop that’ll make the obstacle inconsequential.

Case in point.. I was reviewing an e-MTB for our sister site Bike World News. I was and in some ways still am an e-bike skeptic, but if I took one positive away from riding it, it was how much easier it made dealing with obstacles. On our most ridden trail, there’s an uphill root garden that comes shortly after a hairpin turn. It used to stymie me almost every time. It’s not impossible to carry speed into it, but you have to plan and you have use some power to get up it. On the eMTB, with a seemingly endless reserve of power, I floated right up the roots. Once I had in my head that it was possible, my next attempts on my regular MTBs were much better.

Wrapping It Up: Just Ride

With anything, the best way to get better at dealing with something is to keep trying it.