Mountain Bike Racing - Trouble on the hills

I'm not good at racing, but maybe this can help me. Consider coming up on a slippery hill and steep. You need the power from your legs to get up it (i.e. stand up), but you can't slip out. I'm not sure if I"m always supposed to sit in my saddle, and when I come up to these hills, I have no experience to go by. Thanks

Panoram Jazzman aka Panoramic
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Hey Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, "OOOOO"
Peter those are Cherios

I do a half stand. I keep the seat in between my legs and let it bounce around on any bumpy stuff. This keeps my weight back enough to keep traction and forward enough to really pound.

Oh and I practice a lot.

When climbing steeps out of the saddle, try pulling the handlebars back toward your chest - kind of like a rowing motion - with each pedal stroke. This will cause your rear tire bite into the ground even though your weight is not centered over the rear. Staying seated is just fine as well, but sometimes to keep your speed up, especially for a shorter steep section, getting out of the saddle will get you up and over faster. In either case, you will want to keep your chest low toward the bars to keep your front tire from lifting.

Sometimes jumping off the bike and running up steep slippery climbs is faster than trying to ride them.

Sometimes jumping off the bike and running up steep slippery climbs is faster than trying to ride them.

Whats the fun in that? :p

Espically in clipless, when you can't make it up the hill and you can't clip out. For that split second everything moves soooo slow.

I sit down completely and lean forward so my chin is about 6" above the handlebars. That way all the weight still goes tot he back tire but it also keeps the front tire down which tends to come up when you have a light bike and are in a low gear.

I sit down completely and lean forward so my chin is about 6" above the handlebars. That way all the weight still goes tot he back tire but it also keeps the front tire down which tends to come up when you have a light bike and are in a low gear.

^^^^
Put the nose of the seat so it looks like it's just about going up your butt. It works, but sounds disgusting. :p

shifting into a higher gear can help get traction when you stand up.

If you stand up out of your saddle part of the power that you are pushing towards the pedals is going into your front shock so you are losing some of your power. Sit down in your saddle and get your head low to the handle bars and go for it. You got to figure out where your weigh needs to be for the traction of each slope.