spectastic

I've been doing exclusively road for the last 4 years or so. would like to get better with handling, learn to bunny hop properly, and get better at not crashing. I got a caadx ultegra disc with compact 50/34 crankset that I've been using primarily as a road bike, but I still have the knobbies laying around.

2 things I'd like to know more about. I'll apologize ahead of time for the noob questions

1. what kind of trails can I tackle with a cross/gravel bike? Obviously, I can't scale boulders or anything. but single tracks shouldn't be a problem. so the limit is somewhere in between?

2. how often is crashing typically when riding trails, and learning how to bunny hop over logs and stuff? I have a pretty nice bike that I don't want to damage. I also hate crashing in general...

Barrettscv 

I find that riding on grassy trails is reasonably safe and requires advanced bike handling skill. A local University campus has a grassy and hilly cross country running trail that is ideal for a Cyclocross or Gravel bike. Mostly skill is required to cross ruts formed by erosion and use. Traversing off-camber surfaces requires skill also. I'll experience a low speed fall on grass approximately once a year. Falling on grass at less than 10mph is a moderate risk if you keep fragile parts of the body from making a hard impact.

I won't use trails with larger boulders or exposed roots that are impossible to avoid. That type of trail is simply not fun and can be ridiculously risky on a drop-bar bike. Falling head first on a rocky trail is a good way to incur serious injury or worse.

athrowawaynic

A lot comes down to skill.

Personally, I can only handle up to approx. this. Beyond this, and I'll dismount.



This is maybe:



But I wouldn't touch this:




I've only crashed once, and that was attempting an 18in. drop. Since then, I avoid any drop more than 6in.

And everything gets squirrely/scary when slick, so that's the other factor for me.

Marcus_Ti

Ride rollers, ride uneven terrain.

SAFETY NOTE: Lots of carbon forks are warning labeled that riding should not exceed "Condition 1 or 2". Which is 6" drop or greater.

Spoonrobot 

I've become a significantly better bike handler from watching youtube videos and making specific practice goals for some of my rides.

Seth's Bike Hacks has several skills videos, as well as BKXC and Skills With Phil.

I ride the same trails for both my gravel/cx bikes and my MTBs. If you can fit 40mm tires you should be able to ride anything you're comfortable with, some trails will require dismounting or going really slow but so far I've not been on a ride and felt like it was exceedingly dangerous due to being on a gravel/cx bike. Just go slower for those sections. Tech trails are hard and will beat you up a bit but it really drills into you how to ride light and read the terrain while picking the best line. Riding the local MTB trails on my gravel/cx bikes are my favorite type of cycling, it's an intense challenge to ride them fast and smooth that just isn't matched anyway else.

For me, Riding a cross bike on technical singletrack has also been a huge skills booster. Leaning, balancing, accelerating, cornering, braking and all the other things that happen on singletrack are harder on a gravel/cx bike so it really hones the skills that can get sloppy just riding an MTB without a tight focus.

I started mountain biking on technical trails using clipless shoes all at the same time and crashed a lot - always at slow speeds so I didn't really have any injuries. Now I rarely crash during my regular rides, it's pretty quick to figure out the comfort zones for speed and ability. I do crash about half the time in races but most are due to fatigue causing poor judgement and also of the slow speed variety. No bike damage so far either, just the regular scrapes and scratches.

Essentially, you will crash as much as you want to crash. I'd say 99% of the time I've crashed it was because I was going as fast as possible and exceeded my skills. The 1% of the time where there's a hidden rock/root/rut or something grabs your front tire or the heavens reach down and punt you to the ground just happen - happens road riding too but probably a lot less.

Although I know how, I almost never bunny hop on the trails. There's rarely a reason to do so when it's usually easier and safer to pop a quick manual, drop your heels and ride over the obstacle. See here:
Anything too big to do the above can sometimes be bike-climbed over, otherwise I just hoof it.

spectastic

thanks for all the advice so far. I'll definitely watch more vids.

yea all those rocks and bouncing around... I don't care how good I am, I just don't see myself enjoying that at all.. got stuck with a hardtail in a part that's similar to your third picture, except worse… I pretty much walked the whole thing . That was the last time I took the mtb out on any proper trail before I sold it for the caadx lol.. On the other hand, 2nd picture looks like it could be fun, but I probably won't venture anything beyond that. also, as already mentioned, the rigid carbon fork might not be able to handle the stresses of the trail. advice? would cross bike be able to handle bumpy stuff like in pic 2? the bike came with 35 mm knobbies, but I think it might take up to 40 mm or something..

athrowawaynic

Drop your tire pressures.

I think you could handle the road in the 2nd pic. (Really doesn't look bad.)

ATPAH

If things were dry, I'd probably ride the pic 1 slope on CX wheels, but doubt I'd consider it in those conditions (although sometimes you just keep rolling). The road in the second pic is the one I would be most comfortable on. You just need to hit your line. That's a big part of what makes CX riding on singletrack so much fun. You can be really precise with wheel placement on the skinny tires, so it makes trails that are boring on a modern mtb sporty and interesting again.

If you want to develop skills, however, I think it makes sense to tackle technical challenges on the more forgiving mtb. On the mountain bike, you can learn how to read the terrain and get a better feel for when traction is breaking loose, what sorts of obstacles can knock you off line, etc. without having as much wreck potential and can apply that knowledge to handling your CX bike. The skills do transfer over well, despite the obvious limitations of the CX bike for tackling technical hurdles, and getting your mental game down is an important aspect to not wrecking.

TimothyH

@Spoonrobot

I thought about this post a bit. Went out this evening to some singletrack @ Mt. Tabor park in Paulding County and went on some trails a bit more rooted and rocky than I am used to.

I tried really, really hard and am going to watch some of those videos. It is a lot of effort.

fietsbob

Race Cyclocross in the winter. You can work on a fluid dismount to run carrying the bike over the un ridable sections

and then with a similar fluid re mount , continue , on the other side.