I can't climb

I ride hilly areas all the time on my hybrid- I'm not fast on hills, but I do them. On my mountain bike, I seem to be helpless on climbs. Tonight I rode the little trail on my property, and it involves a berm that used to be a pond bank. It's only about 4 feet high where I go down it, with some rocks and small branches. When I tried to come back up it, the usual- I get almost to the top and come almost to a dead stop, with my rear wheel slipping, and have to put a foot down. I wasn't in my smallest chainring, I didn't think I'd need it for such a small hill. But I have this same problem with most hills I've tried to ride on my mountain bike. I get started and get part way up, then my rear wheel starts slipping and I grind to a stop and end up walking.
At this point, as a beginner, should I be on my small chainring for any hill? I guess I don't know enough about it to even know what the problem is- not low enough gear, not standing up enough (I don't stand up usually), or not enough speed?
vickie

if your rear wheel is spinning, it sounds like a weight distribution problem. when climbing, move forward on your saddle, keep your arms down on the bar (not up or out) and bring your chest down to the bar. don't forget to look up. this should correct your weight distribution problem.

regarding gearing, for steeper and/or longer climbs, you'll typically climb in your small chainring.

hope this helps!

something that helped me alot..and makes me laugh the whole time while climbing, is someone on here said...'boobs to the tube'. I'm one of those that is always trying to figure out good form, and this one makes it automatic, no overthinking it. To the tube!

thanks- if it doesn't rain I plan to try stinging nettle today after work. There are a couple of short steep climbs and I will try this. Maybe I'll just go straight to my small chainring too, and see how things go.
vickie

I am a total newbie but learning to climb, the small ring helps even though I don't think I need it.

The small chainring helps me climb the hills. There's a reason mtb's come with a triple chainring and you'll soon sing praises of the little gear that could.

Someone here once said in a post, "don't be afraid to use your grannies."

I use that on my road bike, too. I use em. Why the heck not? I don't think I'm less of a woman for spinning! :D

You conserve more energy by sitting, too. It's all about cadence for me; if I can get in the groove of a fast enough cadence sitting, where I can use that momentum and maintain the beat of the cadence while climbing, I'll stay sitting. And, to keep your front wheel from popping up while sitting, use your hands to pull your handlebar down as you pull them slightly toward you. You'll feel it anchoring the front wheel.

When you're standing, it's all about shifting your weight back and forth. If you're have trouble with control, you could also be spinning in too high of a gear if you're spinning the rear out. Find a tougher gear to stand in. If you could shift up a gear when you stand (just like on a road bike), that would be ideal. Practice keeping your body centered over the BB and slightly shifting back and forth as you stand to keep the weight balanced over your wheels.

One more thought (this helped me), is your stem too long? This could also be throwing off the center of gravity.

Well... you can, my dear. You say "I'm not fast on hills, but I do them."

First change the head-message... "I can do hills".

Then realise that getting fast on hills takes time and you have to be patient. You are getting there. Have faith in yourself. :)

I rode stinging nettle today- first a flat 2 miles on al foster trail, a wide crushed limestone trail. When I got to stinging nettle I went straight to the small chainring, even though it's got a lot of flat places.
I was glad, right away I hit deep sand. I was able to make it most of the way across the sand but not all the way, had to walk the bike out of the sand. There were about two of these real deep sand areas. There are some dips- these I can ride because I get speed down and fly right up the other side. There were a couple of taller hills- steep but dirt and roots, not the loose rocks.
I promptly forgot all the good advice here and did the usual- most of the way up, then lose all momentum and have to walk over the top. I needed to just go right back down them and try again, but as usual I was short on time and didn't know how much more trail was left, so I kept going.
Stinging nettle is perfect for me, enough challenges but not so many that I'm walking very much- only a few short hikes (like 10 feet out of the sand, or a couple of feet over the crest of the hill). Unfortunately, it doesn't dry out very fast and it was sprinkling when I was riding, and heavier rain as I was riding out on al foster. I want to go back and ride some of the connector trails- I still didn't make the whole trail, since I ended up taking "old stinging nettle loop connector" and must have missed the rest of the trail.
I had so much fun, and got enough confidence back to ride over a log without getting my rear wheel stuck.
vickie

The MTB girl in my heart lives on and she wants to tell you, yes you can! Those short little squirts are tricky. Berms and the like are an art. I still try to ride like an MTB girl on my road bike, and some of it pays off. I was the queen of climbs with the folks I rode with and the trick to climbing for me was to quite literally put the nose of the saddle up my rear and as others said, boobs to the tube. Positioning yourself on the nose of the saddle gives you better muscle use without losing grip in the rear.

Keeping your arms low as mentioned and when you get to the crest shove your bike forward and push HARD! Then, get your weight back as you roll over. There are certain folks on this board who can tell you about an incident involving me, a berm, and improper weight distribution that ended ugly. I blame her for inviting totally hot racer boys along on the ride, but that's another story.

Climbing in mountain biking was so much more fun for me than it was on the road because it was usually a shorter! I think if you have a spot that is giving you fits keep riding it. Do it over an over until you get it. Even though other situations may be different it's still practice and will give you confidence.

maybe it helps if you focus PAST the top. You're not done when your front wheel hits the top, because your back wheel (where the power is) isn't there yet, and your speed is probably way down so you're liable to tip over if you don't keep moving.

I try to think of short hills as "they're not over until I've picked up speed on the other side".

I'm enjoying reading this thread for my own help as well:cool:.

I'm primarily a roadie gal and have been doing more trail riding lately. Going back out this week a repeat trip to a more advanced trail than what I have done previously. I thought the same thing... man, I really need to get into that little chain ring if I am going to ever make it up all the way!

Part of my problem is that I am too cautious on descending before the next incline. As my skilled mtb pal tells me, "momentum is your friend";).

I find myself wanting to try and over steer my mtb also, like I would try to control my road bike, and it just doesn't work out:o.

Finally last ride when I hit some sand at the bottom of a hill, I let the bike do more steering than I did, combined with a wiggle dance:rolleyes:, to roll through it, vs locking up like a stone, and crashing. I was so thrilled that it worked:D. Plus it gave me some extra speed to make it up.

When those little things happen, it just makes you want to ride more. Good luck tripling up to the top:).

A lot of good advise here, i like the "boobs to the tube" one. Maybe i'll use that when i teach my women specific classes.

A few other factors that could be making it difficult is tire pressure. Especially if you are used to road riding, you're probably used to filling the tires up to max psi, but for mountain biking i usually recommend the lowest psi to give the tire more traction and surface area to the dirt. It also helps dampen the ride a little. (but make sure you don't under inflate them, you don't want your tire peeling of your rim). You could also try the switchback approach. Just like when the terrain is really steep, the trails are usually switchbacks, if you have the space, make your own little switchback route so you're not going directly up the hill, but attacking it at more of an angle. You could also try preparing for the hill by gaining speed and trying to keep your cadence as uniform as possible by shifting your gears. Don't be afraid to shift your gears a LOT. On some terrain I almost feel like i'm playing the piano because i'm constantly shifting (something that you wont see in road biking).

sounds like you might have your weight too far forward... its definately a learning curve as to weight distribution! If you have a little more weight over your rear tire, it will get better traction... Have fun and keep trying, it'll come!!!