Anyone who has jumped on an E-Bike and sessioned their local trails knows how much fun riding E-Bikes uphill can be. The more I ride e-MTB’s the more fun they get and the more I discover. Sometimes E-Bikes are great for cruising up a hill just to bomb more downhill runs or maybe just for some assistance when you’re tired. That’s awesome and gets so many more people out on bikes. I have said it before, one of the best things about mountain biking and E-Bikes is there are no rules about how you should ride.
You choose your style, you choose the trail, your bike, everything. I’m a downhiller at heart, but I absolutely love riding E-Bikes fast on uphill single track. I get a buzz from that zoned out feeling where all you can think about is the trail in front and setting up for the next corner. If you can find the right uphill climb with tight switch backs and technical sections where you are on the motor (under 25kmph) the whole time, it can be so fun and rewarding to session over and over. Riding up a climb at 25kmph where you would normally be riding at 5kmph on a trail bike is a cool feeling.
Not only do you have to keep spinning the whole time to keep the motor rpm cadence up, but with the pace you’re going uphill, you need to set up lines for every corner, use as much trail as you can, shift down, brake hard coming in, regulate brake power during the corner, regulate dropper height for the corner, lean in, keep spinning, power out, keep your dropper post up at full or close to full height, shift up, and GO! Yep, it’s about to get intense as you aim to go flat out up the climb but it’s loads of fun I assure you. The amount of concentration it requires to go hard is really cool. I almost think riding tech uphills fast requires the same amount of intensity, concentration, form, and skill as riding downhill.
Originally published in Revolution Magazine. Photos by Kane Naaraat.
Archive
2021
- How to : Master tricky uphill corners
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February
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2020
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- E-Bike Racing
- The art of hitting uphill sections flat out
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