4 Tips On How To Ride An Uphill Step With Jordan Ashburn

This article was originally published in the October 2017 issue of Dirt Rider.

Going the other direction turns this into a pretty nasty, rutted-out uphill trail that leads into about a 3-foot off-camber ledge that you have to step up. As I’m coming up the single-track I’m looking ahead to see where I need to be to get over the big ledge. I want to be square with it, so to line up for it I sweep out of the rut a little bit to the left.

As I get closer to the ledge I see a small rock just before it that I can hit and kind of lighten the bike to help me launch up onto the ledge. So I hit my front wheel on the little rock and lift the front end, and then I unweight the bike when my rear wheel hits the small rock. I hit the ledge lightly with the front wheel to kick it up and keep the skid plate from hitting, and then the rear wheel hits the ledge.

This hill is too steep to allow you to get off the throttle and coast over the ledge, so you need to keep the gas on all the way through, and I use the clutch to keep the rear wheel from spinning when it is going over the top. As the bike is going over the ledge, you want to transition your body from being rearward to being up over the front of the bike to help you carry the rear end over the ledge.