{"id":7244,"date":"2024-10-01T16:37:24","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T14:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=7244"},"modified":"2024-10-17T16:43:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T14:43:40","slug":"three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Essential Gravel Drills to Master by Juliet Elliott"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the highest tier of the UCI Gravel World Championships all the way down to social randonn\u00e9e, gravel cycling can be anything you want it to be. Fast, slow, technical or fast flowing, it\u2019s a fabulous blend of adventure and skill. Gravel riding combines the speed of road cycling with the unpredictability of off-road terrain, so your approach will require a few key adjustments. Mastering the right techniques is key to staying safe and having fun, so here are some essential tips and drills to help you improve your gravel riding game.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cornering<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Set your speed<\/strong>: Brake before the turn to avoid skidding.<\/p>\n

Hips and eyes<\/strong>: Point your hips in the direction you want to go and keep your eyes on your exit point.<\/p>\n

Pedal position<\/strong>: Drop the outside pedal, pressing your weight through it.<\/p>\n

Bike lean<\/strong>: Lean your bike, not your body, towards the inside. Allow the bike to move under you while staying balanced.<\/p>\n

Look through the corner<\/strong>: Twist your hips as you follow your gaze through the turn.<\/p>\n

Drill<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Practice linking turns on a gentle, smooth descent, focusing on leaning your bike into the turn whilst keeping your body upright.<\/p>\n

Descending<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Pedals level<\/strong>: Hover your bottom over the saddle with arms and knees slightly bent.<\/p>\n

Momentum matters<\/strong>: Stay light on the brakes and let the bike roll. Too much braking leads to skids.<\/p>\n

Eyes up<\/strong>: Look ahead rather than down and straight in front on your front wheel. Look for the best line.<\/p>\n

Stay relaxed<\/strong>: With a firm grip on the bars, keep arms and legs relaxed to absorb vibrations and allow the bike to move.<\/p>\n

Heels down:<\/strong> This helps with stability and balance<\/p>\n

Drill<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Practice your braking control by feathering your brakes on a moderate descent. Focus on smooth and consistent braking and notice how it affects traction.<\/p>\n

Climbing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Seated position<\/strong>: Stay seated for better traction, and slide forward on the saddle on steep climbs to keep the front wheel grounded.<\/p>\n

Focus ahead<\/strong>: Keep your gaze on where you want to go, looking for the best line.<\/p>\n

Hinge at the hips: <\/strong>Keep your chest forward to maintain traction on the front wheel.<\/p>\n

Drill<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Find an uphill segment of the trail and repeat the climb several times, focusing on maintaining the correct body position and engaging your core. Slide forward on the seat, lower your chest toward the bars, and don\u2019t pull on your handlebars.<\/p>\n

Master these skills and gravel riding will become even more rewarding. Have fun out there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the highest tier of the UCI Gravel World Championships all the way down to social randonn\u00e9e, gravel cycling can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":7253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-7244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-the-latest"],"yoast_head":"\nThree Essential Gravel Drills to Master by Juliet Elliott - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out some essential tips and drills to help you improve your gravel cycling skills.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Essential Gravel Drills to Master by Juliet Elliott\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Check out some essential tips and drills to help you improve your gravel cycling skills.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-01T14:37:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-17T14:43:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2024\/10\/Juliet-Elliott-Gravel-CVR.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hettie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Juliet Elliott\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/\",\"name\":\"Three Essential Gravel Drills to Master by Juliet Elliott - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2024\/10\/Juliet-Elliott-Gravel-CVR.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-01T14:37:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-17T14:43:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/a58d0e261e2851d32c04ca4395fc8c19\"},\"description\":\"Check out some essential tips and drills to help you improve your gravel cycling skills.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2024\/10\/Juliet-Elliott-Gravel-CVR.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2024\/10\/Juliet-Elliott-Gravel-CVR.webp\",\"width\":990,\"height\":660,\"caption\":\"Juliet Elliott\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda WeLoveCycling - United Kingdom\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/a58d0e261e2851d32c04ca4395fc8c19\",\"name\":\"hettie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19084731f07a409b63389e027895fb3dd559baf357989497b89ac21b1807677a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19084731f07a409b63389e027895fb3dd559baf357989497b89ac21b1807677a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"hettie\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/author\/hettie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three Essential Gravel Drills to Master by Juliet Elliott - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom","description":"Check out some essential tips and drills to help you improve your gravel cycling skills.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Three Essential Gravel Drills to Master by Juliet Elliott","og_description":"Check out some essential tips and drills to help you improve your gravel cycling skills.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom","article_published_time":"2024-10-01T14:37:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-17T14:43:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":990,"height":660,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2024\/10\/Juliet-Elliott-Gravel-CVR.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"hettie","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Juliet Elliott","Est. reading time":"3"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/","name":"Three Essential Gravel Drills to Master by Juliet Elliott - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2024\/10\/Juliet-Elliott-Gravel-CVR.webp","datePublished":"2024-10-01T14:37:24+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-17T14:43:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/a58d0e261e2851d32c04ca4395fc8c19"},"description":"Check out some essential tips and drills to help you improve your gravel cycling skills.","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2024\/10\/01\/three-essential-gravel-drills-to-master-by-juliet-elliott\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2024\/10\/Juliet-Elliott-Gravel-CVR.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/18\/2024\/10\/Juliet-Elliott-Gravel-CVR.webp","width":990,"height":660,"caption":"Juliet Elliott"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - United Kingdom","description":"\u0160koda WeLoveCycling - United Kingdom","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/a58d0e261e2851d32c04ca4395fc8c19","name":"hettie","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19084731f07a409b63389e027895fb3dd559baf357989497b89ac21b1807677a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/19084731f07a409b63389e027895fb3dd559baf357989497b89ac21b1807677a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"hettie"},"url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/author\/hettie\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7301,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7244\/revisions\/7301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7244"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=7244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}