When are steeps... steep?!

I frequently ride in Calderdale where the steep goes from merely “hmmm, that looks intimidating” all the way through various stages to “are you sure this is the right track? it appears to end in a cliff”

if you cant slow down on it, then its steep. SO steep varies depending on trail conditions, it might not be steep in the dry, but is steep in the wet for example.

I reckon steep is when its easier to ride down than walk down! Half of Caberston in Innerleithen is steep.

When you're on the brakes almost all the time?

Your rock roll definitely looks steep OP.

I'm not a Surrey Hills expert by any means, but Redlands has some proper steep bits IIRC.

This is steep.
I screengrabbed it from pinkbike thinking, yeah that's steep. Then noticed the angle of the mountains in the background...

I reckon steep is when its easier to ride down than walk down!

That sounds about right too me, I can certainly relate to it as a rule of thumb.

Tilting my screen in relation to that screen shot, yep that's steep!

In Hampshire...
Dell Road.
Milland Hill.
Lynch Lane.
Speltham Hill.
Snailing Lane.
Harting (heading south and south west)
West Marden.
Harvesting Lane.
Etc.

I'd define steep as something you cannot come to a stop on.

As a singlespeeder I would define steep as something you do come to a stop on!
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Oh, you mean down...

Something that when you drop in you're going all the way with or without your bike.

Any thing more than a kerb.

I'd also go with easier to ride down than walk as a general definition.

yeah, generally something you can't stop on and the sensation of having to commit while momentum builds.
There are places like that at staunton but you can roll that rock with a rigid bike. Thats more like a chute. the tracks that come down by the river near symonds yat I'd call steeps.

Steeps to me mean still having to turn or catch a berm/rut.

Can't really think of anywhere that is consistently steep in Hampshire.

Bottom half of Thornielee defines steep for me. The inability to really stop and walk without being rolled down the hill like a stone covered in moss.

These felt quite steep in Bristol.
Loads of grip though on that day.

Steep for me, is sustained. That slab in Staunton is steep but I wouldn't call it riding the steeps.
Lots in Fod that is sustained steep though.

I came off on a corner on the Champery track quite a few years back. The way my bike ragdolled straight down the hill for several switchbacks confirmed to me that it was definitely steep.

One I rode a while back below the gliding club on the Long Mynd. That was mental. 😂

Like you said there is nothing too steep in the south really

We do have some steep shoots over the back of QE (hence the trail name steeps!)

Which i found myself and my bike separately sliding down last weekend, braked for the shoot only to find the bike wanted to slide sideways, laid the bike down and watched it slide down the shoot followed by me on my side sliding into it at the bottom lol

Some steep shoots over Winterfold area of Surrey hills, which are run ups for some step up jumps

There is a footpath that takes you to the top of Holmbury hill, its not far from the Bridleway that takes you to up to Crackpipe/wet n wild, its stupidly steep and rocky, i had to drag my bike up it once as there was no way i was riding up it!

I think it depends on the rider

In the Hampshire list above ive rode all those quite often and dont bat an eye lid at riding them yet guys i ride with would refuse to even try some of them

Is it just the angle of the trail? or is the level of roughness, turns, gnar-factor also a consideration when something is labelled a steep?

It's steep when you cant crawl up or down on foot and too large to send to flat.

I think it depends on the rider

100% this, to a tweed valley local, or regular rider of Scottish Munros, the idea of "steep" is quite different to someone like me from the south... 😁

Anything you have to take a look at, or pause before dropping in should be regarded as steep. If you can ride it blind without stopping them it's not steep enough or gnarly enough. Often it's not purely the steepness that makes a trail hard, it's the roots/rocks/turns etc on the section that make it hard. Steep on its own is just a case of brake control, but add in some jank to the mixture and that changes things!

there was a track at devils dyke years ago called the flat track. that was steep. didnt need features or anything like that just making the first 3 corners was a challenge.

steep for a section is a very different proposition to a relentlessly steep track.

I define it as once you're in, you're committed and there isn't any stopping without a crash.

You either ride it, or you're off.

ta11pau1
Full Member

100% this, to a tweed valley local, or regular rider of Scottish Munros, the idea of “steep” is quite different to someone like me from the south… 😁

Yup, definitely. It's not a skill thing, it's a framing thing, everyone's used to what they ride most. I find steep and rocky way more intimidating frinstance because I'm so used to tweed valley steep and slippy.

Relentlessness/length is a factor too... We rode some daft thing at les 2 alpes that was just exactly as steep as I could manage speed on for the corners and tech bits, but for a really long time, much harder than the sum of its parts

can I just say, and I mean this in the nicest possible way (honest)- its chute, not shoot.

To be fair you've made that rock roll in Staunton look at LOT less steep than it looks when you're at the top trying to drop in. It's very intimidating, even though the run out has been improved!

I'm local, and it's been in my head for a while now, I still haven't done it.

I wouldn’t say there’s really anything steep in the Surrey Hills, compared to other areas.

There is some bloody sustained steep stuff near us in Abercarn, Merthyr Vale, etc which is a few minutes a trail of what feels like falling down a hill.

That rock roll in the picture is not steep, it’s just a bit awkward as the entrance is a pain, you have to ride across it & there used to be a crater at the bottom, which just made it a bit sh*t.

There is some decent steep elsewhere in Staunton though, Inbetweener is fairly spicy, mostly because the catches are blown out everywhere, but there are a couple of other hidden trails over that way which are a very bold choice 😆

Steep is generally defined as fuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkgggnnnnnfffffkkoooooOo.

Having mainly been living and riding on Hampshire/Surrey/Sussex borders, it was a bit of a shock when I first visited the Tweed Valley. There’s a big different between a short ramp where you drop in and can see the run out to somewhere like the Golfie where you can’t see the bottom and once you start rolling, you’re fully committed. Steep is when the bike carries on downhill after you’ve parted company!

That photo in your first post op is STEEP! For a meer cycling enthusiast like myself.

My definition of steep is when you shout a continuous list of expletives whilst you grip your shorts tightly with your arse cheeks.

As others have said, if it would be impossible or extremely difficult to walk down, then I would regard that as steep.

Having mainly been living and riding on Hampshire/Surrey/Sussex borders, it was a bit of a shock when I first visited the Tweed Valley.

Living in Kent it takes me at least a few days, sometimes longer to 're-adjust' to Scottish trails. And of course there's stuff I just won't bother riding as it's well beyond my pay grade. Even the mellowest off-piste trails in Innerleithen are much, much steeper than 99% of stuff local to me.

This popped up on my Insta the other week. There's also a 'making of' video to accompany it

Everyone has their own point when steep is too steep but I think steep is when you can’t stop so it’s either ride the whole thing or crash.

its chute, not shoot.

Or shutes (in Australia at least).

There are rideable log shutes where I live, including behind my house. When they logged the hillsides the quickest way to get the timber down was slide it down shutes. They’re too steep to build roads on. Some you can just about ride up, others definitely not.