I have never been super comfortable jumping. Most of the time it doesn’t feel great but it doesn’t feel bad, but sometimes I get randomly thrown off-balance mid-jump. I’m also trying to do better at actually jumping instead of absorbing or just riding out the jump. What am I doing wrong, or what can I do better?
Learning how to jump, what am I doing wrong?
byu/Treyzian inMTB
by Treyzian
7 Comments
Your back tire leaves the takeoff at the halfway point.
Don’t try to jump before the actual jump, because if you do, you jump, gravity pulls you down quickly while your front tire is up, pushing it down, and all during this, your rear tire has still not taken off, literally making you fall on your nose first.
You unloaded your legs when the rear tire was still at the beginning of the ramp. So you didn’t benefit from your rear tire boosting off the entire lip.
The whole compress before the jump technique is really more of an advanced technique to pop jumps. It requires precise timing.
The thing to focus on is jumping off the rear wheel – you want to drive the rear into the lip (which is more like a push 45 degrees rather than down).
To learn this, you need to find some steep lips to hit. Doesn’t even have to be a proper jump, can be a simple smooth roll up a rock on a trail. When you do it properly, you are functionally launching your body (i.e the dominant mass) upwards using the lip, and the bike will follow. So when rolling up a thing, you should be able to “pump” up it to get on top without relying on speed, or do a small air out on top. Its a very active motion that requires good leg power (because you are fighting against the g forces trying to suck you into the lip)
When I helped someone jump I always took them to pumptrack first so they can get a grasp on the pumping movement.
You want to pump the takeoff with your legs. Not to absorb it but push against the takeoff. You can try it on flat ground by just trying to compress the rear suspension.
If you can do manual then it’s even better because you are shifting your weight backwards, it isn’t as pronounced shift during jumping but it can help.
If you can do bunnyhop then that’s the best. I mean bunny hop when you are going in to manual first and then push the bike forward so front wheel goes up first and then rear wheel. Not both at the same time.
Hope this is at least a bit helpful.
Edit: seems like slight backwards weight shift would make you jump properly. I’ll repeat myself but really it’s like pumping a roller on a pumptrack or trail when you are trying to generate speed.
The one thing I never learned and only learned recently is to scoop your feet with the jump don’t point your feet down, scoop as if your riding with the face of the jump it helps get so much air
1. You’re jumping before the jump.
2. As soon as you’re in the air, you look straight down and arch over.
You need to wait a little later before popping, and you want to stand up straighter — look where you want to go after you land, don’t focus on the landing. You should be thinking about the landing as you’re hitting the jump, and you should be thinking about hitting the jump on the approach. Always be one step ahead.
Aside from that, good form on the landing — nice and flat, not too nose-heavy.