Been Mountain biking my entire life but mainly XC, so jumps and stuff are new to me. I've watched a lot of videos about the more intense stuff, especially the pink bike vids with ben, and have improved a lot, but something still feels off. Its probably just practice but want to be sure.
Am I doing anything wrong. I feel like I don't have enough control in the air
byu/Altruistic-Kitchen74 inMTB
by Altruistic-Kitchen74
3 Comments
You are hopping before the top of the lip instead of driving through the whole thing. So unweighting yourself.
At 3 seconds, look where the back wheel is. You are popping up way too early.
Is that the 2nd step up at gravy train? I just ate it there Monday and got my ribcage. I didn’t keep my eye on the line and fell in the ditch.
You’re absorbing the forces of the jump rather than using them to get air. When you go from flat to the jump transition, the jump “pushes” up on the bike. You are pulling your legs up rather than letting the bike get pushed up. Think of it like a trampoline. When you are moving downward into the tramp surface, your legs want to buckle. If you press against the trampoline and jump, you go way up there. If you just suck your knees up into your chest instead, your body doesn’t really go anywhere, your legs are just acting like springs and moving up and down. On the bike this means that the back wheel gets kicked up a little and you get pitched forward. On a bigger jump this will result in a “dead sailor” and a bigger chance of crashing if you didn’t line up the take off exactly right.
It’s a hard habit to kick, I still do it if I am not consciously trying to “stand” and let the bike use the whole jump take off.