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dirt jumps for dummies (me!)
After making a bit of a tit of myself the other day at the big dirt jumps at red-hill (luckily noone was there to see!) I had some trouble with my positioning coming off all the steep yet smaller jumps than those crazy ones!, and was wondering if anyone has some advice on how to launch? I know a good bit of speed is required, and figuring out how to bunny hop without clipless pedals has been helpful, but should you keep your body weight back, or throw it forward like when bunny hopping? cause i think i did the latter when i did the ankle damaging last attempt, that seemed to throw me forward, and leave the bike behind! but surely weight back would do the opposite-and doing nothing at all seems wrong too! and the bike seems particularly hard to stay exactly vertical after leaving the lip- tilting left or right and coming down off balanced, or just sideways in the dirt! would appreciate any advice, as im new to jumping off steep jumps that are much above 1/2 a metre! cheers- Alex
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Hi Alex,
There is bound to be a number of opinions on this subject so lets start with mine.
I have found that mountain bikes have a tendency to be front biased due mostly to the riding position.
What has worked for me is to keep the body weight back. On the water bars I dont actually try to jump but move my weight back and let the forces do the work. Not a huge amount of air but very controlled and comfortable.
Cascades is good for practicing launches with numerous water bars on quite fast runs.
Generally weight back is a good rule of thumb.
Keep an eye out for the practice days that get posted from time to time.
Craig
hit ourimbah with an old mtb national champ the other day, and fwiw, he told me the main prob is most people hit dirt jumps at the beggining very stiff, and then they hit the air stiff, and the bike is stiff with them, but if you loosen up and relax, and dont really lean or pull anyways, just stay over the bike, it corrects itself and you have more room to play.. and you dont come down angled or twisted..tried and low and behold, it works! then he taught me tail whips
where you simply twist your hip when your up there and thats all there is to it, your bars stay straight so the rear just follows.. anyway hope it helps someone, it bloody helped me!