PINKBIKE is exhausting...

[The History Man]

To see it coming and consider your future.......?

 

[mk one]

It is really hard to describe to someone how to drop or jump and what the body should be doing especially if you do it instinctively, and I think practice is better than trying to learn off a video, start small, a kerb is ideal.

I use all the above techniques for different situations. If i want air i pull up, if i want to flatten the jump i push forward and down, if i am going too slow i manual off, if i want to miss the kicker and hit the down side instead of flat i hop both wheels before take off, or pre-jump. Good advice for a beginner is to aim to land rear wheel first and like in the video, landing speed helps in a lot of sketchy situations with the forward momentum helping you ride out of it.

 

[xtaffa]

It is really hard to describe to someone how to drop or jump and what the body should be doing especially if you do it instinctively, and I think practice is better than trying to learn off a video, start small, a kerb is ideal.

I use all the above techniques for different situations. If i want air i pull up, if i want to flatten the jump i push forward and down, if i am going too slow i manual off, if i want to miss the kicker and hit the down side instead of flat i hop both wheels before take off, or pre-jump. Good advice for a beginner is to aim to land rear wheel first and like in the video, landing speed helps in a lot of sketchy situations with the forward momentum helping you ride out of it.

Absolutely agree on the describing/not learning off videos. Part of the reason I reckon the best cycling-related money I've ever spent was on a 1:1 coaching session.

Still not sure I agree re. the techniques - but frankly as you're riding in the peaks and I'm pootling around the woods and hillocks of Hampshire, I'll defer/get my coat

 

[mk one]

Absolutely agree on the describing/not learning off videos. Part of the reason I reckon the best cycling-related money I've ever spent was on a 1:1 coaching session.

Still not sure I agree re. the techniques - but frankly as you're riding in the peaks and I'm pootling around the woods and hillocks of Hampshire, I'll defer/get my coat

Been jumping for many years on bmx and mtb and riding drops/jumps on dh tracks but like i say, really hard to put into words the actions.

If on a big jump you want to get your wheels back on the ground quicker, instead of spending more time in the air, you need to push the bars forward and down while pushing down with you legs, like when you do a manual or preloading for a bunny hop, it stops you going too high and loosing time. A really graphic example is to watch bmx racing when they go over the big sets, they are really exaggerating the process so it is more visible. Pushing forward is also essential when you are coming up short and going to case, you can sometimes get a bit extra distance to clear the landing lip. As for manuals off slow drops, just ride off a kerb slow, you front wheel will hit the ground first if you do not lift the front end and push down and forward with your feet, how you do a manual, and get your rear to hit first, also useful for clearing trail obstacles you suddenly come across, practiced by rolling up to a kerb and lifting your front to clear it and manual until your rear hits the kerb which will kick the rear wheel up, if you stand up at that point and point your toes down and pull back with your feet while pulling up on the bars and the pedals with your feet, then pushing forward on the bars when the rear is coming up you will do a bunny hop, assisted by the kerb of course. As for pre jumping or hoping off jumps, that is useful for coming too fast into a jump where the kick will send you too far down the trail when you land, especially if there is a corner after the jump, so hoping over the jump or drop will mean you land closer to the jump, of course safer if you knew the jump or drop was coming up beforehand.

The above is i suppose an example of the amount of words to describe simple actions on the trail, and im sure there is more. like you say, much better to get someone to point out what you are doing wrong while actually jumping/dropping in real life. Just a side note, the last person i told to pull up more on a jump, back in the late 90's if memory serves me, broke his collarbone

 

[2manyoranges]

Tomas - your analysis of price points of ‘standard’ or ‘mainstream’ enduro bikes is right, I think. My 16 year old son could not afford the bikes he rides, but he gets huge benefit from having access to that level of machinery. He just wouldn’t be able to do the things he does on the hill on lesser bikes. But without the stable which he has access to, I guess he would be happy with just a good jump bike, and would be building his skills nicely and in the same way as he is doing on the enduro hardtails and full suspension bikes.

 

[TOMAS]

Tomas - your analysis of price points of ‘standard’ or ‘mainstream’ enduro bikes is right, I think. My 16 year old son could not afford the bikes he rides, but he gets huge benefit from having access to that level of machinery. He just wouldn’t be able to do the things he does on the hill on lesser bikes. But without the stable which he has access to, I guess he would be happy with just a good jump bike, and would be building his skills nicely and in the same way as he is doing on the enduro hardtails and full suspension bikes.

I just cannot fathom how expensive the sport has got for decent kit, it's bonkers. So I started MTB @ 14yrs old, basically thought I was Martyn Ashton/Jez following watching all the vids of them lol... copied lots of the tricks. In just one year I folded 6 back wheels.... 6... from tricks.

I then moved over to BMX as I was fed up of braking stuff, mainly rode on tarmac that thats where I felt happiest, hung out with a little crew street/ramp riding, it was around the time Props Road Fools was born, it was brilliant! Now aged 39 I still can't help but walk through town/the city without spotting amazing lines/tricks to be had off of the street furniture but havn't rode BMX in around 17yrs now haha!

I think kids will always ride whatever they can have access to, i'm not saying they won't ride (something)... they just won't be ragging through trees at warp factor 9 with a machine that can deal with it all. My biggest point is that I think the main stream in MTB will soon shift, it's already started with shorter travel bikes now becoming popular, I think the marketing boys have named it 'down country' or something but I think it's fair comment that most of the middle aged guys with incomes that allow for the fancy kit, can't/don't/won't be hucking road gaps, tables over 30 foot jumps etc etc, it needs to cater a bit more to us and what we do perhaps? Not saying there aren't any middle aged guys that can't shread, just the majority don't but still have tonnes of fun doing what they do.

 

[The Kilt]

I grew up riding mtb on BMX tracks, jumping and the techniques you learn from the track are transferable and when we started riding trails and downhill those techniques were invaluable. So few people who you meet riding can manual properly, pump the ground or hop around like we do as they never really learnt these skills. a spot of trials riding helps to with slow speed bike control and manoeuvring obstacles.

 

[madjh]

I think it is good to see some videos to know the theory and avoid some bad habits, but try and fail is how I have learned something (not much, I like XC, no street or DH etc ).

But for example, I like a lot a video of Berm Peak, about how to start the session in a bike park or any tricky zone. Sam do the same. You don´t go and ride hard, you do some soft stuff and warm up. And them start to feel if you are in situation to start jumping or go down etc because some times it is not the day and you have to know that it is not your day or will be a very bad day or even have a crash. Sometimes you have to stop.

I like to see several channels to see more than big tricks. There is lot of work and training to do some of the stuff we see in the videos.

The problem could be that many people see the videos and think that MTB is that. And for me, not. For me is discover new rutes, see nice landscapes and climb mountains and ride narrow single tracks, sometimes ticky, some fun.

 

[2manyoranges]

Woah ... a non-exhausting, interesting 'out there in the landscape' mtb film on Pinkbike ... hurrah!

This is an excellent watch..

Video: Christopher Blevins Establishes a New FKT Route in California in 'The Long Traverse' - Pinkbike

America's next great hope in XC mountain biking, Christopher Blevins, introduces the cycling community to a new FKT route in the Los Padres National Forest of Central California.

www.pinkbike.com