- If you've watched any cyclocross race
over the last five years,
then you've noticed that bunny hoping has become
a prerequisite for the riders that are racing.
And you may be thinking, yeah that's great,
but how the heck am I every going to bunny hop.
Well today's video, is going to get you in the game.
(upbeat music)
So the first thing that I teach at my cyclocross camps
when I'm telling people how to bunny hop,
is to pull their front wheel up.
Get their weight back,
and just pull the front wheel up.
Simply just being able to get in the zone,
and get that front wheel off the ground
just a little bit, is the first step
in being able to bunny hop.
So with the front wheel still on the ground,
the next thing that I tell everyone to do,
is to get their rear wheel off the ground.
And that looks like this.
Just pulling up, on their wheel,
getting it off the ground.
So eventually, you can combine the
front and the rear wheel.
The next thing that you want to be able to do
after a lot of practice on those first two bits,
is be able to do the front as one,
and then the rear as one.
And then all of this comes back to timing.
You want to make sure that when you're
going over an obstacle for the first time,
that you get the timing right.
And I'm going to show you how to do that now.
So for the next step, there isn't a lot
of investment on your part.
I went down to my local hardware store.
I got four pieces of rebar steel.
I got my hammer that I've had for a long time,
and I walked into the woods and
I pulled out two small logs.
I'm going to take the rebar, and I'm going to put it
in the ground, in front of each of these logs,
to hold them in place so that when I practice
going over the barriers,
with that technique that I just taught you,
the log doesn't roll all over my yard.
So once you get your logs set up,
you do your timing, you get the front wheel over,
then the rear wheel over,
you're not slamming the rear wheel...
The nice thing about logs is that they're round
and you won't dent the rim.
I really really like that.
That's why I prefer to use logs, if possible,
and they're really generally easy to find.
So I always say, start really low and work your way up.
Next up, is a traditional two by four barrier.
Whether you're using a two by four
as your first plank that you jump
after you get through the logs,
or you get to this two by eight, or two by 10,
or two by 12, all the way up to 16 inches,
which is the UCI's height for a race barrier,
what is the difference between this and a log?
It's big.
This is much sharper on the edges.
And you're ability to pinch flat,
or to smash your rim, is very, very high.
So I recommend thorn proof tubes.
Yes, thorn proof tubes.
You've probably never ridden with them
because the ride quality is absolutely horrendous.
This tube has never flatted,
I've had it since the 10th grade.
I'm actually not joking.
My mom gave me these so that I'd be safe
out on the roads, not flatting and having to switch flats.
These tubes are very, very thick.
But they're great for going in your tires
to be able to jump barriers.
Because they literally won't flat,
and you won't smash your rim,
and you can keep practicing, and practicing, and practicing.
I also recommend not using a brand new pair of light weight
carbon tubular wheels on your first foray
into jumping barriers.
So if you're able to set up a barrier
like I have here in front of me,
this is pretty traditional.
This doesn't take a ton of carpentry work,
although you should have someone that knows
they're doing to make the process a lot easier.
This is a traditional two by eight
that you can buy at any hardware store.
Then we've got another two by four and another one,
which gets us up to 16 inches,
which is the UCI's height for barriers.
And as you can see, these just slide right in.
So you can add and take them away,
based on the group that you have,
that's out there training.
So lastly...
Again, make sure that you go slow.
Every time I see someone going to the barriers,
after just a little bit of practice going really fast,
it has never ended well.
Straight into the ground, and it's not pretty,
for anybody.
So, recapping.
You need to make sure that you've got good tires,
no new, brand new carbon rims,
you want to have thick tubes so that it prevents
those pinches and those dents,
all that stuff makes a big difference.
And you want to practice, practice, practice.
Because if you get into a race situation,
being able to implement this technique,
will save you a ton of time and let's be honest,
a ton of style points are going your way
if you can execute this in a race from your friends.
So, whether you're a road racer or a cyclocrosser,
learning how to bunny hop is a super important skill.
On the road, road furniture out in the
middle of nowhere, you sometimes need to
pull up on the bars, and get over it.
It's really good.
And cross... well, everything I just said.
I hope you liked this video, if you did,
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