- Welcome back you beautiful people,
today's your lucky day where I teach you
how to manual and pump at the same time.
And then use it out there on the trail let's get it started!
("Short Life" by Janet Jones)
Cool.
Right, the manual's a perfect skill to have
in your bag of skills out there on the trail
because it can help you gain more speed,
plus can get you out of a sticky situation as well.
So before we even tackle a pump track like this
to learn the pump manual,
you need to know how to manual first
because you don't want to just pull off on the first roller,
loop out, smack your head.
It's not very nice, it hurts.
I've done it and it's a bit embarrassing as well.
So before we even get into it,
let me show you how to manual first.
Right, we've done a video on how to do a manual
and it's a pretty good one, but I'm going to go through
a few basics on how to get the manual going.
And it's all about using your body weight
to get that front wheel off the ground.
And it's in the L shape so what you do
is you get your body weight going down towards your saddle,
and then you're pushing it back,
keeping your arms locked out to bring that front wheel up.
Just remember, you cover that rear brake
because by hitting that rear brake,
it's going to help stop you from looping out
and it's gonna bring that front wheel back down.
All right.
So, first point of call is you gotta find the perfect roller
for you to start learning the pump manual.
So I found this one, it's on a bit of a straight run,
there's no obstacles for me to turn in to get the roll,
or turn out or jump or whatever.
I've found one with a, quite a shallow bowl
between the two rollers here.
You don't want such a deep one
because it has the tendency to drop.
So when you're manualing over the first one,
your back wheel's going to drop in
and it's going to feel a bit awkward at first.
So find a shallow one.
Now to do the manual through these two rollers,
so you wanna come in with the same amount of speed
that you would if you're just gonna roll through
like normal.
But when you get to the top here,
you put in your weight a little bit over the back,
straight arms, you don't want to pull on it.
So you want to keep your arms straight
like you're doing a manual.
Don't pull, keep the front wheel up,
let it glide over the top,
and then kinda let it roll through
and drop your wheel on the other side.
What you don't wanna do is pull on the bars.
Because when you pull on the bars,
you're just gonna have that front wheel quite high up,
and when it gets over the top of that knuckle
on that first roller,
and it starts to drop into the bowl, you're gonna do this.
You don't wanna do that.
So you wanna keep that front wheel as low as possible
to the ground to match the next one.
So you're coming in with a bit of a comfortable speed,
let it roll through.
Right, I'm coming in with the same amount of speed,
lean back, straight arms, let her drop in.
All right, with one of those manuals
that I did coming through,
I had the front wheel quite high up,
so when it dipped into the bowl,
it dropped quite far down.
And if you're not very familiar with that,
you could end in some tears and looping out.
But I kinda got away with it.
What you wanna do is have that front wheel lower,
so when it does dip like this,
you match that sweet spot of the second roller,
and then you can use that pumping motion
to pump over that roller and into the next section.
(zealous music)
Right, we've learned how to do manuals through rollers,
now we're gonna introduce the pump into the manual,
and potentially give you a lot more speed through there
on a pump track.
You wanna keep your body quite central and low
when coming into it, you don't wanna be stood quite high up.
So you're manualing through,
and when your wheel starts to drift over that first roller,
and it starts to go down the backside,
you wanna push down on your pedals,
keep your arms straight, don't pull on the bars,
you don't wanna have a high front end.
Push down through it, let your front wheel
drop on the back side of that second roller,
and let your bike just roll through.
Right, an example on how to get that push through
on that pedal to get that pump is
if you have your bathroom room scales on the floor,
step on it, and you want to feel a bit heavier.
So what you do is you just, you push down on it.
So that's a good example on how
to get that pump going through the section.
All right, key point that I wanna point out
is looking ahead.
You wanna keep your eyes in front
so you know what's coming up.
You don't wanna be doing this,
and you don't know what's coming,
you don't know if there's another roller,
you don't know if there's another corner,
especially when you're out on the trail,
there could be a tree and you're concentrating
on what's in front of you, not what's coming towards you.
So your key is to look in front.
Right now I'm out in the local woods,
I'm on my High Tail, and I'm gonna put that skill
of the manual pump to practise out there on a normal trail.
We've got a situation here.
This is a natural bowled out area on the trail,
and then it goes over a roller as well.
And you can just roll through pumping
and pump over that roller, but by doing the manual pump,
you can kind of smoothen out the trail as well
and clear a bog like this
so you don't get any mud on your face.
So, what I'm gonna do is then I come through,
soon as I straighten up, I'm gonna manual up.
I'm gonna push my legs through like we did on the roller,
push them through, so my front wheel's just gonna clear
the crest of that front roller, dip it over,
and then let my body weight go all light.
And then force my body weight through, down the trail.
Hopefully make it a bit smoother through the section.
Right, this is the most insignificant roller
you can see in front of me. (laughs)
You're probably looking and going, (blows raspberry)
"What's that?"
But when you've honed in that manual pump skill,
you can look at this and go, "Oh, wow.
"I can smooth out this bit of trail,
"I can potentially get a lot more speed out of it
"that's gonna help me continue through the trail."
Feel the front, get that in,
and there's a little landing there,
where you can place that front wheel and get through it
way smoother and a little bit quicker.
Well, this is the last example of me using
that manual pump technique on this section of trail.
As you can see, I'm forcing that back wheel down,
I'm fighting it because I didn't want to launch off
of this little drop roller thing here,
and you can see me forcing it down
and letting my front wheel down this bit of landing here,
and then getting through the trail as smoothly as possible,
I think.
But if you want to see another video,
where you can use your wheelie skills out there
on the trail to benefit you, click up there.
And if you're still struggling with that manual technique,
I know it takes so long to perfect the manual, took me ages.
But when you get it, it's pretty cool.
And you're struggling, just click that one there.
And if this video helped you,
and your buddies need a hand as well, share it with them.
Hit that little globe there to subscribe.
And if it helped, definitely give it a thumbs-up like.