♪ [music] ♪
So, how to jump. I'd say the most common
thing I see with people I coach is...what they need to improve on is trying to make
height on a jump. So that comes down to good bunnyhop technique.
So if you don't know how to do a bunnyhop yet, just click up here and check out our
video on how to do that first. Basically, what you want to be doing is using your
weight to lift the bike in the air. If you're relying on your arms to pick the
front wheel up or your feet to pick up the back wheel, then that's not going to work
very well for a jump. So look at getting your weight for a nice bunnyhop first.
Once you've got that, great. It's then all about timing and using that bunnyhop on a
jump to make height. So the very first part of lifting the bike up into the air,
the bunnyhop, is the manual. You've got to pump and then slide the bike forward.
You get that L shape. Your weight's nice and low to that rear wheel.
And really important that your arms stay straight. If you then rely on a pull to
lift the bars, it's really common for the front wheel to go a little bit sideways,
and that's the most common reason why people hit a jump and go sideways when
they don't want to. Because I've gone nice and low with my hips for the manual,
I then stand up and forward, and that pops the back wheel up. So I'm really using the
weight to lift the back wheel. If you rely on pulling with your feet,
either a scoop back against your pedals or a pull on your clips,
you'll only ever be able to pick the back wheel up that amount of bend you've got in
your legs. So if you use that on a jump and you pull the back wheel up,
and then you're coming up short on the jump, there's nowhere you can go from
there. If I've used my hips to lift the back wheel up, I can then choose to scoop
and pick that back wheel up a little bit more. So if I'm in the air and realize I'm
going to come up short, that's a great technique. So it's all about doing most of
this with your weight and then relying on your feet a little bit if you need to.
So now you've the feel for the bunnyhop, let's talk about timing.
That's really important. So start us off with a pump and a manual.
You always pump a transition, so that's that down-to-up transition here.
I'm squashing the bike into the face and then I'm driving the front wheel into the
air. So I'm not manualing, but I should be heels down, arms pretty straight,
driving that front wheel up into the air. And then I only think about lifting my
hips up and forward to lift up the back wheel at the very top of the jump.
So I'm going front wheel, pausing. As my back wheel gets to the top,
that's when I then stand up to lift the rear wheel up. So I'm not...
there's no real secret to this. I'm just exaggerating what's already happening.
For something that is really common, I see it a lot, is people going toes down as
soon as the front wheel takes off. So they're actually picking that back wheel
up really early. If you're struggling with not clearing jumps,
video yourself. Look in slo-mo. Is your back wheel going right to the top of the
jump? If not, give it a big pause. Once you've done your manual,
wait, wait, wait. Then lift your back wheel up. What you're aiming to do is nose
the bike in, try and match the angle of the downslope. Nosing the bike in so that
your weight is actually over the back wheel so that when you land, you can then
give it a big pump on that transition if you need to.
Another good trick for nosing the bike in is once
both wheels are up in the air, you can then decide whether you want to nose it in
by pushing the bars away from you. That's going to dip the front wheel and pick the
back wheel up. Just be careful. That's almost like that tuck I was saying about.
So you're then quite close to the back wheel. So once you're there,
you can't then bring the back wheel up anymore, should you want to.
So there's how to make height on jumps using good bunnyhop technique.
Obviously, there's other things you can do with a jump like squash jumps or even
tricks, and they're videos we'll do soon. But leave your comments down below for
what you want to see related to jumps. For more on GMBN, click up here for how to
manual and click down here for how to bunnyhop. Or just click on us to subscribe
to GMBN.
♪ [music] ♪