- Welcome back, you beautiful people!
Yes, I'm still out here in the African sun.
And yes, I'm still here at the Howe's End bike park
which is situated behind me.
I'm here to give you a few tips on how to master
that fun hip jump.
So, let's get it kicked off.
(upbeat music)
Let me explain what a hip is, if you don't know
or understand what it is.
You see this kicker? It's going straight,
but the landing is facing to the left.
Basically, you are going to have to jump
and turn in the air.
Right here is a hip jump, but in a different form.
This is in a dirt jump form.
You can see the lip is going straight
and the landing is facing right.
Technique wise, it differs slightly
but let's talk about the technique.
(upbeat music)
Let's forget about learning how to do hips
out on the trail, because potentially,
you're going to be going a little bit too fast.
You're going to clear a gap and pfft!
I'm going to break it down.
I'm going to try and make it as less stressful
as possible.
The best place to do it is on a bank.
Look at this!
What I've done, I've kicked in a lip
right here, basically right on this little bank
so you can go this way or that way.
You go to the right, you go a little bit small.
You go to the left, you can go quite big.
You can hone in those skills.
There is no gap to clear so you can go as small
as possible or as big as you want, really.
It's a good place to hone in those skills and perfect them.
Talking about skills, let's break that down as well.
Step number one: The take-off.
I've seen this happen a lot with riders out there.
When it comes to hip, they kind of just carve off the lip
and land completely flat
and so far away from the landing as possible
because they're carving the lip.
What you want to do is ride the lip straight up.
(bell dinging)
You want to go straight as possible
and get yourself into the air.
Step number two: You're in the air.
Now, what you want to do is drop your inside shoulder,
turning your bars as well.
It doesn't matter if it's up or down.
Preferably on a smaller one you want to turn
your front wheel down and guide it into that landing.
As with everything, you gotta spot your landing first.
Keep and eye that landing because wherever you're looking
is where you're gonna land.
Step three: So you've basically dropped your shoulder.
You've spotted your landing. Now the rear end.
You want to bring that rear end around
so you can match that landing.
This will happen naturally because you're dropping
your shoulder, you're looking, and your hips are
naturally gonna move outwards.
They're gonna move out to the right, depending
on which way you're hipping.
Mine are gonna naturally move out there,
bring that rear end around
so you can get into that landing.
(cheerful music)
You spend hours on that bank,
honing in those skills, perfecting them.
Now, it's time to take it to the trail. Here's a hip.
There's one thing I'm going to tell you.
You don't want to start cutting the hip
and me saying that is because you don't want to go off here
and try and make the hip
as small as possible and you're carving.
It's because you're scared.
You're not very confident in your technique.
Just go with the flow.
Go through the centre of the jump.
What you don't want to do is carve off the lip.
You want to turn in the air.
Like I said, you're dropping the inside shoulder,
letting that hip come out.
You're spotting your landing and you're carrying on through.
Basically it's gonna give you the perfect line into
that left-hander and carry your speed on through the trail.
The same technique applies to this.
This is a step-down hip.
You can actually ride this one straight,
but that's no fun, is it?
This is a progressive one because you can go
as far away as possible, or just go to right there.
He's stepping down to it.
Like I said, the same technique applies.
You want to move your hips at the top.
This is a left-handed hip so you want
to move your hips to the right and turn your bars,
and spot your landing.
Remember to land two wheels at time.
You don't want to come in nose-heavy or land
on your back wheel because you want to guide yourself
into that next turn.
(robust laughing)
This is a hip. This is a big hip.
This is dark fest hip.
It's massive. It's a six metre tall lip of a hip.
It's 90 degree hip as well, but the same technique applies.
Take a look at a few of these clips.
Look at me over-exaggerating, me dropping my shoulder
and moving my hips around.
With the nature of this one, I'm kind of turning away
from the hip so I can drop my shoulder even more
and then turning at the last minute into the landing.
(soft music)
Well, that's it. The techniques are the same.
It's super important that you go back to the basics,
that trusty bank.
I was a beginner before and I learned all my skills
on how to ride a hip on a small bank just like that one.
I practised and practised for years so I can hit stuff
big, like this.
Hopefully you enjoyed this video
and if you liked it, give it a thumbs up.
I'm going to leave you with a few little slow mo's
of me hitting this thing and I'll see you at the next one.
(jazzy music)