Landing Jumps

[Dread Head]

:mad: I need help. I can't seem to land my jumps properly. I either just about endo or I land all crazy and almost break both wrists and forearms. How do you get the front tire down last??????

[Danimal]

Relax, if you are loose going into the jump you will allow the bike to flow upwards naturally. Are you pumping the face of the jump? Pushing down onto the bike and preloading it for takeoff? I know that helps with "Air Time" and if you stay relaxed you should be able to guide the bike just about anywhere. Try staying as relaxed as possible, have the "I'm gonna do this with ease attitude", after you "preload" the face of the jump try pulling up slightly on the handlebars right at the lip. This should pull the front end up slightly. If you need more tips buy the book "Mastering Mountain Bike Skills" by Brian Lopes and Lee McCormack. I picked it up for my teenage son to read before we hit Lebanon Hills and man it improved his jumps, bike balance and flow tremendously. I picked it up at Barnes & Nobles for $22. He now rides the X and XX loops with me and he attacks the challenges and nails the jumps and he's only 13.

Shad, Buck do you have any advice you could give him? You guys are the jump masters in my eyes.

[gordanfreeman]

as far as endo'ing i have found simply making sure you pull up on the front of the bike as you leave the jump/drop/etc helps alot. of course if you are landing on a downslope you want to minimize this or you will fall off the back of your bike when you land (i've done this).

otherwise just try pulling up harder in front as you hit the lip and leaning backwards helps too. on drops if you dont have much speed trying giving it a good kick to get more forward momentum as you leave solid ground as you pull up. this should ensure you get the rear tire contacting first.

[manual63]

The first thing I will say is the whole mountain bike, long stem, and body position thing. I am not sure what you ride, but if you have a traditional XC bike, it is likely going to have a longer stem and short frame, which puts your body weight over the front wheel more and it also makes it a lot harder to pull up the front end and keep it up. Not that you can't jump if you have this issue, but it's a lot tougher and you have to work a lot harder to keep the front wheel up.

Landing jumps correctly has a lot to do with your take off and what you do in the air. During your take off, it's important to make sure and pull up the front end. As you sail through the air, you want to keep pulling on the bars and keep your elbows bent as if you are lifting a weight off the ground and up to your chin. Pull up and keep holding it there while you bend your knees and allow the real wheel to come up beneath you. This gets the bike level while you are in the air. Now to land rear wheel first, you need to keep that pulling pressure with your arms and then push down on the rear wheel by straightening your legs at the knees. So, push that rear wheel down so it hits the ground first and then let your arms loose so the front end can naturally come down. The trick is to do this off of really small jumps or curbs and later work on moving up to bigger jumps. Starting out with a big jump makes it a lot harder to learn the bike control aspect. You want to be in control of the bike, don't let it be in control of you.

The reasons people land on their front wheel off of jumps:

- Bars are too far forward
- Weight is too far forward
- Seat is too high
- Didn't pull up hard enough off of the launch
- Didn't keep the pull on bars during flight
- Didn't push the back end down with their legs
- Were nervous and tense in the air (called a dead sailor).

[manual63]

http://brockit.smugmug.com/photos/26001461-L.jpg

I am going to try and use pics as much as I can. If you look closely at this picture, you will see how hard I am still pulling with my arms, notice the veins. My weight is back behind the seat and I have the bike compressed up underneath me. I am in the process of pushing the bike down here since I am about to land. In a case like this, where there is a downside landing, I want to land with my bike parallel to the angle of the landing, so I actually keep the back up compressed up and start pushing the front end down. On a flat landing, you want to do just the opposite. Basically learning pitch control of the bike is a very important jumping skill to have. That way, you can land the bike many different ways depending on the type of landing you have. In other words, not all landings are the same.

One thing I try to tell people when I am teaching them. You need to be aggresive and almost angry about how you handle the bike. Don't let the bike control you......you need to take charge and control the bike. This takes a lot of aggression and strength to do. But, stay loose at the same time.....tricky huh???.....:)

[Buck]

hahaah shad shad shad....you make me laugh...:laugh:

L8R
Buck

PS: I'm off the sk8 park called 3rd lair overpass at noon! who's coming?

[manual63]

PS: I'm off the sk8 park called 3rd lair overpass at noon! who's coming?

HaHaHa.....you make me laugh too....:p

I could wear spandex and do a front flip off of my bike like Biker Fox, would that be better???

[manual63]

hahaah shad shad shad....you make me laugh...:laugh:

By the way....where is your how to land jumps tip? That is the purpose of this thread. Someone even asked for your advise by name, just like they asked for mine. Hmmmm.....I am baffled by this Buck attitude all of the sudden.

[Dread Head]

:D Thanks everyone for the advice!! I will try to figure this out on a little jump and then get mad and go for the big jumps. Someone asked what bike I was using and it is a kinda old GT. I definatly have to learn to pull up on the bike and keep pulling up.

Thanks Manual63 for the advice and pics.:banana:

L8tr!!

[manual63]

Thanks Manual63 for the advice and pics.:banana:

L8tr!!

If it helps you get RAD!!, I will give you advice anytime.....:)

Some people on here just love it when I use the word RAD......:D

[gordanfreeman]

cuz rad is a rad word :cool:

[stefan]

Do you guys have any highly recommended places to learn this stuff? I live in St. Louis Park, and a friend and I were out last night trying to find some decent urban stuff (ledges and jumps and such, on the smaller side) but didn't have too much luck.

So I guess I'm asking, where's a reasonably close place that has some good practice ledges/jumps to learn on?

Thanks!

-Stefan

[manual63]

Edina has some good stuff. If you are just learning, make sure you look at driveways and the curbs. I grew up in St. Louis Park and I know there are many good launchable sidewalk and driveway curbs there. Just hit them and bust out.....try to dial in your control and land rear wheel first. It's the little stuff like this that will make you a dialed rider. Also, check out behind Texa Tonka lanes. There is a parking lot with some big banks back there. If you need help, stop into Erik's and ask where the big banks are. They are about 2 blocks West of Erik's on the North side of Minnetonka blvd. I know of some other good loading doc launches in SLP too, but I can't explain how to get there. If you know where Sam's Club is, there is a warehouse district near it. Ride around there and find some launchable loading docks. Oh, and if they have not changed it yet, the front stairs at the High School has a launch on each side.....I can clear the whole sidewalk off of those if I go fast enough. Watch for sand at the bottom though or you will slide out and eat it hard on the stairs.

Hope that helps some....

[col200]

Shad, speaking of growing up in SLP, do you have a brother named Matt? But yeah, I recall a killer jump right out front of the SLP highschool. That sucker would launch you about ten feet without much effort!

[manual63]

Shad, speaking of growing up in SLP, do you have a brother named Matt? But yeah, I recall a killer jump right out front of the SLP highschool. That sucker would launch you about ten feet without much effort!

No brothers. Two sisters......can't you tell? I support for the women's movement.......:)

[SpecHR55]

I just did a like a 4 foot drop yesterday off some rocks in Excelsiour, I landed with my back tire first by a little bit on a flat landing. Is that the correct way to land? Thanks

[col200]

Shad,
I hinted at a little feminism in you. You go girl!!!:D

[Trevize1138]

No brothers. Two sisters......can't you tell? I support for the women's movement.......:)

But, Shad, from what you've told me about growing up with your sisters, I would think you'd be against women's rights ... :crazy:

[SpecHR55]

But, Shad, from what you've told me about growing up with your sisters, I would think you'd be against women's rights ... :crazy:

ooooooooooo.....Snap!