-The beginner's guide to jumping. If you think you're ready for it,
you're confident on your bike, and you're thinking
about standing in the air, hopefully, this video
is going to help you out and give you some
of the fundamentals for making sure, hopefully, it doesn't go wrong. [music] Hopefully, this video
is going to give you a bit of a step-by-step guide
on the skills you need to look at to make sure
you're doing it right. To make sure that most importantly
you're influencing the bike in the air. You're not just hitting the take-off
or a ramp and the bike is just doing whatever that jump is doing to it,
because sometimes jumps aren't built perfectly. We don't hit them
at the perfect speed, and therefore you need
to do something to control your bike in the air. [music] Let's start with looking
at probably the most simple jump, which is what I call a fly-off. This is a jump where
all you have is a take-off. This could be a grass bank,
a curb, anything that you're just getting into the air off. I've got a good example
just over here. [music] Well, actually
that is quite a big fly-off so I got to see
if those eyebrows just stood. It's quite a big bomb hole
and you drop down and in but it is super simple. Somebody else built a take-off, but
all it is is some logs and a bit of dirt
and you just jump out of it. It's a bit of a step up
as well which is nice, super safe, and you should land flat on top. With this style of jump,
you don't have to do much, but it's a great way
of getting comfortable with going into the air. [music] Definitely a great style of jump
to learn on and really easy to make if you've got
a nice big bomb hole this, super easy just
to carve out a take-off. You really don't need much
to do this. Like I said, it's great
to bomb in and get that feeling of lifting into the air. If you feel they're a nice shape,
nice and mellow, no steep transitions in it,
then hopefully it'll send you into the air
in a nice controlled manner. The only thing to look
into is if you make them too sharp and too low. We see that quite a lot
if people make their homemade wooden kickers. They make them too steep
and too short, so it's really kicky. What that does is it slows
your bike down a bit as well, so you can really feel like
your weight's going forward. For more tips on building jumps,
Blake has just recently done that video on how to build a double. Definitely a bit more advanced
than a fly-off or a tabletop, which I'll talk about next,
but it will give you definitely some things
you need to know about how to build a proper jump. You might have seen in that video
that I went quite fast that time. It's super safe
but I did land quite heavy. That is the one disadvantage
of fly-off jumps. You're going to take off,
and because there's no landing to land into,
you're landing on the flat, it can be quite a landing,
so a bit heavy on the bike. [music] You can learn to jump on any bike. The Hardtail's great. In fact, sometimes
they're even better for jumping because you don't have to work
against your suspension. What I would say is just make sure
your bike's in good condition because learning to jump,
you can be quite heavy on it, so doing some heavy landings. You want to make sure things
like your wheels are nicely tensioned up
on the spokes, everything is nice and tight. Especially the back wheel,
you could end up battering that a little bit. Definitely give your bike
a good check over before you do this. You can jump on any bike. However, I'd say bikes
with shorter stems and wider bars are just more comfortable. If you're on a cross-country bike
with a big old stem and narrow bars, it's definitely not going to be
as confidence-inspiring. Most bikes are fine. A good Hardtail is a great bike
to start jumping on. [music] When it comes to learning jumps
it's just the same as trying to learn anything, basically. Repetition is key here. There's lots of young riders,
myself included. Back in the day they would
just go out and ride these places day in day out, and it's that repetition
that gets you good at jumping bikes. With a fly-off, you really
don't need to do much. We're not talking really
about influencing the front and the back wheel yet. You're not really worried
so much about landing two wheels at the same time,
you're just jumping out of it. The thing that can go wrong here, and I'm sure people who have jumped
have had this feeling, is when the bike starts
going sideways in the air. Rather than up or down,
it's the front wheel starts drifting away from you. The bigger the jump is,
the worse that can get until your landing is so sideways
you just fall off the bike. You've basically lost your balance. The key to that is really using
your weight to lift the bike into the air
and not using your muscles. You can often trace this back
to people's manual technique. If they're trying to pull
the front wheel up using their arms, they then use
a similar technique on a jump. Basically, you don't get
that pull perfectly. You don't judge it perfectly
and the bike can get away from you. It goes back to practicing
your manuals, which we'll do in a second. The other thing people get wrong
is they let the jump throw them, and not them and the bite. What happens then is people
can start hovering off their pedals. It feels like your weight's
coming up, off the bike, and off the pedals. That's dangerous because-- I've definitely this one back,
and that is where you hover a bit and then you land
and your foot steps off and whack. You whack your shin. It's definitely trying to keep
the bike below you and not let the jump
kick you off the bike. First, let's go and look
at now getting that manual technique
to influence the bike into the air in the correct way. Try to get your hips back and low. Your arms go straight
and then the bars come back with you, and the front wheel is in the air. That is a manual. With your arms straight
you're less likely to get the front wheel sideways
and lose your balance. Then you can progress
that into a bunny hop. If your hips are low just stand up
and towards the bars. Timing is key to get the pop. A common mistake is to try
and muscle the bike up into the air. Whilst it can work,
it isn't going to help you get the right timing on a jump
as both wheels almost come up together, or you just can't get much lift
because you're bringing the bike up to you. Once you've got super comfortable
with your fly off, you're getting into the air
and you're keeping it straight, it's time to move it
onto a tabletop jump. This has got a take-off,
a flat section across the top, tabletop, and then slope. This is key for getting bigger air
because you've got something to land into, and that's going
to be much smoother if you get it right
than just jumping off fly-off and landing onto flat. This is where you do now start
to bring in some technique to influence what the bike
is doing in the air because you basically want the bike
to follow the shape of this jump. Front wheel up and into the air,
then back wheel, and then nice arc up and over,
and into that downslope. Almost imagine
if this was a big pile of dirt and someone's cut the top off,
you just follow that same shape of the dirt. Important thing with this is again
to keep it nice and straight, but also now you're landing
into a downward slope you need to land front wheel
then back wheel. Same as a take-off, you don't want
to take two wheels off same time. You go front and then as the bike
will get a stop you, go up and over, same when you land. Front-wheel then back wheel. [music] Like I said before,
if you hit a perfectly built jump, it's a perfect shape,
nice and smooth, at a perfect speed,
you're not going to have to do too much to the bike to get it
over and land perfectly. However, most jumps aren't like that,
and actually the best way to learn is to think about starting
to slow it down a little bit. It's going to be safer,
but also with less speed you're going to have to start making
some height to clear it. That's something
you're really going to need when it comes to doing bigger jumps, so slow it down and think
about bringing something into this technique to take off. That technique is
what I've already talked about. It's trying to bring
that bunny hop motion in. Now, you're not always going
to need this, it's more of an exaggeration
like I've said already, to give you a bit more height. The key to a good bunny hop
is first to pump the bike. That is a case of doing
that in this transition from flat to up. Think about trying to squash
the bike into the ground. You're trying to make it heavy. If you squash the bike
in exactly at this right time, get the timing right,
it will feel right. It's a great thing about this. If you get the timing wrong
it should feel a bit weird. Get it right,
it would feel nice and smooth, and then you drive
in the front wheel up and into the air. Not a manual,
you're just getting behind the bike a little bit, getting your weight slightly back,
and that's going to get that front wheel nice and up
and into the air. Only when your back wheel gets
the top of the jump is when you stand up and finish
that bunny hop motion off. That should give you a nice arc up
and into the air. [music] There you go. There's a few tips to help you out
if you're just starting to get into the air, or at least you're thinking
about starting to jump. I absolutely love it. It's one of my favorite things
to do on a bike, is properly do some good big jumps. Again, it's all about repetition. You'll never learn
this really, really quickly. Get outside.
I'm sure there's some jumps around. If not, try and dig some in a spot
that you're allowed to and just get to it. Once you've got that skill
of making the bike go up into the air
and you get better at it, you can really progress
and do bigger and bigger jumps with the same skill. If you are struggling
with any of those skills, make sure you check out our playlist. We've got loads of how-to videos. Particularly the manual
and the bunny hop hopefully will help you out. I hope you're enjoying
the GetRiding Week. Plenty more to come.
