# Feet lifting off pedals when going over jumps/bike drops



## Rudolf Böhmer (Apr 16, 2014)

Hi all , so i seem to have the problem of my feet lifting off the pedals mid air when doing jumps or drop offs and was wondering if anyone had any advice for me.

(i ride a Giant dh team)

Many thanks


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## PlayoffBeard365 (Oct 4, 2013)

Thanks for asking this as it happens to me too. I just started DH. I assume pedals, shoes and technique are the key. I have spank flats, and wear five10 free ride shoes. As far as technique goes, if I consciously think about pushing down with my heels before a jump I have better traction but that rarely happens as I don't have that intuitiveness yet.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

if your feet are "lifting" off the pedals, it is actually the bike falling away from you. you have to lift the bike as well, not simply go for a ride off the lip...


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## charging_rhinos (Jul 29, 2008)

Try slightly pointing your toes as you pick the bike up. Not too drastic, but a little of it will help your feet grip the pedals. And if you do not have Five Ten shoes, I'd look into them asap. Sooo grippy.


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## ustemuf (Oct 12, 2009)

With firm footing on the pedals, keep your knees bent when you go off the lip, relax yourself as your tire leaves the dirt... let your bike come up with you... try it out.

As soon as I learned how to do this, my jumping skills increased exponentially.


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## Rudolf Böhmer (Apr 16, 2014)

Thanks for all the great tips guys i currently have dmr v12's and i will look into getting some 5-10's ...any particular 5-10's i should be looking out for ?


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## Rudolf Böhmer (Apr 16, 2014)

ok so i found just some normal five ten freerider shows , and as you know different shoes sometimes are smaller or bigger than others so is five ten a smallish brand or a bigish brand as i am normally a UK size 12


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## Saul Lumikko (Oct 23, 2012)

Proper shoes are nice to have, but won't help much if it's a lack of technique. If you want to buy something to instantly fix the problem, clipless pedals and SPD shoes is the easiest sure-fire method.

If you want to address the actual problem, start with learning how to bunny-hop - the proper way with flats. Once you 'get' how it works, the skills transfer to jumps as well. Fabien Barel has some good videos on flat pedal riding technique and jumps, be sure to look into them.


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## whoda*huck (Feb 12, 2005)

Some 5.10s are a little burlier (heavier) than others, but just be sure you get the Stealth rubber sole...and they fit my wide feet pretty true to the advertised size.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

Saul Lumikko said:


> Proper shoes are nice to have, but won't help much if it's a lack of technique...


yeah, don't worry about what shoes you have, that isn't going to help your problem in the slightest...


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## cookieMonster (Feb 23, 2004)

This is why I hesitate to recommend clipless pedals to anybody -- if they don't understand proper bunny-hopping technique, they end up using clipless pedals to incorrectly jump/drop/bunny-hop. Then, when they get on flats, they are literally jumping off the pedals (!).

I agree with others suggesting learning to bunny hop first. There are three parts to a bunny hop: 1. preload the bike by pressing down with your hands and feet. 2. Jump but pull the bike up with your hands, letting your arms and legs bend to allow the bike to come up. 3. Let your bike start to fall away but extend your arms and legs to ready them for impact. 4. You're done.

The best comparison I can come up with is walking on stilts. If you're on stilts (feet not attached to the platforms) and you try to walk without pulling up with your arms, you will step right off the stilts and fall.

Drops are a little different than jumps in that I usually wouldn't recommend doing a bunny hop first -- especially if it's a big drop. Rather, I recommend approaching the drop at a moderate speed, go into a crouch just as you get close, and then "extend" your bike (using arms AND legs) into the landing. Your arms and legs should be almost fully-extended upon impact so they can absorb the hit. 

Hope that helps!


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## GoingNowhere (Oct 15, 2014)

As it's been stated, I can tell when I'm either tired and my day is done or when I'm being lazy because I'll feel my feet come off the pedals on jumps. Starting the jump in a 'crouch' will help a ton. When I teach friends that are new riders I refer to it as my 'attack' position since I'm attacking the jump / mountain. That's something that'll take a while to learn and have it become a natural reaction.


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## mykel (Jul 31, 2006)

Guys have pretty much nailed it.
Foot position - ball of foot over the spindle or just slightly ahead.
Keep some slack in your body - like the above mentioned attack postion
you can not just ride off the lip, you have to compress a bit on the face - this gets the bike to lift off the lip
Pointing toes and "scooping" slightly can help.
but the biggest thing, is to let the bike come up into you, don't try to do a lift / stand-up motion.
as you get better, this letting the bike come to you can be adjusted to help blow off height, ie squashing a jump, or redirected into a scrub or whip.
even when you do start to pop up off a lip, going for height / distance you will still be letting the bike come to you slightly.

Find a couple of small-mid size jumps and practice, practice, practice.

good luck


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## LeeL (Jan 12, 2004)

Everyone's on the right track with telling you to let the bike come up with you. One way to make that happen is to load the suspension by crouching and putting weight into the bike. Then when the suspension goes down and comes back up you'll feel the bike come back with you. 

Practise on flat ground first just off kerbs and whatever. You'll feel it happen and what first starts out as exaggerated really big motions will hopefully become automatic. Then you'll find yourself doing it as a matter of reflex. Eg preloading the bike before the lip of a jump or before a rock garden. You've got lots of travel in a giant DH to work with so might as well make it work for you with jumps.


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## tigris99 (Aug 26, 2012)

I use cheap soft tread skater shoes and stay on cb 50/50s. 99% is technique.

There is a video can't find a link yet, linked all over here though that explains how to take jumps and drops. I only ride stuff at max 12" tall give or take but technique is the same. Must have watched that video 20x then put into practice. Took a couple rides and could do it no problem when I have several seconds to let my mind process jump coming up. Now a couple months later I just do it. Its basically exactly what ppl are explaining (stay away from clipless till u learn correct technique) just I found videos was easier to absorb info.

Learn the technique and then put into practice on small stuff in case u mess up so u and ur bike survive a bad landing. Then have a blast getting all the air u want without any issue.
Sent from my Nokia Stupid Phone using Tapatalk


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## Rudolf Böhmer (Apr 16, 2014)

wow thanks again for all the help ... going to some trails at the weekend and il practice on some small stuff


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## bing! (Jul 8, 2010)

LeeL said:


> Everyone's on the right track with telling you to let the bike come up with you. One way to make that happen is to load the suspension by crouching and putting weight into the bike. Then when the suspension goes down and comes back up you'll feel the bike come back with you.
> 
> Practise on flat ground first just off kerbs and whatever. You'll feel it happen and what first starts out as exaggerated really big motions will hopefully become automatic. Then you'll find yourself doing it as a matter of reflex. Eg preloading the bike before the lip of a jump or before a rock garden. You've got lots of travel in a giant DH to work with so might as well make it work for you with jumps.


I thought no one would mention it. PRELOAD.

You can't just ride a fully suspended bike off a ramp. You need to sink into the bike ever so slightly, just like bunny hopping, as the front wheel hits the ramp. The bike then unloads as it takes off the ramp and keeps you feet planted.

Landing also requires some other actions


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## LeeL (Jan 12, 2004)

bing! said:


> I thought no one would mention it. PRELOAD.
> 
> You can't just ride a fully suspended bike off a ramp. You need to sink into the bike ever so slightly, just like bunny hopping, as the front wheel hits the ramp. The bike then unloads as it takes off the ramp and keeps you feet planted.
> 
> Landing also requires some other actions


Yup. You can preload hardtails too; even rigids (think BMX). Subtleties are in compressing tires, your knees, wrists, elbows etc. Be active. Don't ride like a sack of potatoes.


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## invictarocks (Sep 6, 2012)

Almost all good advice - Only thing I would disagree with is the curb "jump". The way the curb "lips" are angled, you'll build a bias or lean one way or the other depending on if the street is on your left or right, and whether you're jumping back onto the sidewalk or street. The shape of it is all wrong.

You are ten times better off learning to bunny hop, like others here have suggested. To make it easier at first, lay down a 2x4 and practice popping off that. Make sure both tires hit it so you get a feel for your wheelbase. Knowing where your rear tires' contact patch is is a very good thing. Pop every root and rock on your local trails. They are just smaller jumps.

Repetition is the key. Better to really pop a jump you 'own' and THEN work up to bigger jumps.

One last thing-. Practice wheelies.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

invictarocks said:


> Almost all good advice - Only thing I would disagree with is the curb "jump". The way the curb "lips" are angled, you'll build a bias or lean one way or the other depending on if the street is on your left or right, and whether you're jumping back onto the sidewalk or street. The shape of it is all wrong...


considering that every single one of us here actually used a curb to learn to jump, i'd say you're over analyzing the simplicity of a curb...


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## invictarocks (Sep 6, 2012)

Perhaps. Not sure anyone here learned to curb jump on a DH rig.


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## .WestCoastHucker. (Jan 14, 2004)

don't be so naive. kids like this are not as few and far between as you may think. this is a thread topic that comes up very often...

while i completely agree that the best way to learn is to find your own little spot, get busy with a shovel and learn the curve on both building jumps and actually riding them. you can learn more in a couple of afternoons with dirt and a shovel, than anyone can teach you in years of yapping in your earhole or what you can read online. let's face it though, that's why they are here, looking for the quick trick to learn instead of practicing like the rest of us had to. learning to jump is a class at the school of hard knocks that most people are afraid of and want a quick way way round...


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## bing! (Jul 8, 2010)

The best thing that happened to my trail riding, is dh riding. Been riding an MTB since 1985ish. I rode trails, never really sessioned features, so when it came to jumps, drops and stuff, I usually took only the small ones, or rolled over, or went around. I'm either too tired or don't wanna disrupt the ride's flow. 

In 2010, I broke my clavicle and a few ribs going over a 2 foot jump. After much analysis, I dead sailored. 

I really wanted to ride in the AM Enduro style that is so popular these days. To get there, I took up DH riding. Shuttling allows you to hit the same tracks over and over again. Practice makes perfect. If you watch MTB vids, these guys do the same scene over and over again, practicing, to get things good. Seldom do they hit something just one time and say, "that's a wrap". 

Pay someone for a little instruction, also do a bunch of research and studying. I actually took a half day course with Gravity Pirates. It helped a lot and still took like 3 months to actually exhibit itself in my riding. If dh riding is not available, find a good spot and session some jumps. I'm on my second year DH riding in the summer and I still dont take stuff that will launch me more than 6 feet in the air. But my trail riding has improved leaps and bounds. Not only jumps, but cornering berms and flat corners, taking switchbacks at speed, plowing through rock gardens, going down waterfall features. 

Get your technique right. And remember, wear armor and take baby steps.


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