# Gap Jump Tips



## rollrite (Jun 4, 2009)

Howdy Yall,

Tell my novice arse some tips to hit gap jumps:::
I just bought and geared up a new downhill rig that I want to slay this season. I am skilled downhiller but want to get into freeride. I ride Bobsled in SLC quite often and want to be able to hit all the sweet gaps there but need to work up to it and some tips would be helpful.

:madman:


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## Iceman2058 (Mar 1, 2007)

Do you already know how to jump? I'm guessing maybe not all that much? In that case I suggest working on jumping skills on a nice tabletop jump, so that if you get it wrong there is something in the middle to land on...

After that, the thing with a gap jump is to get the speed right. Err on the fast side...in most cases it will be better to overshoot the landing than to come up short and case it. Try to follow another rider over it the first time if you really have no clue as to the speed required. From there on, just work on your general jumping technique to get a nice pump out of the take off, and angle the nose into the landing. Then, only the size of your balls will stand between you and the biggest gaps...but do yourself a favor and start small, and build up from there...


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## Truckee Trash (Sep 18, 2007)

Small doubles, and then more lippier doubles will help to get you both comfortable in the air but more importantly getting the nose into the transition / landing. At least that's what I've been doing.


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## mtnryder56 (Sep 13, 2008)

If you can find a BMX track around, or even better a mountain cross track, go there and ride the course a whole bunch. There will most likely be other people there so you can get the speed right and you will get comfortable in the air. 

You also might want to ride with flats, not clipless when hitting gaps, in a race run it's not that big a deal, but when just hitting jumps, flats give you alot more room to manuever and escape if need be. 

Going too slow into gaps is not good. Go a little faster than you are comfortable going at the jump and you will probably be just right.


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## Err (Mar 21, 2005)

Head up to I-St and start practicing on the lower section. There are some small gaps down there to work on.


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## Bike Whore (Jun 26, 2005)

as they others have said, but moar speed then less or this happens...


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## tacubaya (Jan 27, 2006)

^^"
Jeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisuusssssss!"


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## Techfreak (Feb 17, 2005)

Too funny! Yes, more speed is better - most of the time. I get the cast off my arm next week from hitting a gap with too much speed.


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## Iceman2058 (Mar 1, 2007)

^^^ :lol: :lol:
The two chicks filming/watching:

"I don't like that"
"Me neither - don't do that again..."


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## jawdrop on hardtail (Dec 6, 2007)

Gear up (pressure suit would be really helpful), and just like downhill, it's all about having flow. Tensing up and keeping the front wheel higher than the rear for landing wont turn out good, but neither will boosting the living **** out of it when hitting.

There's not much good advice one can give over the internet, except just go for it. We were all at this stage once, my first jump was a step down with a 10 foot gap. I landed it fine, I just happened to hit a tree afterwords. That's when I came to the realization that having a pressure suit is awesome.


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## Flystagg (Nov 14, 2006)

Hilarious. That was a pretty big gap there, just shows there is a very fine line between mad props and epic failure.


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## essenmeinstuff (Sep 4, 2007)

How the hell his bike didn't explode, or at least bend something is beyond me (looks perfectly fine at the end there)... that has to be the hardest casing I've seen in a vid


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## 69nites (Aug 20, 2008)

essenmeinstuff said:


> How the hell his bike didn't explode, or at least bend something is beyond me (looks perfectly fine at the end there)... that has to be the hardest casing I've seen in a vid


he bailed off of the bike pretty well. saved both him and the bike from injury from the looks of it.


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## ccspecialized (Dec 30, 2008)

Techfreak said:


> Too funny! Yes, more speed is better - most of the time. I get the cast off my arm next week from hitting a gap with too much speed.


My worst crash is from hitting a gap with too much speed. Overshot the landing so i went to flat, bounced through the suspension which threw me off when it rebounded and I cut myself up pretty good. I mainly crashed because I panicked when I knew I was going too far. Keep your head while you're in the air and you'll be fine. Other than that you just gotta go for it.


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## mykel (Jul 31, 2006)

essenmeinstuff said:


> ... that has to be the hardest casing I've seen in a vid


Heck, he didn't even make it far enough for a case.
Good bail though, and yup, I too thought we would see some mechanical carnage.

michael


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## SHIVER ME TIMBERS (Jan 12, 2004)

Err said:


> Head up to I-St and start practicing on the lower section. There are some small gaps down there to work on.


or 
hook up with ERR..............he is a great rider !!!!


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## Truckee Trash (Sep 18, 2007)

haha reminds me of something I just did. . . (I'm just learning this shite too) came into this ok, but upon landing the first drop tweaked a little and lost my vision going into the second one. (the stunt is a double drop with gaps inbetween each transition, the bottom one is much steeper and wider) Moral of the story for me was to just keep looking ahead, spotting the landing and moving forward, never focusing on one point.






***** trail Whoops from JSDOCA on Vimeo.


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## Cable0guy (Jun 19, 2007)

Here's a real gap jump (takes real big b*lls):

http://www.pinkbike.com/v/79670/l/


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## giffels (Oct 30, 2006)

No offense but these are the dumbest threads, you cant learn how to ride on the internet, just try to ride with guys way faster than you, and for gap jumps go fast, and if you ride downhill you should be well used to gap jumps and if not than i doubt you have ridden much dh


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## Truckee Trash (Sep 18, 2007)

giffels said:


> No offense but these are the dumbest threads, you cant learn how to ride on the internet, just try to ride with guys way faster than you, and for gap jumps go fast, and if you ride downhill you should be well used to gap jumps and if not than i doubt you have ridden much dh


Yep the only reason I'm able to hit this stuff, or am attempting to do so is being pushed by better riding buds. . . watching them, etc. that and not being afraid of falling.

I think tips can come in handy in respect to once you've got jumping and you want to become more fluid and comfortable in the air ie. whipping or givin' it some english.


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## Bike Whore (Jun 26, 2005)

essenmeinstuff said:


> How the hell his bike didn't explode, or at least bend something is beyond me (looks perfectly fine at the end there)... that has to be the hardest casing I've seen in a vid


he taco'd his front wheel and had some pretty good bruising up his side from collecting the bars, funny thing is there was a 18 footer next to it and he decided that the bigger would be the one to show the ladies :thumbsup:

you can see his shoe fall off and get fired into the woman sitting on the ground, classic stuff


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## rdhfreethought (Aug 12, 2006)

Best Gap Ever, too bad the ending wasn't...


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## mullet dew (Jun 4, 2008)

That tour gap would have been an awesome photo if they got it from the front like the train gap. That train gap was ridiculous BTW.


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## MTB-AHOLIC (Oct 8, 2005)

rollrite said:


> Howdy Yall,


You around my neck of the woods there Sheriff?


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## RCdropper (Jun 1, 2009)

That train gap was ridiculous! 

The tour gap was sweet too. Kind of symbolic with all the guys on the road and the lone mountain biker saying F the road watch this!


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## rollrite (Jun 4, 2009)

Thanks for your tips and encouragement.
In response to one persons reply, how many folks here think that gap jumps are a must in downhill events? Giffels seems to think that gap jumps are an integral part of downhill courses. Ive been riding gnary downhill in Utah for five years and havent seen many gapjumps on downhill courses. Maybe freeride courses but not downhill.


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## specializedbeta18 (Jul 31, 2008)

What movie was the Train Gap from?


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## essenmeinstuff (Sep 4, 2007)

^^^ "On the line"

http://www.goldsteinproductions.ca/videos.php?id=6

and its free :thumbsup:


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## jawdrop on hardtail (Dec 6, 2007)

specializedbeta18 said:


> What movie was the Train Gap from?


On the Line
http://www.goldsteinproductions.ca/ to watch


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## yakmastermax (Jan 11, 2009)

"keeping the front wheel higher than the rear for landing wont turn out good"

Why?


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## essenmeinstuff (Sep 4, 2007)

yakmastermax said:


> "keeping the front wheel higher than the rear for landing wont turn out good"
> 
> Why?


depends, but if landing on a transition, esp if fairly steep, you'll want both wheels to hit at the same time, if you don't there is a high chance of getting bucked off, combination of rebound and already bad angles...

Ie back wheel hits, compresses, then the front hits and compresses while there rear is rebounding, now you are pointing down, bad forward momentum, the front is compressed moving your cog further over the front axle as well as being pushed forward by the rear, then if things go bad, you go OTB and eat dirt or rock depending... not fun!


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## yakmastermax (Jan 11, 2009)

I just can't visualize it. Keep in mind the biggest thing i've hit was about 4 feet.

How do you go OTB when your front is higher than the back?


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## essenmeinstuff (Sep 4, 2007)

I think the vid of buddy gaping the road riders shows the effect pretty clearly 

Both too quick a rebound or landing back heavy will do it... his case I think was too quick rebound.


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## Iceman2058 (Mar 1, 2007)

yakmastermax said:


> I just can't visualize it. Keep in mind the biggest thing i've hit was about 4 feet.
> 
> How do you go OTB when your front is higher than the back?


A picture is usually worth a thousand words. Except when I draw it, in which case it's probably worth about 75 cents or so...but you get the picture, anyway. 

It becomes like a slingshot that rotates the bike forward, and to make things worse if your rear rebound is set too fast, it will accentuate the effect and really throw you forward OTB:


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## stiingya (Apr 30, 2004)

LOL, nice drawing!  Here's an instance where a tip from the internet did help someone learn to ride better. I didn't realize what was going on with the bucking bronco landing...

I go from hucking small desert mesa's flat to flat, or flat to tranny's where I have to worry about the sand causing me to endo on the landings. So I tend to keep my weight pretty far back and land rear first all the time.

But then I forget to alter the technique on jumps and small gaps up on the mountain where I'm taking off and landing already on the steeps. And I forget that I need to push in and level out relative to the landing transition. I did this a few times Saturday, I ended up getting it corrected but I didn't realize at the time it was due to landing with too much rear wheel first... I guess it's the difference between hucking and jumping... and I'm not that great at either!  (I have a fear of heights from a rock climbing fall, so jumping/hucking messes with my head...)

Last year I did one of these bucking bronco landings and rode a huge nose wheelie before I finally wiped out! :thumbsup:


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