# Dirt Jumping technique....



## J5isalive (Jul 16, 2006)

ok i'm looking for some tips. I need to learn to jump better basically. I race BMX but i would love to jump more out on the track..mainly i want to jump the big doubles and the step ups. I spent about 2 hours tonight trying to clear a large double at the track near me...always coming up short. (Oh by the way this is on a BMX cruiser 24in wheels) I'm great at rolling things fast and all around going fast...speed is not my issue. My friend was showing me just how slow you can go and still clear the double....and i can say with out a doubt i am going way faster then needed to clear this double...its just my technique sucks.

I feel like i am going up and then just kinda fall strait down. My friend says i am absorbing to much with my legs at the lip....

I basically just need the blueprints on how to jump. When to pull up, what to do when approaching the jump anything i need to know. Its not fear holding me back, i have thrown myself at these jumps far to many times...

I can do all the small stuff on the track, the small doubles and small step ups...but when it comes to the bigger stuff i just can't get the hang of it. all the small stuff if you hit it with speed it will carry you over if that makes sense...i figured that was the same with the bigger stuff but it looks like i am wrong.

I just want to jump and have fun.

Will this be easier to learn my my Giant STP or should i stick to learning on my BMX bike.... the bmx bike is definitely faster if that makes any difference.

Thanks again for any tips you can give and if anyone has pictures or video that will help i would very much appreciate it.

John


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## Rb (Feb 28, 2007)

Trial and error my friend.

Go out to your local bmx park or dirt jump locale and watch the other riders and/or have them critique you. Learning to dirt jump is somewhat repetitive; just keep practicing and slowly but surely you'll get the hang of it.

There isn't anything you can read on the Internet that'll magically teach you to fly. Go out there and do it! :thumbsup:


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

Bunny hop off the lip, that's all you need to do. There is really nothing else to it. How high can you hop?


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

Approaching the jump I just look at the lip, see how it is, how steep, where I can hit it while hitting the least bumps possible etc.

Keeping my legs nearly straight(same for my elbows) I roll up to the lip. when I am on the lip I preload the bike just like I would for a big bunny hop. My bunny hop starts just when my front wheel leaves the ground.

Then it's all air for me.


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## J5isalive (Jul 16, 2006)

thats pretty much what i needed to know...very simple very concise.

Not sure how high i can bunny hop i never really try really...I race and ride on clippless pedals (time attack z's) so it won't be a problem for me to get the bike hopping.

Thanks again for the simple explanation...

John


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

J5isalive said:


> thats pretty much what i needed to know...very simple very concise.
> 
> Not sure how high i can bunny hop i never really try really...I race and ride on clippless pedals (time attack z's) so it won't be a problem for me to get the bike hopping.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure about jumping clipless pedals, I'd feel very insecure....


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## Zonk0u (Jun 3, 2004)

Ok I'll try to explain this a simply as I can.

there are 3 parts of a jump, the trough before it, the ramp up it, and the lip at the top.

basically what you want to do, is this:

compress your frork into the trough, follow with your legs.

In the transition up the lip continue compressing evenly transfering more torque to your legs as you go up the ramp.

dont be affraid to lean back a little. you dont want to remain vertical while your bike ascends the ramp. you want to ride it so as the bike tilts back you tilt back too.

At the lip, kick out, pull up on the bars 

as your rear wheel leaves the lip, push the bars up out in front of you rolling your wrists over forward while allowing the rear end to come up under you.

you should now be a little tucked in the air, spot your landing and when its apropriate extend down to absorb the landing.

when you do it right, you'll know.

and lastly. get a set of platform pedals. you're never ever going to learn good technique with those clipless crutches teaching you bad habits... and if you need ot eject mid air... well... its a bit harder to do when clipped in.


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## Cru Jones (Aug 10, 2006)

Yeah, it's basically like Snaky said. It sounds like you just need to learn to "jump" off of a jump, rather than just rolling off of it. It is basically like a bunny hop at the top of the lip. I would try to learn on a bmx bike. A lot of has to do with timing, you need to explode and pull up right when the lip is throwing you into the air.


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## Strauss (Apr 27, 2007)

You'll need to be 100% comfortable with manuals and bunnyhops to flow at the DJ's.


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## sealclubber (Apr 10, 2007)

not so true about the manuals. ive been riding our local rhythm sets for like 8 years and only in the last two years did i bother to learn how to manual indefinitely


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## Mesozoic (Apr 20, 2004)

sealclubber said:


> not so true about the manuals. ive been riding our local rhythm sets for like 8 years and only in the last two years did i bother to learn how to manual indefinitely


I agree. Bunny hops are mandatory, though.


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

Shaker666 said:


> I agree. Bunny hops are mandatory, though.


Agreed.


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## dirtyharry (Jun 27, 2006)

I can't seem to boost enough off this jump in my backyard . . .

haven't tried it recently, just kicked being sick . . . so I've been turning it into a really nice little jump . . . just added two inches to the launch today and made the landing more solid . . . 

I'd say another good two hours by myself would put it in nice condition, but then I'd need to jump it and case on the lip of the landing to pack it really well (this works great by the way on small stuff. bigger stuff and you might get hurt) 

probably speed is the issue, because I don't like to still be pedaling as my front wheel goes onto the launch, makes me nervous (as do any real jumps that aren't tabletops!), so I stop pedaling about six inches before the launch . . .

my friend does fine with this first try, and if I stick on some shinguards for security after a few trials I can almost get it (if I don't put a six inch casing indentation first!), but I'm just not cutting it. 

Don't tell me to suck it up and pedal the extra thing, this is like telling an arachnophobic to go play with a spider . . . 

kind of odd how really dumb things freak me out on DJ's, like how I'll hit a tabletop without thinking and won't hit a double of the same size . . . 

trying to get j-dogg to show me some of his boosting wisdom, but he won't frickin' answer his PMs, so I'll ask you guys . . .


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## TXneedmountain (Feb 14, 2007)

http://leelikesbikes.com/Stories/102103/
check that article out hopefully it will help


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## TXhucker (Jul 7, 2006)

Forget about the bike for a few minutes........
How do you jump if you're just standing still? How do you jump if you want to reach something on a high shelf? You squat down, compressing your legs, you then spring upwards, when your feet leave the ground, you pull your feet and legs up towards your body. As you start to fall, you straighten your legs out until they touch the ground, as they touch the ground, you compress your legs to absorb the impact. 

It is the exact same thing on a bike. As you go up the lip, you compress your body down, as you fly off, you spring upwards only this time you pull the bars and your feet/pedals up towards your body. Then as you fall, you straighten out and use your arms and legs to compress and absorb the impact. That is basically how you jump or boost off a lip. 

Now find a jump and a helmet and try it about 3000 times. When you finally get it right....you will feel it and you'll be like "Dang. That was easier than I thought!" You have to accept the fear and overcome it. Confidence in yourself goes a loooong way. If you're standing there at the jumps thinking "Man I don't think I can do that." You never will.


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## njhcx4xlife (Jan 9, 2006)

TXhucker said:


> Forget about the bike for a few minutes........
> How do you jump if you're just standing still? How do you jump if you want to reach something on a high shelf? You squat down, compressing your legs, you then spring upwards, when your feet leave the ground, you pull your feet and legs up towards your body. As you start to fall, you straighten your legs out until they touch the ground, as they touch the ground, you compress your legs to absorb the impact.
> 
> It is the exact same thing on a bike. As you go up the lip, you compress your body down, as you fly off, you spring upwards only this time you pull the bars and your feet/pedals up towards your body. Then as you fall, you straighten out and use your arms and legs to compress and absorb the impact. That is basically how you jump or boost off a lip.
> ...


Good idea getting people to visualize it without the bike in the equation. that will probably help people more than anything because it is simple and easy to understand.


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## NoBrakes! (Jun 15, 2007)

For practice you could build a small jump like a fot and a half high with a hell of a lip and a shihgjhtly taller landing ramp five or six feet a part this will really teach you the motion


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## J5isalive (Jul 16, 2006)

i've got the motion, i can jump a very large table top at the track and have no fear, its got a short steep take off...

the double i want to jump has a LONG take off, probably 15 or so feet, so i think my entire issue is feeling and timing.

I'm working on it. Thanks for all the help guys


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