Speed

[ZHendo]

So, after a few months of not riding DJs at all, I went out today, over shot a jump by like 5 feet, didn't bail, and ended up bottoming my fork super hard and also cracked my MTX rear rim at one of the eyelets. After getting over the frustration of cracking a rim and the embarrassment of overshooting a jump that badly, I started thinking about how to judge speed. I can't really afford to just to trial and error type stuff anymore as I really don't want to crack another rim.

How do people gauge speed? I used to have no problem at the spot that I frequented, but now that's gone. The jump that I hacked today was far from steep, about the lowest angle you can get while still considering it a dirt jump, which explains my horizontal trajectory rather than the arc I would have wanted. Any advice is appreciated, I just want to get back into jumping with as little equipment damage as possible.

[t1maglio]

Watch other riders hit it first! If that doesn't work, I guess get ample speed, and especially on mtbs if you go to far, drop that rr end. Nosing down to flat is gonna be bad news. When we built our new jumps I went through a similar process, but I've been jumping a lot and have some instinct stuff as well working for me. I usually try to hover at first, so I can easily push down the front end on to the landing. If your yanking the lip off the bat your asking for trouble. Get used to speed jumping it first and then go off.

Others might suggest otherwise, but thats my .02

[ZHendo]

that's the weird thing, i didn't pump it hard or anything, i just went too fast i guess. if i had bailed it wouldn't have been so bad, i'm surprised i didn't blow up my fork though, i landing front wheel first very hard. i'm pissed.

[ZHendo]

on another note, after said incident, i had a little bit of oil show up on the top cap of the motion control compression knob. i wiped it off, and no more was to be seen. normal, or something to worry about?

[opjones]

http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/learning_modules/maths/04.TU.02/?section=14

[Stoked]

either watch or train someone close behind to gauge. i've seen that work for a lot of people.

[ZHendo]

i hadn't thought about training behind someone, i'll give it a try. i had watched someone do it, but didn't pay close attention and he also cased it...i'll try the training thing, thanks again.

[aeffertz]

yeah normally if you follow someone, train them, whatever, you want to go a little faster than what you think is their speed. If you feel like your going the same speed, you'll end up casing it. so go a little faster than what you think the guy in front of you is. I've used this method plenty of times before... haha.

[ZHendo]

ha, ok, i'll try it. it's just weird for me to have to do this, on my DH bike i can almost always judge speed correctly regardless of where i'm riding, i guess i just need to ride the hardtail a little more often.

[seth505]

ya the best thing is just more and more experience. If something looks really strange or just wacky setup then watch or train behind someone as mentioned above.

[yesimaddicted]

hey zach, paul and i are setting up a really good sorta pratice/trick jump all it needs is to finish the landing so once we got that done we will give ya a call. but we are still lookng for a good place for some actual dj's:brow:

[ZHendo]

If something looks really strange or just wacky setup then watch or train behind someone as mentioned above.

that was the issue, the jump was really strangely shaped. i used to have no problems jumping much bigger gaps, i guess my little break from riding means i'll have to take it easy.

ignore my question about the fork, rockshox is sending me a new cartridge.