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problems jumping

klutch

klutch

Monkey
Jan 25, 2007
144
0
dirty jersey
what's up erryone? I'm kinda new at this DH thing and am having some trouble with the jumps. Sometimes when I take off my bike seems to tilt over to one side or the other. I think it's a take-off problem but what am I doing wrong? The size of the jump doesn't matter cause it happens on the trail after lower dominon on the small table. I have no problems with drops, and do them all day, but I want to ride dominion and can't keep myself from pitching over in the air...anyone?...Thanx
 
J

jrfor0

Monkey
Mar 28, 2005
235
0
it might just be an unbalance in arm strength. you might be pulling up more with one arm then the other.
 
D

davidt

Monkey
May 13, 2007
258
0
Control your bike, ride the bike don't let the bike take you for a ride....

It's all about having control....

I can clear most of the tables except the one that Launches you ion the air @ Lower Dominion (very last table)

I used to get all squirrelly @ the jumps, but once i started handling my bike it was all good....

Here's some good Form, not a table but a Double!
 
JeffKill

JeffKill

Monkey
Jun 21, 2006
688
0
Charlotte, NC
One of the best things you can do is just relax. If you're all nervous and tense when you take off, you're gonna freeze and panic when you get in the air. Which will usually cause you to lean one direction or the other. So relax and stay loose.
 
4_thesportt

4_thesportt

Chimp
Feb 13, 2007
54
0
Vernon, New Jersey!
Like JeffKill said, relax.


i use to have the same problem... and then i applied the whole 'butt back' thing to my jumps, it helped me a LOT. *when you're in the air, push your bike in front of you, with your butt basically over the back tire* it helped me alot... but it could just be that you may need to work on jumps and find somethin that works for you that keeps you balanced in the air. :)
 
RamonQ

RamonQ

Chimp
May 17, 2007
6
0
Hey Dave,
ill pass this saturday, my left arm is bruised pretty bad..its black and blue and swollen. Doctor says let it rest couple weeks. Hope to see you guys in a week or 2.

cheers
ramon
 
runnin12s

runnin12s

Monkey
May 14, 2007
224
0
Waverly, NY
I know it's a kinda feel thing but I'll try and put it down as best as I can. I kinda do this as a living so I'm not the best but I've spent some time in the air. So here goes, I am assuming you are jumping aboard a full suspension so I'll start there:

A) Approach the jump with slightly more speed than you feel you need (when new you always underestimate the speed). This is the point in which your stomach will tense, your heart rate will rise and you will get a weird feel in your throat, As I tell most beginners this is the point in which you relax, "turn your brain off", and pretend you are on a groomed section of trail.

B) As you contact the lower part of the transition going up the face you will push slightly down and forward with your feet and even more slightly with your arms in the same motion, you want to transition your body from very neutral to slightly behind the seat of the bike.

C) As you reach the lip of the jump you will move your body in an upward/forward position into the air with 90+% of your body weight on your legs (if there is too much weight on your hands it will cause the bike to do all kinds of funky stuff, including leaning to the sides or kicking your a** 10 feet in the air)

D) as you leave the lip this is the most important time in the jump, you will transition from 90% weight on the feet to force being transfered to the hands. you will rythmically push down and forward on the handle bars with your hands and simultaniously lift weight off the pedals, this will again position your butt back and even sometimes against the rear tire, it is at this point in time that you will correct your flight pattern, push slightly more with left you will hip to the left and pull a slight left arc through flight, again push slightly more with the right you will hip to the right and hence slightly arc right. be carful with the hips till you get comfortable.

E) landing time. if you have done everything right you are going to be shooting for the back side of the jump, but first seems as you are new to this I will describe what to do if you don't land exactly where you are supposed to another words you land "flat"

F) position your body 50/50 on the bike half weight on hands, half on feet, body positioned slightly rearward but not behind the seat. leave your arms and legs slightly bent, bars as straight as humanly possible and get ready to land both wheels at the same time and suck as much of the impact with your body as possible to minimize damage to the bike, remember we heal, the bike has to be repaired or replaced if damaged.

G) landing properly: given everything was done correctly you must position yourself and your bike for the landing on the back side there are 3 scenerios for this
1) you are slightly short of the rear transition, to correct this and give yourself a couple more feet of travel push rapidly forward with your hands on the bars, turn your toes to the ground and pull up and back with your feet, all while pushing yourself behind the rear tire. WORD OF CAUTION, THIS SOMETIMES RESULTS IN CONTACT BETWEEN THE REAR TIRE AND YOUR SAC, IF THIS HAPPENS GOOD LUCK IT DOES HURT but you will live to jump another jump
2) you are slightly "long" or overshoot the landing but not quite to flat, if this happens as soon as you overshoot the lip push down and back with both your feet and hands, you have more reach with your feet so it is usually more likely you will touch the rear tire down first if this happens transfer your weight back as to take weight off of the front of the bike incase it makes it to flat, if both wheels reach the back side you have lost your "pump" which I will explain next but you are safe
3) the third and final scenerio is that you land 6-12" on the backside from the lip, in this scenerio you should push slightly with your hands and slighly pull up with your toes (kinda like in step 1 of landing but not as severe) this will get the nose of the bike down, you are shooting to land with both tires evenly or slightly quicker on the front tire, you will barely feel the landing if done correctly

H) supposing you did step 3 and you landed properly the next step is just as import as the first if you plan on hitting a series of jumps, immediately after landing your weight will be on your hands and your feet will be pulling up and back, as your tires reach the ground you immediately put 100% of you weight straight down on the pedal with your feet and "pump" as hard as you can, you can simultaniously push forward with your hands to increase the effect, this in turn should put you right back to step A for the next jump in sequence.

Good luck with you jumping I hope this helps, you can get more practice by joining the local kids at a local jump spot, it's amazing what 15 year olds will do on bmx bikes, I've been shown up several times by locals with bikes that I wouldn't throw a leg over because they sound like they are falling apart, or you can attend my jump jam on july 28th and get used to jumping there, either way good luck, Dave
 
J

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
Everyone has this issue sometimes. Aside from just learning how to hit jumps by doing over and over and getting confident, a few things can really help:

-Pump the jumps more. As you go up the lip, press the bike into the face of it. You don't really need to lift up or anything, just let your speed and body position handle that. Going fast and pressing the bike into the face will make you go higher, farther and with more stability.

-Here's the biggest thing- move around on the bike. Each time, do a little tweak, tiny bar turn, little tabletop. Whatever, it doesn't matter, just move a bit. This will make a total dead sailor much less likely.
 
NJMX835

NJMX835

Monkey
Feb 17, 2007
605
0
Highland Lakes NJ
The biggest thing with jumping is staying loose in the air.

When you come off the lip, stay loose and soak the bike up into you.

What i mean by that is let the bike come up into your body (bend your arms and legs), that way the force of leaving the lip doesn;t kick you in weird directions.


The guy that said to do a little something in the air everytime had a good idea, get used to moving around the bike a bit, don't be stiff, stay loose! :thumb:
 
klutch

klutch

Monkey
Jan 25, 2007
144
0
dirty jersey
Thanx to errybody who posted up here,I really appreciate the help. I'll practice at Diablo this weekend so if any of you see a brown Faith2 on the ground I'm somewhere in the dirt be sure to stop and clap.
 
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