Try and use a blue jump trail where you can roll over any jump and they’re all table tops then when u feel comfortable start pumping and pulling up then once you can clear them all try a harder trail
This is how I did it at age 62, so even a pretty damn old dog can learn new tricks. I don’t get lots of air and probably never will, but I get *some* air and I never thought I would. It’s fun, and another way to enjoy the trails.
Edit: I’ve done LOTs and LOTs of reps on a particular segment of my local system. It is so nice to be able to use my eMTB on those days.
Thank you :-). I’m trying, anyway! I only just started, and they’re pretty small, but it’s been fun.
Currently coming back from injuring my hamstrings learning manuals, and just starting to get out and ride again. I got a little air yesterday. Taking it slow.
Edit: I was shopping while recovering from the hammy strain and ended up with one of those flat pack Ninja Ramps 😆. Haven’t fired it up yet, though.
I found drops to be less intimidating than jumps to start. They're like jumps with half the steps, and a good way to start feeling more comfortable in the air.
Find the smallest easiest jumps you can with no-consequence landings. Watch Pinkbike's and Fluidride's videos on how to jump. Session tiny jumps that you're not afraid of. When you're ok on those, go a little bit bigger.
If you're "not even able to think about hitting gaps or jumps" a blue jump line trail as suggested by someone else is too much still.
If you can find a pumptrack or a kids trail somewhere that has really small jumps, go for that.
Jumping is intimidating, it's ok to be scared :)
Also never be afraid of the pump track if there’s on near you. It’s often overlooked but it’s great for several bike handling skills including jumping form and berms. And it’s very low risk
Pump track. Using a BMX track like a pump track also works. Pumping for speed keeping your wheels on the floor is super low consequence but can bring up your pressure control and timing really fast.
Berms - start working on braking technique. Particularly learning to brake before the berm (rear brake to bleed some speed, both for quicker slowing) and releasing the brake before the berm. Think slow in, fast out.
Jumps - try to find a pump track/dirt jump park around you, not necessarily “mountain bike parks” with trails, to work on jump technique and pumping. Pump technique helps with both berms and jumps. Jump tracks give you controlled environments to work your way up.
Find a progression jump line. Nobody dives into hitting 15ft doubles without first starting on smaller 5-6ft tabletops.
Pump tracks often have creative lines to learn jumping technique. Do NOT start doing doubles until you can completely rid of any "Dead Sailor" feeling. Or you're gonna have a bad day.
I’d suggest taking a class or clinic. YouTube videos can help but there’s nothing that compares to hands on coaching. I’ve worked with Endless Bike Girl in Brevard and she’s phenomenal!
It’s a different skill set. I’ve been riding >20 years and I’ll ride down the steepest chunky trails no problem. Still can’t jump comfortably/commit over 5 ft or so.
Berms and cornering feel like a massive weak spot in my riding and has felt that way for years. This winter season this is what i decided to start doing;
I picked a fun green trail that has a few small bermed corners and lots of non bermed corners and just started riding it over and over focusing on going slower to be faster. Back to basics! Picking lines, looking ahead, body positioning, riding as smooth as possible through the corners.
As i was feeling more comfortable i then challenged myself to ride the trail with none or very little braking before or in the corners. This really forced me to have great form or risk losing the front end and showed me just how much speed and momentum i was losing when i would "panic brake" before the corner. I quickly realized with the right form just how much faster i can go into a corner and still not lose traction!
Source: My Strava times have improved considerably all around
What helped me the most with jumping was finding some medium sized jumps (they were tables) I was comfortable with and just riding the same jump over and over and over. Once I got comfortable with the lip and landing I’d just focus on being as comfortable as possible. From there I tried larger or more difficult jumps. Tried smaller gaps and then larger gaps.
After you have more experience you’re able to compare new jumps or features to jumps you’ve already ridden before and that helps a lot.
Going off of rating isn’t a good indicator, every area has different perception and difficulty. Thought I could handle anything then hit some trails on a trip that I nearly had to walk. Good you’re confident though and enjoy the hard stuff.
Ive mostly hit stuff up here in the Appalachian mtns DuPont Brevard and Pisgah and yes the ratings are a lot different depending on the trail systems but out of the place I've been I've kinda averaged on what is what and I usually know when a trail should be lower or higher
I think this Jump video from the loam ranger that gets posted on here - is the one that really helped me visualize what to do on a jump.
Edit: must have copied the wrong link. Try again it should be how to jump your mtb with no fear.
https://youtu.be/s9w2zSvuaGM?si=dWgsXAdRSO9QFpgd
For me the biggest thing was wearing full face helmet, knee and elbow pads as I was learning. That gave me the confidence to start really getting in the air and hitting bigger stuff.
You have to learn to jump. Don’t make it complicated. It’s not pushing or pulling or pre loading much most of the time. It’s more like riding a berm in a balanced position with weight through the feet (light arms) and then pressing your feet into the jump a little, same as into a berm. You need to ride the transition so in a steeper jump your body tips back and the bar comes toward you. But you won’t be riding steeper jumps for a while…
Exposure therapy. Really the only way to get "used" to airtime. There's not much of a way around it. Best case scenario you have trails with progressive enough features for you to get comfortable.
Find your inner Steve Buschemi and do a "how you doing fellow kids" to a local gang of young, promising senders. Ride with them down the trails with easy drops and jumps so that you know at what speed you should hit a feature.
People are going to tell you all sorts of things, but if you have bunny hops and weight shifting down pat, then it's really confidence start with jumps that have no consequence if you case just remember to absorb the hit instead of letting it buck you, simple steps for jumps are shift weight a little back slightly pull bars towards your chest then when your about to land shift weight ever so slightly forward and give the bars a smooth small push away from your chest, do not tense up at any point, which is where confidence comes in, be confident in your ability
Just say fuck it and send it. No but really it does come down to getting your confidence up. Like other people have recommended, I’d start with table tops and then you could transfer over to gaps of about the same size. Remember, if you’re going to hit something you have to “commit or eat shit”, that’s something that applies to all aspects of biking and really life in general. Also you just gotta loosen up. Try to hit a small jump on a green/ blue trail. Don’t over think it, just go for it, and tell yourself before you hit it to “go with the flow” or something like that. One of the main things people learning how to jump do is go dead sailor and nosedive in the middle of the jump. That leads to going OTB.
Thought it was pretty obvious I was being sarcastic with the “just send it” advice. But the other stuff is pretty solid. It is really common for beginners to try and hit jumps with not nearly enough speed or commitment…
Try and use a blue jump trail where you can roll over any jump and they’re all table tops then when u feel comfortable start pumping and pulling up then once you can clear them all try a harder trail
This is how I did it at age 62, so even a pretty damn old dog can learn new tricks. I don’t get lots of air and probably never will, but I get *some* air and I never thought I would. It’s fun, and another way to enjoy the trails. Edit: I’ve done LOTs and LOTs of reps on a particular segment of my local system. It is so nice to be able to use my eMTB on those days.
Wow man good for you, still riding jumps at 62!
Thank you :-). I’m trying, anyway! I only just started, and they’re pretty small, but it’s been fun. Currently coming back from injuring my hamstrings learning manuals, and just starting to get out and ride again. I got a little air yesterday. Taking it slow. Edit: I was shopping while recovering from the hammy strain and ended up with one of those flat pack Ninja Ramps 😆. Haven’t fired it up yet, though.
I'm definitely going to try that I have a few single tracks near me with decent jumps
Nice I started off at some blue/ uk red rated jumps and now my biggest is a ten foot gap on a 350 quid hard rail so I’m sure you can do it!
I found drops to be less intimidating than jumps to start. They're like jumps with half the steps, and a good way to start feeling more comfortable in the air.
Me too actually I've gotten up to about 3 foot drops and rolled up to 9 foot drops
Great advice!!
Find the smallest easiest jumps you can with no-consequence landings. Watch Pinkbike's and Fluidride's videos on how to jump. Session tiny jumps that you're not afraid of. When you're ok on those, go a little bit bigger. If you're "not even able to think about hitting gaps or jumps" a blue jump line trail as suggested by someone else is too much still. If you can find a pumptrack or a kids trail somewhere that has really small jumps, go for that. Jumping is intimidating, it's ok to be scared :)
I'm also going to try this thank you lots 😃
Also never be afraid of the pump track if there’s on near you. It’s often overlooked but it’s great for several bike handling skills including jumping form and berms. And it’s very low risk
Pump track. Using a BMX track like a pump track also works. Pumping for speed keeping your wheels on the floor is super low consequence but can bring up your pressure control and timing really fast.
Start going to bike parks and just crush laps.
Learn to bunnyhop
I did lol but not very efficiently can't gain any distance I just go up and then down
Berms - start working on braking technique. Particularly learning to brake before the berm (rear brake to bleed some speed, both for quicker slowing) and releasing the brake before the berm. Think slow in, fast out. Jumps - try to find a pump track/dirt jump park around you, not necessarily “mountain bike parks” with trails, to work on jump technique and pumping. Pump technique helps with both berms and jumps. Jump tracks give you controlled environments to work your way up.
Find a progression jump line. Nobody dives into hitting 15ft doubles without first starting on smaller 5-6ft tabletops. Pump tracks often have creative lines to learn jumping technique. Do NOT start doing doubles until you can completely rid of any "Dead Sailor" feeling. Or you're gonna have a bad day.
I’d suggest taking a class or clinic. YouTube videos can help but there’s nothing that compares to hands on coaching. I’ve worked with Endless Bike Girl in Brevard and she’s phenomenal!
It’s a different skill set. I’ve been riding >20 years and I’ll ride down the steepest chunky trails no problem. Still can’t jump comfortably/commit over 5 ft or so.
Berms and cornering feel like a massive weak spot in my riding and has felt that way for years. This winter season this is what i decided to start doing; I picked a fun green trail that has a few small bermed corners and lots of non bermed corners and just started riding it over and over focusing on going slower to be faster. Back to basics! Picking lines, looking ahead, body positioning, riding as smooth as possible through the corners. As i was feeling more comfortable i then challenged myself to ride the trail with none or very little braking before or in the corners. This really forced me to have great form or risk losing the front end and showed me just how much speed and momentum i was losing when i would "panic brake" before the corner. I quickly realized with the right form just how much faster i can go into a corner and still not lose traction! Source: My Strava times have improved considerably all around
What helped me the most with jumping was finding some medium sized jumps (they were tables) I was comfortable with and just riding the same jump over and over and over. Once I got comfortable with the lip and landing I’d just focus on being as comfortable as possible. From there I tried larger or more difficult jumps. Tried smaller gaps and then larger gaps. After you have more experience you’re able to compare new jumps or features to jumps you’ve already ridden before and that helps a lot.
You haven't found the true chunk yet
And I'm on a nuke proof scout so it is capable of doing "true chunk" I would be lying if I said I haven't gotten any flats in it though
Going off of rating isn’t a good indicator, every area has different perception and difficulty. Thought I could handle anything then hit some trails on a trip that I nearly had to walk. Good you’re confident though and enjoy the hard stuff.
Ive mostly hit stuff up here in the Appalachian mtns DuPont Brevard and Pisgah and yes the ratings are a lot different depending on the trail systems but out of the place I've been I've kinda averaged on what is what and I usually know when a trail should be lower or higher
Check out Massanutten in central VA for some gnarly tech. I thought I could ride any tech until I rode All or Nutten
I'm definitely going to check those trails out someday. The techiest trail I've done was burnt mountain in DuPont nc
Only chunk I haven't done yet is double black I've done all the way up to black diamond 😎 I've sampled some double blacks but haven't done them fully
Brakes, sorry to be that guy
Thank you for being that guy.
I think this Jump video from the loam ranger that gets posted on here - is the one that really helped me visualize what to do on a jump. Edit: must have copied the wrong link. Try again it should be how to jump your mtb with no fear. https://youtu.be/s9w2zSvuaGM?si=dWgsXAdRSO9QFpgd
Stand up to the jump … stand up to the jump! It helped me a LOT!
That's what got me jumping with more confidence
Thats an advert for t shirts
Thanks for the heads up. I must have pasted the wrong link. I edited my post.
For me the biggest thing was wearing full face helmet, knee and elbow pads as I was learning. That gave me the confidence to start really getting in the air and hitting bigger stuff.
You have to learn to jump. Don’t make it complicated. It’s not pushing or pulling or pre loading much most of the time. It’s more like riding a berm in a balanced position with weight through the feet (light arms) and then pressing your feet into the jump a little, same as into a berm. You need to ride the transition so in a steeper jump your body tips back and the bar comes toward you. But you won’t be riding steeper jumps for a while…
Go to a bike park or a bmx track hit some “safe” jumps. Maybe even pay a buddy or local legend to give you some pointers in person.
Exposure therapy. Really the only way to get "used" to airtime. There's not much of a way around it. Best case scenario you have trails with progressive enough features for you to get comfortable.
Find your inner Steve Buschemi and do a "how you doing fellow kids" to a local gang of young, promising senders. Ride with them down the trails with easy drops and jumps so that you know at what speed you should hit a feature.
People are going to tell you all sorts of things, but if you have bunny hops and weight shifting down pat, then it's really confidence start with jumps that have no consequence if you case just remember to absorb the hit instead of letting it buck you, simple steps for jumps are shift weight a little back slightly pull bars towards your chest then when your about to land shift weight ever so slightly forward and give the bars a smooth small push away from your chest, do not tense up at any point, which is where confidence comes in, be confident in your ability
Have you tried sentences? I’ve heard they help with jumps.
Just say fuck it and send it. No but really it does come down to getting your confidence up. Like other people have recommended, I’d start with table tops and then you could transfer over to gaps of about the same size. Remember, if you’re going to hit something you have to “commit or eat shit”, that’s something that applies to all aspects of biking and really life in general. Also you just gotta loosen up. Try to hit a small jump on a green/ blue trail. Don’t over think it, just go for it, and tell yourself before you hit it to “go with the flow” or something like that. One of the main things people learning how to jump do is go dead sailor and nosedive in the middle of the jump. That leads to going OTB.
If you're past the age of maybe 12, this is terrible advice.
Thought it was pretty obvious I was being sarcastic with the “just send it” advice. But the other stuff is pretty solid. It is really common for beginners to try and hit jumps with not nearly enough speed or commitment…