I am not great at jumping but have been practising floating the jumps recently to build da skillz

Couple of small tabletops on my loop and the first one I can float the table without any issue and slowly feeling more confident. Everything feels ‘normal’, the momentum takes me into the air and all feels balanced, landing is smooth

The second table has a steeper transition and I feel front wheel heavy and body weight is all wrong making me very nervy.

Is a different technique needed or is it just a case of more speed?

Definitely not more speed! I’m not great at jumping either but I think I understand the technique – it’s a case of crouching before the front side, standing up tall are you go up it, then letting the bike rise up into you and then pushing it down away from you into the landing.

You stay balanced and ‘vertical’ (like you’d be in the attack position on the flat) but the bike points upwards (so you’re more toward the front), then levels out and then points downwards (so you’re more off the back).

I know what you mean. You usually get that feeling because you’ve gone all rigid which feels like you’re too far forward on the bike. Stay loose and actively try to land both wheels together when you touch down. When you get it right it feels like you’ve never even left the ground.

Steeper transitions/longer tabletops can intimidate and result in a tendency not to pump as required on the lip – fear of going too high and losing control. Easy to say but make sure you commit and pump! Just let the bike rise up under you, stay relaxed and you’ll maintain a level flight. It really is all about confidence. Confidence comes with practice. Just keep hitting that tabletop for 30 mins untill you nail it. Suddenly you’ll stop thinking about it and it just gets easy. That’s what I love about jumping…

Thanks for the tips, that all makes sense.
Practice makes progress.

I just stacked it big time on Sat…. but as the chief says it’s easy to lose focus on steeper transitions

Lee Mccormack

Yup, as with all things biking it’s simple in practice, much harder in application.

So in brief, compress into the face of the jump (drop heels, let arms follow), decompress as the front wheel approaches the lip, so that you are effectively stood vertical in relation to the ground, let the bike come up underneath you by bending your legs and then use your arms to push the bike forward and down into the landing. Always taper your speed on tabletops. The bike is supposed to land on the downslope, not beyond it. Unless you’re Brandon Semenuk or somesuch, you really don’t want to be jumping right over the thing.

if its a table dont be worried about coming up a bit short. focus on compressing on teh lip. dont go mad and pogo like a basterd just compress a little and increase your preload of the bike each time till it feels right. you can then add/remove speed as required. lifting of feet is essential as mentioned above

differnt jumps require massively different technique depending on their shape/length so there is no definite advice.

our local jumps (witches table for chief up top) the last table of teh big line you have to squash like mad to land near the landing while the first of the small line needs less speed and a big pop to make the rest of the line nice.

i generally i like a nice transition as its more akin to what i learned on. the flat ‘mtb’ lips are much less fun to ride…