[Closed] Gap Jump mentality

Your clothes are the wrong colour. Switch to some bold, bright block coloured clothing and you'll be shredding more gnar than you can handle.

From the photo it looks like you are not standing up in the jump. So you are squashing it.
I am crap at explaining it, but you are essentially off the back of the bike and not balanced.
Was told by Tony that you are in the right position on the bike if you can move the bike in the air.

I have found it to be at the forefront of my mind most of the day.

That's most likely the problem, you've built it up too much.

Also you need to stick a load of pointy dangerous crap in the gap, big sticks, rocks, knackered shopping trollies, landmines, that sort of thing.

Also you need to stick a load of pointy dangerous crap in the gap, big sticks, rocks, knackered shopping trollies, landmines, that sort of thing.

Don't forget the sharks.

Don't forget the sharks.

Damn, I always forget the sharks. I'd be a lousy Bond villain.

Have the sharks got frikkin lasers?

Always always look at the landing as early as you can.

Always always look at the landing as early as you can.

Especially if it crosses a monorail.

Cheers, you're right about the being stood up... I'm all on just getting across to be honest so struggling to focus on pushing the lip. I know the technique its the little imp in my mind that keeps pulling the brake before take off.

I was wondering if people had a trick for putting this at bay...filling the gap with broken glass might help.

I managed it yesterday whats wrong today?

Like anything difficult that takes practice and skill, some days it "just doesn't happen"! In which case, forget about it, go do something else to take your mind off it. Come back to it in a while at everything will be different!

(at the moment i'm in a similar position with my riding, suffering a crisis of confidence, which has lead to me not wanting to ride, and hence i've lost my fitness and my skill a bit, which doesn't help with the confidence..... Hopefully i'll bounce back in a bit)

I think basic bike skills like being able to bunnyhop and manual can really help here, that way if you do happen to end up a little out of control on the landing or come up short you'll be able to react to the situation which would/could, in itself, help put you at ease.

In addition- and this isn't aimed at anyone in particular- do videos of people thrashing their bikes and, ahem, shredding trails put a bit of undue pressure on you? Do you think that because you see other people doing that on 'your' bike that you should be doing that as well? I've been through the same sort of wringer with motorcycles.

Back in my inglorious MX days if I found myself 'comfort braking' I would just not cover the brake next lap on that bit, physically changing my usual hand (and foot on a crosser) position a fraction broke the habit.

Still works for me on the mountain bike, though I do miss the engine...

Some days your confidence is higher than other days, try not to overthink it, and give yourself a pat on the back for doing gaps in the first place 🙂

+1 for Jedi too.

and a video

Drop your seat more and use your laser cock

Can't view video, says it's private.

My suggestion is to fill the gap back in with mud. Session that for a few days till you are totally comfortable with it. Then start to remove the dirt again bit by bit. Waiting each time till you are fully comfortable before moving onto the next step. Its basically about practicing your new skills many many times so it feels easy and natural and you are confident in your own abilities.

Stupid iphone uploaded them as private! Grr

650b will make it impossible to screw up! 😉

The problem with gaps by yourself is it's hard to know where you hit on some of them, making it a gap after you hit it is a great idea, you then have an idea how it's working and where you are landing if you have some fresh dirt on the landing. Would be good to see more trails with a good A = Gap, B = Same size table side by side to let people judge their progression.

From the photo it looks like you are not standing up in the jump. So you are squashing it.

Bit of this.

Back in my inglorious MX days if I found myself 'comfort braking' I would just not cover the brake next lap

Bit of that.

Also try doing it when you have had a bit of a ride and you have ridden well so your confident and relaxed. Not too far as you will then be tired and your judgement and reaction times will be screwed...

Just doing it more and more will help with confidence and judging your speed. that particular jump is more of a fly off as opposed to a proper lip so maybe shape the jump a little more so you can roll in slower and get the feeling of popping off the lip. Body position will more than likely correct when you gain confidence in your ability, right now you look like your adopting the "get the weight back in case anything goes wrong" position. Once you are more comfortable you will start naturally going to the attack position. fill the gap back in reshape the lip a little and just hit it until it feels natural.

In my honest opinion you can take advice from internet shredders all day long if you like, but there's no substitute for airtime if you want to be comfortable on jumps of all shapes and sizes. It might seem a bit odd but if you're anywhere near a decent skills area, i.e at the car park of a trail centre, council/private pump track or BMX track or even round here there are a few official areas in woodlands and tacked onto leisure centre grounds, they're the best place to start.

Get along to one with a few mates for the day, take some butties and drink and spend the whole day sessioning everything there, experimenting with different take offs, landings and slowly working up to the bigger jumps.

Won't happen overnight but it's all about practice. It might just be me but I've never really been able to glean any useful info about riding technique from the internet, STW is a great resource for riding, technical and other info but in terms of building up your own skills you can't beat just getting out there and doing it.

I had a similar problem with big drop offs, I eventually conquered my fears when my friends told me to look ahead to the next obstacle and not at the landing, this helps settle the nerves as I was worrying too much about the landing and going too slow (speed is your friend). Anyway if your not scaring yourself you wouldn't bother doing it right 🙂

Tom

The fear factor is perfectly natural, it's just your brain calculating the dangers and your chances of getting hurt. a simple survival instinct which is in all of us to differing degrees.
the trick is to override the irrational part of the brain and remind yourself that you've already done the hard work and cleared the gap.

I usually use a rule of 3's. first one is considered lucky, 2nd one is getting then hang of it, the 3rd I've got it.
mind you it doesn't stop me from bricking it the whole time, but i'd prefer to be scared and alive than reckless and broken.

the best thing to do is not stop trying, to stop trying is to admit defeat (not on that one jump but all jumps) which wills et you back even further

good luck to you mate

You went back and hit it six times. I'd say that was the way to go.

Maybe, and this is possibly stupid, but maybe you should practice landing short, roll in slow and with a pop land rear wheel in the gap and front on the landing. Then you'll realise that you can survive about the most serious thing that could go wrong, and realise how slow you have to go for it to even go that wrong.

(I wouldn't recommend it on a 30 foot gap hit at 40mph.)

And then put lego in the gap for all future runs.

Full marks for balls (ie bigger than mine) but I'm afraid to say you're just riding your bike off that, nothing in the way of technique! Proper technique involves a bunny hop, compressing and rotating into the bottom then standing up/forward and popping up by the lip (comments above about the shape are quite correct). Once you've got the pop you don't need the speed. Don't get me wrong, I can't do it for toffee but I'm trying to learn by focusing on technique off/on a table top, gap jumps are way down the line.

Looking at the last video suggests it's more of a natural trail than a jump.

You don't look to be actually jumping, rather assuming a position on the bike and let it ride over the feature.

Nothing wrong with this as a lot of scary looking features of particularly trail centres can be ridden over in exactly the same fashion, but from the small section before the up section you seem to be quite rigid and not really preparing to pump/launch off a lip.

I think the jump needs to be more of a jump so it forces you to approach it correctly, then confidence will come as you jump rather than ride over the gap.

Easier said than done of course.

Edit. Exactly as the above post that appeared whilst I was fighting with apples wonderful auto type carp.

I think you seem to be going about it the right way.

Looking at the video though - it looks like the shape of the ramp flattens off at the lip and then it kind of becomes a drop to the landing.
I would try and shape it more so that it's a constant gentle scoop, and the angle of bike is more upwards at take-off.

But I'm a bit of an enthusiastic amateur, so take it for what it is. Always love jumping, but never really have the time to practice other than on natural xc rides.

Edit: Twonks beat me to it.

Looks like some shaping to be done tonight on the way back from work. Cheers for the words of encouragement.

Be careful if you make a lip on the jump as is and then hit it at the same speed.

You'll likely overshoot some way and hit a tree 😉

I'd fill in the middle, make a lip and practice from a slow pace jumping off before increasing pace.

A side on video of the actions and results as speed and form improve, rather than the length of the jump.

Ultimately it doesn't matter if there is a big foamy landing pit or a pit of foaming sharks in the middle - for now you need to focus on the jumping aspect. Therefore I'd forget about the 'gap' section for now as it will only add to the pressure.

Getting the jump form correct is the main focus.

you are sitting back and reacting late. you are basically getting across it with speed

your first mistake was filling in the middle.

Cheers Jedi, I might have to book in at some point when cash flow has resumed.

In the meantime I'll just keep practicing...not sure about hitting it with the hardtail tonight though.

Speed is always your friend when hitting jumps... and even if you bail, looking at that the dirt it's not going to hurt that much. Just move those boulders 😉

what Jedi said ^^^

you could use a bit of a lip on that as well, look at Jedi's site & check out the shape of the take offs...

Go faster and look well ahead at where you want to land. Once you establish you are comfortable in the air and can land with either the rear wheel slightly down or level and absorb the impact you can then aim to land on the down slope and work out how your body should be in the air. Overshooting that jump is not a problem.

looking at teh vid you need to be thinking about gettin the front wheel down first. push the front into teh downslope.

this will also bring your body position more central. which helps with wot jedi said further up.

a good practice for this is to practice bunnyhopping into the angled drop kerbs on footpaths to allow for driveways. as the kerb is short you need to get the front on it before the back. same technique for landing a double. There are some gooduns near us with a series of drives that can be ridden like a wee rythm section.

Not read the whole thread but;

I broke my hip 'learning to jump' on my own.

Luckily I didn't have to wait too long for a random bod to wander past and get help but it's a lesson that's stayed with me - if you're on your own don't try stuff you think is even 70:30 for success.

You hit it 6 times even though you were a 'bag of nerves'. Just hit it another 20 until you're so bored of it you can't feel nervous.

Get booked on a skills course if you want to learn properly. Best money you can spend if you are serious about riding well.

I did Neil D's jumps and drops this summer and whilst I wouldn't say I am going to be entering Red Bull Rampage anytime soon, I now have the confidence and (admittedly not perfect) technique to hit jumps and drops that only a few months ago I wouldn't have done.

If you don't have the cash or desire to go on a course, take it back to basics... Learn to manual - properly.
Then practice off kerbs/lips/drops.
Then learn to pump - properly.
Then practice pumping your way round a pump track, twice, thrice, without pedaling.
Then learn to bunny hop using these skills.
Then - and only then - practice, and practice, using your pump/bunny hop to get over a tabletop or small jump. You shouldn't need hardly any speed to clear one. Pump the transition (upslope) and bunny hop over the tabletop.

Once you've practiced and practiced this, go bigger, go higher and go gappier. The only variable should be your speed depending on how big the object is you want to clear - your technique will remain the same.

As I say though, get booked on a course - it's not the only way, but it's the best way.

you dont need to manual or bunny hop to jump

And we've all got over the fear of our first gap. Built it back up to a table and then removed dirt from the middle as we got more confident. Been able to do it three days running now!