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Trying to teach the other half something I can do without thinking.
Anything that I'm missing?
Compress front suspension at lip >
As front wheel goes off move body weight back >
Straitening arms until back wheel rolls off.
How did you learn?
Kerbs!
Kerbs and remember you are pushing the front end away rather than picking it up
Start small, work up and then...braaaap!
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Compress front suspension at lip >
Oh god no
Unless you are rolling off a drop really slowly, trials style, then just roll the bike forward like you were pumping a pump track.
Drops are much easier than jumps btw, your bike will almost ride itself off a drop.
Just ride off the bloody thing.
I practiced.
Keep showing my son Fab's video which seems to be helping.
Then screams after faceplanting
Blimey what's up with you lot 8 posts in and no one has said I should send her to Jedi 😉
She won't go fast and telling her to huck won't happen.
So need to get a slowish technique dailled.
Going slow is the best way to hurt yourself, but if not, then she needs to learn to pedal hop. Which is way way harder to do.
I like arrive, just going a little bit too slowly, so i'm unbalanced, then as the front wheel drops over the edge, i'll stiffen right up, and have a panic grab of the front brake, and as the bottom bracket gets hooked up on the edge, i lunge over the bars, landing on my face at the bottom, and being joined by the bike, hitting me in the plums a few seconds later. classy riding 😉
Once she's learnt the push to unweight the front end off kerbs etc, the same is applied to drops.
Fast up to the edge then try and pick a line to roll down without really knowing where to be
Then jump towards the ground - arms outstretched -and await the bike landing on top of you
Just tell her to get her arse over the back wheel and the bike will do the rest. But start off with kerbs, then find some bigger kerbs........
Just tell her to get her arse over the back wheel and the bike will do the rest. But start off with kerbs, then find some bigger kerbs........
Definitely not the way to do it...
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/395962
mtbrill says you're all talking shite
I learned riding flat out off the steps at school on to the hockey pitch. I was just told by a mate to make sure the back wheel hit the floor first.
I'd probably shit myself if I tried to do something similar these days.
How to:
How not to:
The most useful thing I've ever heard on this topic is to imagine that you're pushing a shopping trolley off a cliff 🙂
Definitely not the way to do it...
The funny thing about that video (which is definitely worth watching if you haven't) is that he really doesn't do too much wrong. The body positioning is OK and he looks quite comfy on the bike, but it goes so so wrong. He's just going a bit slow and fails to appreciate the slight rise on the lip.
In that situation where you feel the front end falling away there's not a lot you can do. The only option is pedal HARD and try and lift the front a bit, but it takes a reasonable amount of presence of mind to do that.
I appreciate you predicament SOAP - I find it very hard to teach things I 'just do'.
As far as I can tell it's the lack of active push. Sure the weight is back and the arms extended, but it's a static position rather than a push.
The way I was told to do it by a coach was imagine where you want your front wheel to be and then push it into that position. This unweights the front wheel and stops it dropping over the edge.
No, he's way to far over the back to early on - his body positioning is horrible. That meant the wheel dropped away from him.
I use the supermarket trolley push method. Biggest problem (of many) that I have is riding them cold. On about the third or fourth go I'm ok but that isn't very useful trail riding. Practice on everything; unweight the front wheel over twigs, stones, puddles then if a nice drop comes along there's a really remote outside chance I'm ready for it.
that stu fall show the issue with the lift IMHO
they lift the front wheel at a slow speed clearing the edge and them it is falling to the ground before the back even reaches the edge.
that pink video looks like he just rides off the eddge without doing anything at all but the weight is to far back
This sounds very similar to p20 and I. He just rides them and we have spent hours in the park doing manuals and he can't seem to get me to understand (my fault not his) - my front wheel has only ever lifted an inch!
Smaller drops like rocks or big roots you can just go into with arms nice and bent and push the front wheel down over it though, keeps you on the ground and nice and controlled, using your arms to absorb the drop in the trail.
Smaller drops like rocks or big roots you can just go into with arms nice and bent and push the front wheel down over it though, keeps you on the ground and nice and controlled, using your arms to absorb the drop in the trail.
Good point about smaller drops. Not that i'm 'Mr Drop' or anything, but i found the bigger the drop the less you need to push. Sometimes you've a bit of distance to travel and you'd want the front up for that particular bit. Pushing too much, too soon is probably up there with doing eff all in the main [i]reasons to crash on drops[/i] list.
if she learns best through reading, the vast variety of thoughts or variously talented riders, let this thread run and let her read it.
else send her to jedi
Hate to use the stw cliche of the skills day, but on a skills day we were doing a fast drop of about 50 cm perhaps, I did the usual push the bars away weight back thing to lift the front wheel over and got told off, and was taught to just lift the front wheel as you go over the drop, because its a small drop you land in a much better position to carry on charging rather than landing with your weight still back. Works nicely.
Hate to use the stw cliche of the skills day, but on a skills day we were doing a fast drop of about 50 cm perhaps, I did the usual push the bars away weight back thing to lift the front wheel over and got told off, and was taught to just lift the front wheel as you go over the drop, because its a small drop you land in a much better position to carry on charging rather than landing with your weight still back. Works nicely.
Who the hell told you that? You can still move forward again and shape the bike, even off 50cm drops.
On proper fast drops you don't even really need to push the bike that far out in front, just a little push and you can more or less stay planted smack in the center of the bike.
Who taught you that Jim?
Seems odd.
you can manual off a drop and still land perfectly centred both wheels at a time. or was this a beginners skills lesson?
where was the drop?
aah love it 🙂 it was a session from two former world cup downhillers, at innerleithen. it's obviously a fast small drop technique, the point being that you land so quickly after going over the drop you don't want your weight to be shifted back still. it's not lifting the front wheel up in the air like before you do a manual or the start of a hop, more cancelling out gravity pulling the front end down as you go over the drop. if that makes any sense.
aah love it it was a session from two former world cup downhillers, at innerleithen. it's obviously a fast small drop technique, the point being that you land so quickly after going over the drop you don't want your weight to be shifted back still. it's not lifting the front wheel up in the air like before you do a manual or the start of a hop, more cancelling out gravity pulling the front end down as you go over the drop. if that makes any sense.
Just squashing it then as per Peatys vid, it's just the way you described it that confused us.
Which drop? and what was after it?
Remember, when moving your weight back, don't do it too early
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But if you do, just start running, it'll be fine
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makes perfect sense to get your wheels down as quickly as possible on "some" drops. others not much. the actual drops could be really similar it's what's after them that makes most difference.
some you'll want to manual over
others push down
others pre-jump
others launch to the best landing.
NW. that dude's weight isn't back. he's squatted down instead. maybe he had a particularly difficult to remove tugnut 😉
is that you going for a run then?
His weight is back, as well as dropped- if you look, the front wheel's already dropping and he's rotating with the bike. I got the perfect view from immediately behind him 😆 His cog was way further back than mine, just that he put it there about 2 minutes too early, like he'd seen photos of how to drop but never a video.
@Jim, ye of little faith! (super mega bloody slow, though, I didn't want to ride over the dead frenchman)
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Tom_W1987
No, he's way to far over the back to early on - his body positioning is horrible. That meant the wheel dropped away from him.
The crucial bit to remember, is once your arms are straight, they can't get any longer!
What i mean by this is that if you arms are locked straight out in front of you, if/when the front of the bike drops, then the handlebars pull on your arms, and your mass gets pulled forwards and over the bars.
And unless you got Mr Tickle arms, there will be NOTHING you can do about it. This is why it's so important to be properly centred and use a pump(linked to your speed, not the size of the drop) to dynamically unweight the front wheel, just for the period of time it takes for the rear wheel to get to the lip and drop off.
If you start too far back, too soon, it's only going to end one way. Unfortunately, the more scared of going OTB you are, the more you're likely to try to get back too soon, and hence the more likely you'll get pulled forwards and actually go OTB!
Have a look at Northwinds first photo, and you can see, that if the front wheel so much drops an inch, it'll be pulling the rider OTB!
in the first pic his weight is not properly back.
his cranks are level rather than rear pedal dropped. (which means he isn't pushing forward with his feet).
and his knees are bent too much. straighter would put his weight way further back.
classic 5:10/SPD poor footwork*
*Oh how I hate skillz course terminology but it's what folk here understand
in the first pic his weight is not properly back.
his cranks are level rather than rear pedal dropped. (which means he isn't pushing forward with his feet).
and his knees are bent too much. straighter would put his weight way further back.classic 5:10/SPD poor footwork*
How much more back can you get, his arms aren't far from being locked out? That's way to far back already! How do some of you guys not end up like Michael Schumacher? 😀
if you can't manual. I wouldn't necessarily expect you to understand just how far back you can get your weight. if you can manual well. you should be able to hold your front wheel an inch from the ground while rolling. think about how far back your centre of gravity has to be to hold this.