my balls have shrivelled since I was a kid and although I'd love to fly through the air with carefree abandon to the consequences, something says NO WAY!
just wondered if anyone had conquered this skill after the age of 45?

yeah me and a few of my mates are 40 or over

Jedi ..I know you are a skilled rider but presume you learnt these skills when you were much younger . I'm really wondering whether anyone has started learning these skills at this age and done it successfully.

I might have only been 44 or so but I learnt to jump a bike recently. I wouldn't say I was able to fly thru the air with the greatest of ease but I can jump.

No grace, elegance or style but both wheels in the air

Started 50+ here. Pads and building up slowly in difficulty but ever higher, harder, faster etc… 😉

Do what you enjoy!!!

Cheers
Paul

kaiser – I share your reservations but, for my 50th birthday I'm having a day at Gisburn with Ed-O. I'm hoping he can teach me to fly with confidence. I'll let you know how it goes!

i first rode shore stuff in 2003 then built herts shore

We get folk of all ages learning how to deal with jumps, drops etc. Oldest was 73 so 45-55 isn't unusual.

http://www.forestfreeride.co.uk

Stuart

one of the group i coached today was 55,

Yes taught myself couple of years ago.even better now i have 09 remedy.
Never had a problem with jumping motobikes.You just need to build up slowly.The problem is when you tackle the stuff you need 100% commitment otherwise if you are in two minds then things can go wrong very quicky.

Jumps?

At my age?

Any type of jump at 45 would be great!

I started at the local dirt jumps last year at 38, clearing doubles tidily now so a bit younger but go on go for it 🙂

I'm trying but still lacking the cojones. Trouble is that if you fly you are going to crash and the older you get, the easier you break and the longer you take to fix.

Have taught myself to properly bunny hop water bars this year though

I started very young, then a few years back and a monster crash during race practice at whistler which put me in a wheelchair. It was 2 years before I could ride again and no my wedding veg sucks up into my body at the sight of a road gap. Its been a long summer of slowly building back up the confidence to hit jumps at speed but I'm getting there. So next tyear I am aiming for to be flying again. Year after racing again.

It does matter what age you are its just a matter of slowly building up to bigger and therefore faster jumps. get some good protective gear and keep hitting the jumps it wont take long before your flying, and then you can start tricking stuff.
North shore is all balance so practice track standing without using your brakes. Ride along keeping your wheels between the yellow lines or on the top of curb stones, also try and ride slow and fast. again its all confidence when you are going to try some shore stuff under no circumstances think you will fail if you do you will hesitate and thats when you'll fall off, its the same with a jump. Just go for it if you stack so be it get up dust yourself down, stop the bleeding and go do it again.
Over summer I stacked so often I went through three sets of body armour, two bikes, 120 stitches, and 100's of pain killers but so what its the price you pay to get airborne and silly.

I started dirt jumping at around 35. Not done it for a while now but I was happily doing big doubles for quite a while. really enjoyed it an rarely hurt myself terribly. Worst I managed was a couple of broken ribs.

I learned to jump small doubles at 37. Which impressed me at least…. 🙂

It's a useful skill to have, surprisingly, as is given me confidence to do sillier stuff in general riding.

I can do a 2-3ft drop off if the 'feeling' is right too….

Hi did a jumps and drops course at aston hill 2 yrs ago, fitted flats and now happy to do 6foot drops and about 6 foot doubles if easy. full face and what ever makes you feel safer so you dont hesitate. If your not feeling it move on and come back with mates who will "encorage" you. works for me. btw i'm 39 😉

I used to jump quite a bit when I was younger I wasn't particularly good and always got the fear which is probably what stopped me being good. But I want to re-learn to jump and hopefully get better at it than I used to be.

I know its not ideal but could I learn on a 6" fs to start off and then maybe move on to a HT and a BMX if I ever get smooth enough? A mate of mine used to be crash test dummy on all the jumps we made on his 222 so I guess it can be done.

If so then the question is to propedal or to not propedal?

I did the training session with Jedi yesterday (I'm 45), Steve, who is 55 was loving his new found jumping skill and grinning like a teenager.
I think when you get older you become more cautious, but with someone to provide coaching and encouragement you can overcome the fear and really enjoy it.

tonto, i didnt realise you were on here.
glad you enjoyed the session yesterday. was good to see everyone riding so well at the end of the day compared to the beginning 🙂

Dirtynap said

I started very young, then a few years back and a monster crash during race practice at whistler which put me in a wheelchair. It was 2 years before I could ride again.

Over summer I stacked so often I went through three sets of body armour, two bikes, 120 stitches, and 100's of pain killers but so what its the price you pay to get airborne and silly.

Yup,

that really sells it to me.

Do some yoga to build core strength and flexibility. IMHO it makes it hurt a bit less when you crash.