People don’t “go for a walk” by standing around in the woods and watching each other jump up and down.

I’ve just been “out for a walk” round Derwent Water, with my two year old.

That’s pretty much exactly what we did. It was great! 😆

[video]http:// youtu.be/VQUggbJ8RXI[/video]

Re:broken vid link above.. Is it van halen by any chance 😉

\m/ .I give up trying to post videos .

Go and spend a day learning the basics from Jedi in his field, then try to leave without a massive grin on your face.
You’ll get it then.

choppersquad
spend a day learning the basics from Jedi in his field

This^^ x10!

Like this in fact:

😆

I should also add, for anyone who can’t jump, yes you can, you just need to practice! I’m the worlds worst jumper, took me probably 2 years to ‘get’ it, but now i can jump. So if i can, you can too!!

Personally, I would go to someone who knows how to do it properly like Tom Dowie at Chicksands.

Sometimes people say they are “going mountain biking” but then just cycle to some jumps and stand around looking at the jumps and riding the jumps once every 10 minutes and getting really excited.

Yeah, these same folk aspire to snowboarding. When they hit the mountain they find a bowl then sit around talking about how great snowboarding is. Meanwhile, skiers are skiing.

Back to “why ride like this”, my favourite aspect of riding has to be … variety.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRvFJJ3SsGU[/video]
Some of the work that lurks in our hidden woods defy belief.

cyclelife – Member
Personally, I would go to someone who knows how to do it properly like Tom Dowie at Chicksands.

Is it time for biscuits?

Yeah, these same folk aspire to snowboarding. When they hit the mountain they find a bowl then sit around talking about how great snowboarding is. Meanwhile, skiers are skiing.

Except that most people, who never bother to sit around working on technique are shit riders.

The dirt jumpers I know can keep up with all but the fastest privateers on actual trails – and they hardly ever bother riding them. It’s a mixture of psychology and physicality that does it – these are people that send it big and really don’t care about lawn darting the ground with their heads from 20 foot up. Getting good at it, builds muscle memory and puts you in tune with your body in a way that just getting out for a ride – really doesn’t.

You lot might might snort, but you’d only ever see the back of them on any decent black run. The best of them, **** around on BMX’s and Motocross bikes as well – and end up on the World Cup DH circuit.

jumps just spurt you with a dose of adrenaline

My youngest lad jumping (learning) when he was about 10.

Fast forward to last years Hamsterley Beast when he’s 30..(nearly jumping)

I can’t/daren’t jump!

And I bet your lad can ride better than most on here Essel. Nothing like dossing around on your bike outside your house to build technique.

Great pics, reminds me to say thanks to my parents for giving me the opportunity to grow up riding.

😉

OP, thats the best opening post I’ve read in a long time. Proper laughed out loud – even the missus found it chortle worthy.

And I bet your lad can ride better than most on here Essel. Nothing like dossing around on your bike outside your house to build technique.

Cheers Tom. He’s slightly better than me that’s for sure! (I can wind him in on some climbs though!)
He did a bit of street trials & used to jump off bus shelters. Twerp!

Every time I have less than 1 wheel on the ground a little bit of poo comes out.

Doesn’t stop me though.

To keep you tube fresh with new crash vids?

The photo’s are way less dull than bike and view ones
[url=https://flic.kr/p/HxtZEY]IMG_5602[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr

For me bikes = play. I’m not the best jumper, but love kickers on the trail. I’ll never be great on big tabletops or doubles but that’s okay. I’m 42 but about 12 when I’m out on two wheels.

I love a natural jump/drop. I surpose I won’t attempt a made up gap jump as I don’t want to crash out spend any amount of time off the bike with an injury. If you can do em then do em.

I do remember myself and a mate age 14-ish (100 odd years ago) jumping 10ft/plus with a springy long board set on a stack of bricks using our ‘scramblers’ a bike built from an old racer with cow horn handle bars on them……

I love to jump, but i am spectacularly rubbish at them sadly…. Anything high and i’m likely on a trip to A&E afterwards. Which is a shame…. but it’s too painful a learning curve for me to do these days.

Is it time for biscuits?

Apparently not 🙂

zippy thanks for that vid, very cool trails. Most people cannot imagine how much work it is to get trails to that level. The trails riders I know spend every spare minute at the trails digging, sweeping, watering etc. and often sleep there as well under tarp.
Which makes it all the more gutting when they get ploughed.

Except that most people, who never bother to sit around working on technique are shit riders.

This.

Generally the same people that buy kit in the hope it’ll make them good*.

*Yes, I like new kit as much as the next man, but I am under no illusion that it’ll make me a better rider.

As your chances of a successful landing increase, so does the joying attained from jumping. If you don’t like the feeling of flying through the air, then do it for the aural pleasure – for it is surely the truth that this is the sweetest sound in all of bikingdom

[video]https://youtu.be/PAjJ7dGezUk[/video]

Oh! And that spot Zippy!!! Heaven on earth 😀

I like jumping!

Aye. Practice, practice practice. Nobody is predisposed to being good at jumping (or anything else), only predisposed to wanting to practice stuff to get better at it. If “natural talent” is a thing, that’s what it is.

There’s a general lack of the culture of repetition in MTB that dominates BMX, skateboarding, dirt jumps etc – lots of folk just like to ride big loops. Which is cool, but practicing specific skills is what makes you a better rider.

philbuh – Member 
Yeah, these same folk aspire to snowboarding. When they hit the mountain they find a bowl then sit around talking about how great snowboarding is. Meanwhile, skiers are skiing.

Sums up me then as a skier and not-very-jumpy mountain biker 😀

My frustration is to the weekend warrior crowd everything is about having a jump (preferably a gap jump) on every trail possible. My choice of fun fast flowy trails, even steep trails, is diminishing as I have to chicken run all the gaps. Tables would be fine, but tables aren’t cool, and I’m told they’re bad because they don’t encourage people to learn gaps (who said I wanted to learn gaps anyway?).

Anyway, I’m not in the cool gang and I still think ‘sick’ actually refers to being ill, so my opinion on the local trails doesn’t count.

Never want to spoil the fun though, but would be nice to have some consideration to those who aren’t big into the jumps, aka, can’t jump 😀 . Though I have been known to actually get the wheels off the ground occasionally.

Like the OP I’ve not really considered it essential to my kind of mountain biking. I’m more about getting out there and exploring. Big hills, steep trails, flat trails, rocks, roots, whatever, just ride. Just to me it doesn’t mean everything needs a jump in it also.

Jumps are where its at

@ cyclelife

ill open the biscuits

who are you saying doesnt know how to jump properly ?

I don’t mind some natural drops and small jumps (again, not very good at jumping), but it is getting a bit frustrating that a lot of new (man made) trails are designed around a load of doubles and tabletops – guess that’s what the kidz want, I suppose…

I suppose I’m not keen on doubles on XC trails and to be fair I think that would be the same whether I was good at them or not (I’m not). I don’t think drops and kickers have a place on XC trails either – unless there’s a chicken line, despite being comfortable with those. However, on DH trails I don’t see why there shouldn’t be doubles, big tables etc. Surely that’s part of the game?

This video explains it quite well..

[video]https://youtu.be/voNqjCAy6Sg[/video]

I’ll have a custard crème 😉

I didn’t say that someone doesn’t know how to jump – but, that someone mentioned, can jump extremely well and knows how to teach the correct skills involved.

TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – Member

I don’t mind some natural drops and small jumps (again, not very good at jumping), but it is getting a bit frustrating that a lot of new (man made) trails are designed around a load of doubles and tabletops

TBH a big part of that is that you can smash in a jump line pretty quickly with a 360 and a good driver, but digging interesting, natural-feeling, durable trail is a lot slower and more labour intensive and arguably harder. (also, this cuts both ways, if joe random goes into the woods with a shovel building a load of berms and tables is an epic job but he can carve out a #enduro trail in a fraction of the time… So if you’re the FC or someone wanting to add a trail it often makes sense to make the sort nobody else will)

Agree it’s annoying though. There used to be 2 jumps at the bottom of fort william that I couldn’t do properly and it drove me mental, I could ride all the hard stuff in decent style then I’d have to slow right down on the motorway.

Come to Bedgebury Forest. We’re not allowed to build any jumps there.

lemmy – Member 
Come to Bedgebury Forest. We’re not allowed to build any jumps there.

And get charged an outrageous amount for parking.