Finally got the courage to jump (with pics)

MacAndCheese

I've recently been trying to push my riding by doing some harder trails with drops and jumps. I have always been pretty nervous about jumps. Anyway I went to some local bombholes yesterday and found the perfect learner jump, with a nice long down slope going down a hill so you don't have to worry about under or over-shooting (my main fear). Went back today and managed to convince my girlfriend to bring a camera. I know the couple of feet air is going to look small to the more experienced jumpers, but it felt pretty high to me!

Piccys:



Got a few shoots in sequence so you can mock my technique (I welcome any critism)






All in all had a great time, but pushing the bike back up over and over sucked!!:



Anyone else been having any airbourne experiences this weekend? or beaten any fears in their riding?

The Northern Monkey

yay... looks good

Broonster

Yup, the first 3 or 4 drops & jumps at the start of Spooky Wood at Glentress kill me everytime Doesn't help that everyone that's waiting to go down the trail (picnic benches at the start of the trail) stand and watch you too! :oops:

I WILL nail those suckers soon!

Anonymous

Just convince yourself that your bike is MORE than up to the job (which it is) and go mental. That's what the wolf ridges are for!

Joe_Pineapples

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Just convince yourself that your bike is MORE than up to the job (which it is) and go mental. That's what the wolf ridges are for!

Actually that seems to work quite well for me . . to a point.
Usually a painful and/or expensive point.

fourcrossjohn

how my accident happened

kangaroo

certainly looks like your getting plenty of air to me. nice jump

MacAndCheese

Yep, have to say the bike has helped a great deal, did a couple runs that were a bit too rear heavy, and one scarey one that was way too front heavy, but the bike seems to have lapped it up. Very stable in the air. I brought this bike specifically to up the ante, and so far hasn't stopped putting a smile on my face!

BurtonM

Spooky wood can be rolled, so just think to yourself, if i dont get air or if i bottle it last minute, i can still roll it.

Anonymous

MacAndCheese wrote:

Yep, have to say the bike has helped a great deal, did a couple runs that were a bit too rear heavy, and one scarey one that was way too front heavy, but the bike seems to have lapped it up. Very stable in the air. I brought this bike specifically to up the ante, and so far hasn't stopped putting a smile on my face!

How are you finding the pikes? I found them getting out of their depth very easily.

ride_whenever

I got some air today, hit a speed-bump at 30mph and flew!!!!!

Also up in the woods got a little bit, but it was really wet so wasn't confident hitting the kickers because turning to avoid the tress would have been interesting. With a sharp off-camber, i didn't make the turn at all, wet leaves just send me into a massive sideways drift!

On the pikes, mine don't seem to get out of their depth, where are they struggling for you?

Joe_Pineapples

yeehaamcgee wrote:

MacAndCheese wrote:

Yep, have to say the bike has helped a great deal, did a couple runs that were a bit too rear heavy, and one scarey one that was way too front heavy, but the bike seems to have lapped it up. Very stable in the air. I brought this bike specifically to up the ante, and so far hasn't stopped putting a smile on my face!

How are you finding the pikes? I found them getting out of their depth very easily.

Perhaps Lyriks would be more appropriate. I've been using mine now for a couple of months and they've been fantastic and have handled everything that they've been thrown at.

Anonymous

I replaced the pikes with fox 36s now.
The damping and spring just seems to linear in the pikes, so that either on big hits, or when just riding absolutely flat out, they're either bottoming out, or too harsh. I prefer a fork with a more progressive feel, so they can be super-supple on the small stuff, but still handle the monster hits.

grumsta

Nice pics

Raymondavalon

MacAndCheese kudos to you there..
Good air and pics to prove it (as in the BikeRadar Forum if there's no photo, it didn't happen)
Looks like you had a good day all in and learned some new skills in the process, I'd certainly call that a success..

MacAndCheese

yeehaamcgee wrote:

MacAndCheese wrote:

Yep, have to say the bike has helped a great deal, did a couple runs that were a bit too rear heavy, and one scarey one that was way too front heavy, but the bike seems to have lapped it up. Very stable in the air. I brought this bike specifically to up the ante, and so far hasn't stopped putting a smile on my face!

How are you finding the pikes? I found them getting out of their depth very easily.

I found them hard to setup at first, but they seem pretty nice now after a month or so. They're the only long travel fork I've owned for a long time so nothing to compare with though. Think I would like to replace them foxes, but it won't be for at least 6 months due to cash flow.

jadamson

being 16 its hard to stay true to xc and trails when everyones jumping so i had a go a few weeks back and just lowered my saddle. i started to get the hang and got some small whips and handlebar turns in what i was chuffed about but i came of last week and now my leg has stitches and i cant cycle till late last week so its been 3 weeks! grr :evil:

point of this story is dont do what i did and get too cocky to quickly good luck!

Joe_Pineapples

I've been getting cocky for nearly 40 years! I don't plan on stopping now.

ride_whenever

I think i'll replace mine with some blackbox revelations or 36/32 talas...

Or i might just get them push'd depending on the relative prices i can get things at.

Joe_Pineapples

I think I'll just ride mine :?

ride_whenever

fair enough, i'm a compulsive ride upgrader, i'm always planning the next upgrade for one of my bikes.

Anonymous

jadamson wrote:

being 16 its hard to stay true to xc and trails

"Staying true" to XC and trails, isn't neccesarily staying true to mountain biking.
Just ride whatever's fun, and don't pigoenhole yourself.

supertwisted

Good stuff, I always feel a bit out of my depth on anything "wheels off".

Kudos to your missus too, those are some good photos, especially number 6 just as you're about to land it.

Northwind

Broonster wrote:

Yup, the first 3 or 4 drops & jumps at the start of Spooky Wood at Glentress kill me everytime Doesn't help that everyone that's waiting to go down the trail (picnic benches at the start of the trail) stand and watch you too! :oops:

They're all rollable, but that's actually the killer IMO because they're easier to jump than to roll, especially the very first one (not the step at the trailhead but the first actual drop/jump)... but once you've rolled them, you can't help but think of the lumpy rocks you ride over when you do it, instead of thinking "I'll just fly over those". But even if you come up short it's not too bad. Good Game is good practice for "trail jumps", I tried to practice in the jump park bit but they're such perfect smooth jumps it just doesn't seem to apply on the trails, to me, same skills but different headspace.

Steve_F

Northwind wrote:

Broonster wrote:

Yup, the first 3 or 4 drops & jumps at the start of Spooky Wood at Glentress kill me everytime Doesn't help that everyone that's waiting to go down the trail (picnic benches at the start of the trail) stand and watch you too! :oops:

They're all rollable, but that's actually the killer IMO because they're easier to jump than to roll, especially the very first one (not the step at the trailhead but the first actual drop/jump)... but once you've rolled them, you can't help but think of the lumpy rocks you ride over when you do it, instead of thinking "I'll just fly over those". But even if you come up short it's not too bad. Good Game is good practice for "trail jumps", I tried to practice in the jump park bit but they're such perfect smooth jumps it just doesn't seem to apply on the trails, to me, same skills but different headspace.

Watch out for the first rocky jump at the top of spooky after the drop. It tends to send me into the landing very nose happy. I probably only get it right 50% of the time and the rest result in brown short moments! The last one before the first corner is a better one to practice on.

Best thing to do is to session it pushing back up. Gives you a chance to get the confidence up and try a little more every time. Same applies to the whole of spookies.

Anonymous

Spooky woods is ace, but the berms were in a bad way when I was there at the start of september. Made it quite hard to keep your flow.

MacAndCheese

supertwisted wrote:

Kudos to your missus too, those are some good photos, especially number 6 just as you're about to land it.

Cheers, she did a good job - one of the first times she's used my SLR as well.

jadamson
As has all ready been said, there's no rule to what you should/shouldn't ride. And I totally understand where you coming from about getting cocky....I had a brown trouser moment when I focused more on trying to twist the bars (x-up??) than get level for the landing. Really want to learn how to pull the bike horizontally up to the side (they do it all the time on the Atherton project) used to be called "laying the table" when I was younger...but probably got a cooler name now.

Anonymous

nah, it's still called a tabletop

kangaroo

if you only managed to do it slightly would it be called a coffee table

Beardface

Looking good Mac, niceley done! You'll be nailing road gaps before you know it!

It looks like a great practise jump.. something I keep looking for, in vain.. (but props again to your lady for getting the pics!)

Panter

I can only echo all the above, great jumps and great pictures 8)

3rd from bottom in particular looks really good..........and high 8)

Cheers,

Chris