What are we doing wrong - Please Help

theshrew

I have only been out on our bikes a few times so far. Everytime i have im certainly growing with confidence, speed etc

Ive had a problem with my feet on the peddles after a jump.

Normal jumps when i take off etc its all fine the problem seems to come when i have been over a double. With being quite new ive not grown the balls to jump a double yet so have been rolling trying to pump over them. When i do this my seem to come off the peddles. Normally they land back on them but once or twice my feet have missed luckily my bottom landed on my seat.

My friend said he is also having the same issues.

So what are we doing wrong ? How can we stop this ?

cooldad

Practice

Neily03

Toes down for jumps, heels down for drops.

ride_whenever

Neily03 wrote:

Toes down for jumps, heels down for drops.

This, or learn to bunnyhop!

theshrew

I can do bunnys boing boing boing

Will try the toe thing then thanks

theshrew

cooldad wrote:

Practice

Your my hero, thats a great help !

The reason i asked is so i can practice, BUT im obviously doing something wrong. I want to practice doing things CORRECTLY.

Thanks for your time and effort in helping me out :oops:

cooldad

You said you were having problems rolling over doubles, but not jumping. Practice - ie take them slowly and get the feel, and then try a bit faster. Learn to absorb the shock with your body and use your legs as shocks, then your feet won't bounce.
This is something you get with practice.
I just shortened it a bit in my previous post.
But glad to be your hero - my autograph costs though.

Where are my stabilisers?

Yeah, sounds like you're not absorbing the bumps with your knees if you're coming off the pedals when the bike isn't leaving the ground.

Jedi

you're not pumping correctly. also where is the pedal in relation to the sole of the foot? kicking pedals away is common for riders who rode spds then try flats.

theshrew

Thinking about it after what has been said i think im probably pumping with just my upper body and not my legs.

I have my peddles level with the balls of my feet on them.

benpinnick

You're likely stiffening up (with anticipation) as you hit the double, which means that the inertia created by the shifting bike goes straight through your body and into you. As the bike comes up to meet you your bounced off of it.

Try riding around in the 'attack' position more. This is a position something like this:

Pedals level, leading foot forward. If you dont know what is your leading foot, have someone shove you from behind (seriously) while your feet are inline with your shoulders. The foot you put out to save you flying forward is your leading foot. It will always be the same one. You should always ride with this foot forwards when not pedalling.

Knees bent a little. Not so bent you look like an ape, but enough to give you some spring in your legs. Even a full susser can't beat the legs for suspension.

Arms and upper body - keep your elbows out and in line with your shoulders and bars. Imagine if you had a giant toilet roll you were trying to carry on the bike, between your arms. This would create roughly the same position.The purpose of this is to be able to easily manage the constantly changing distance from your upper body to the bars. Again, no fork in the world can beat the suspension your arms can create.

Relax your hands, and check your brake position. Levers should be inline with your arms in the attack position. Don't grip the bars too tight. Doing so reduces the amount of movement you can effect with your arms when you ride over large bumps or jumps.

Finally, practice pumping on the flat to get used to the movements you need to do. Flinging the bike around underneath you while going along on the flat (dropping it to either side, or pumping the bike by flinging it forward) helps train your body to get used to all the positions you'll incur in the rough stuff and jumps. It might look odd, but you'll quickly learn how to ride the bike 'relaxed'. This will mean that you can intuitively dampen the effects of the trail without thinking about it. Soon you'll be riding like a god, and your friends will be jealous.

Jedi

Pedal axel should be behind ball of big toe

popstar

Watch few of those vidz to see clearer picture of how to properly ...

Campbell coaching info about heels/feet
The master himself Jedi mental tricks.

To be honest, Pro's won't and can't teach you over e-net forums without actually seeing how and what you ride. It's kind of Mickey mouse stories going on with that advice. Don't want to offend helpfull folk but thats how it works. OP, if you can raise some cash towards your riding better book a skillz course!

If you are young etc it would even be cheaper and safer for your superiors to pay for you, I don't wish you anything wrong at all but that's from my EXP seeing injured kidz on jumps/trails doing or experimenting stupid stuff without realising what they are doing.

Amen.

theshrew

Thanks for the advice fellas. I think im doing most things correct apart from using my legs ive been keeping them pretty straight ish.

Some great info cant wait to get out and give it another bash now. Confidence is growing fast ( more like getting back to be what it was 15 years ago )

NatoED

try and ride so your head and body stay level and the bike flows under you . really suck up the jumps with your legs and stay supple . Imagine that your arms and legs are and extra 2 foot of suspension travel . stay relaxed and calm , let the bike move under you . If you keep looking where your going with your head up and not thinking about the bike it will then all flow . if you want to learn doubles then place a big thick board over the gap with something to support the middle so it becomes a table top and you wont hook up if you come up short .

what shoes do you run ? It can make a massive difference. I used to run Vans Waffle soles when i did DJ and Trials , found they had the best grip. Check your pedals to see if the pins are ok or buy a cheap set of wellgos V8 copies. Don't be afraid of letting that bike pitch and roll under you . If you stay straight where you want to be so will the bike.

theshrew

Thats probably another good point i only wear football trainers at the moment ( the gap on the laces are really small so they help keep my feet dry )

richg1979

i used to have this problem, either getting bounced off or leaving the bike mid air.

i found the cure was to just loosen my legs up a bit with knees bent and dont do anything with legs or feet and just go with the bike off the jump dont try and pump or hop with legs or feet.

i found toes up or down made no diffrence at all.