Pro Tips – Learn to Jump

How to safely ride jumps at your local bike park

A bike park is one of the best places to master new skills and grow as a rider, especially when you go consistently. Riders often show up to a bike park wide-eyed and nervous, but by the end of the day they find themselves skying their bikes to the moon like in E.T. Bike parks are designed to allow riders to naturally progress from easy trails with lots of rollers to pro-level trails with big jumps and gaps. You can quickly spot the riders who spend a lot of time at their local bike park as you watch them gracefully ride their bikes over jumps and sail off drops. Meanwhile, the first-timer is stiff, nervous and not mentally prepared. Bike parks should be a fun experience for riders of all ages, and every lap should end with a group high five. To help you have the best experience possible the next time you head to a bike park, we asked some of the best bike-park riders in the world how they approach jumps safely. Follow these tips and you’ll be riding jumps like the pros in no time.

KYLE STRAIT—Multi-Time Red Bull Rampage Winner and Gravity Racer

Take it easy and always do a sight lap before hitting any jumps. I don’t know how many riders I’ve seen go too hard into a jump and end up cartwheeling down the other side. Go chill and sight-check every jump before you approach it.

Keep your body centered over your bike. Body position is a big topic on its own, but if you stay centered, you’ll be a lot safer than if you lean too far forward or too far back.

Never expect a bike-park jump to be perfect. Some jumps may have a long run that will give you way too much speed; others will require you to pedal into them. It will take time to develop the skills required to judge how much speed you need to clear a jump. Take it slow and work your way up.

MIKE METZGER—Godfather of Freestyle Motocross, Downhill Racer and Mountain Bike Instructor

As a bike instructor at Snow Summit, I discourage riders from hitting jumps until they are confident enough in their abilities to do so. If you’re not confident in your riding, then you shouldn’t go out and send it. It’s also super important to warm up and take it easy on the first lap.

Many riders drive up the mountain super excited to go ride and rush straight to the pro line and try to send the biggest jumps. You wouldn’t go to a moto track and rip full throttle the first time you’re there, so why would you do it on your mountain bike? Know the trail before you hang it out on the jumps.

The best thing to do when you get to a bike park is warm up. I can’t stress it enough. Get the blood flowing and be confident in your bike skills. Remind yourself that you want to ride the park all day and have fun.

After you’ve mastered the basics of mountain biking and want to learn how to ride jumps, try signing up with a coach or an instructor who will watch you hit the jumps and tell you how to approach that jump better the next time around. It will be easy for an instructor to see if you’re leaning too far forward or back, or if your rebound is set too fast, causing you to endo, or if you need more or less speed.

BRIAN LOPES—Mountain Bike Legend, Multi-Time World Champion and Hall of Fame Inductee

Start on a tabletop jump so you can land on top and work your way to the landing.

Make sure the jump has a gradual take-off—not too steep and nothing with a quick transition. Also, make sure the landing is gradual. The longer the landing, the better, so you don’t have to pinpoint your landing.

Go slow at the beginning, since you are on a tabletop jump and can land on top. Get the feel of the jump so you will get a feeling for the take-off. Gradually increase your speed as you feel comfortable until you are landing backside.

JILL KINTNER—Olympic BMX Medalist, National and World Champion, Multi-Time Queen of Crankworx

Jumping is one of the most fun and rewarding skills to master. The three most important aspects of jumping successfully are technique, timing and speed. Jumps will vary in size and trajectory, so knowing the angle of the take-off will somewhat determine your speed and technique when you go to hit it. If you’re new to jumping, find a mellow tabletop or a small kicker to flat ground to get the basics of take-off and landing. Start with flat pedals to make sure you understand how important the timing with your feet is.

Compression with your body

A neutral riding position is key. If you have established a solid neutral position on your bike, this should be fairly easy. Neutral is how you cruise around on your bike. To get there, basically lock out your arms and legs to stand up tall, then use a slight bend in your knees and elbows. Keep equal pressure on your feet, and keep your eyes up. From there, try to find the full range of neutral, which is lowering your body straight down as much as you can. Imagine pushing down on a spring to preload it, because essentially you are doing the same thing. It’s also like doing a squat. Open your hips to get low, keeping your spine neutral and your pedals level. Next, try doing little bounces on flat ground to see if you actually are weighting both wheels equally. You have to coil to jump and lift, so bend your arms and legs equally. Keep your torso in the same neutral position and use mostly your legs to spring up or unweight; your arms should follow. You will use this technique as the forces compress you up the lip of the jump to pop from.

Weight shift

As you come into a jump, be in neutral. Then, as you go up a lip, your bike will follow the same angle, so you will counter that force by shifting forward a bit and letting your arms bend accordingly. At this point you will have automatically transferred most of the weight from your arms to your legs, which is good.

That little compression where the ground goes from flat to uphill should be the automatic place you bend your knees and arms. Once both wheels are on the uphill lip and you approach the top, use your legs to spring off and unweight your bike. To make a smooth arc in the air, you kind of claw with your feet to pull yourself forward.

Spot the landing and try to match the angle with both wheels. Let your bike land first, then absorb the rest with your arms and legs equally while being strong in your core. Keep your eyes up and looking ahead. Since you are pointing downhill to get the transition, your body will have to shift back a little. This kind of keeps equilibrium with the angles. It’s a neutral position relevant to the angle you are on. Being loose and relaxed is super important as well. So, if you can give yourself cues to breathe and be loose, that is good.