4 Day Training Course
Day: 3 of 4 -- “Jumping”
Written By: Gary Semics


Jumping:

Jumping must be one of the most fun aspects of motocross, but it is also one of the most difficult things to master. Some of the reasons it’s difficult to learn, is that the timing is so critical… soil conditions and jump faces differ… and you can’t go halfway! You’re either jumping or you’re not. You can’t take a jump and leave one foot on the ground.

It’s just like you can’t steel second base and keep one foot on first. This is unlike say… cornering where you can slow down and put your foot out. Of course, the same learning strategies we’ve been using for cornering should also be used for jumping:

1. First, you have to understand the techniques, then…
2. Be able to do the techniques correctly, and thirdly…
3. Do them correctly repeatedly.

First, let’s separate and describe the basic techniques for jumping. Let me remind you that in order to advance to the level where you can do big doubles and triples, you definitely have to have the basics down. A lot of riders think they have the basics down but they really don’t.
 
Stationary Position Drill

Put your bike on a good firm stand. Stand on the footpegs and take your hands off the handlebars… just stand straight up, like you’re standing on the ground waiting in line at the bank. Now, just bend enough in your knees, hips, back and elbows to get your hands on the handlebars. While you do this you should remain as tall as possible, and your legs from your ankles to your knees should be vertical.

Your head should be straight up over the handlebar mounts. Now you are standing in the central location. This is where all your movements should come from, and this is where you should be as you approach the jump. While you’re in this position, your knees should be hugging the sides of the M/C and your feet position on the footpegs should be on the balls (between the toe and the arch). While you’re standing in this central location feel your full range of motion forward, back and up and down.

One Absolute Technique of Motocross is that your knees should always be gripping or at least toughing the sides of the M/C, helping you to hold on. The only place this in not beneficial is when you are air born. A second Absolute Technique is that if you’re not using the shifter or the rear brake, you should be on the balls of your feet.

There’s a simple test you can perform while in this stationary position to feel the positive effects of these two absolute rules: First, stand up on the footpegs and squeeze the seat with your knees… Now, let go of the handlebars and see how much you can move around on the bike. See the attached video clip for an example of what I mean.
Video Clip

Move forwards and backwards and side to side a little. Okay, now take your knees away from the sides of the bike and try moving. It feels like you’re going to fall off, doesn’t it? Holding on with your knees gives you a much more connected feeling to the bike, and takes stress away from your arms and shoulders.

Now we’ll perform a test for the balls of your feet technique. Stand on the bike again and position your feet on the footpegs so you’re standing on the balls of your feet. Now, bounce up and down as much as possible using your ankles and knees a little. Notice how much travel you have in your body suspension.

Now stand on the arches of your feet and do the same. Notice the body travel you just lost. Two other benefits of riding on the balls of your feet are: you won’t hit the shifter or brake by accident, and you won’t get your foot ripped off the foot peg in ruts, which is a common foot and knee injury.
Video Clip

You really don’t need to be on the arches of your feet unless you’re using the shifter or rear brake. The only exception to this rule is if you’re going to land very hard from a jump (like if you’re going to case it). In this case, you would want to be on the arches of your feet. If you were still on the balls of your feet, you may sprain or break your ankles.

This happened to Paul Perron’s brother, and in a rare and very extreme case, resulted in him not being able to ride anymore due to the damage it caused to his ankle. This is one of those techniques that takes a lot of practice to get comfortable and automatic with.

So as you’re approaching the jump, you should be standing on the balls of your feet. When you hit a jump, the suspension of the M/C compresses and then rebounds from the jump. If you just sit or stand there through this compression and rebound you will land on the front wheel or endo (go over the bars).

This is because the front will rebound first, and have nothing under it; the front wheel will be hanging in the air, and as the front wheel is hanging in the air, the rear wheel will rebound. This combination will send the front end down as you leave the jump and it will continue to go down more and more as you’re airborne. The steeper the jump face is, and the faster you hit it, the more this occurs.

Okay, so that’s what happens if you do nothing, just sit or stand there through compression and rebound. But of course, you’re not going to do that, you’re going to move. This movement coupled with throttle control as you rebound from the jump, will compensate for the endo effect I just described. This means that the most important part of the jump is the compression and rebound part, especially the rebound as you leave the ground. The way you control the jump is with your body movement and throttle control.

To execute the proper basic jumping technique, you should be standing in the central body position. As the rear wheel rebounds from the jump, you have to nudge your body position back, which will also cause you to nudge back on the handlebars. The steeper the jump face is and the faster you hit it, the faster and harder you will have to nudge back in order to make the bike fly level or how you want it to fly (front end high or low).
Video Clip

Okay, so that’s how your body movement controls the jump. Now, let’s take a look at how the throttle controls the jump. You see when you throttle off of a jump (accelerate off the jump), the throttle will also keep the front end up. So the more you throttle off a jump, the less you will have to nudge back with your body movements. And when you chop the throttle off as you rebound from the jump, the more you will have to rely on your body movements.

Two common problems many riders have, is either jumping with the front end too low or too high. So now you can understand that if the front wheel is too low, you’re not using enough throttle and/or you’re not moving back as you take off. If you’re jumping with the front end too high, you’re using too much throttle and/or moving back too much.

Action Practice Drill

Now we’ll take a look into the action practice drill for jumping. First of all, you should pick a safe easy-to-do jump. A tabletop or step-up is usually your two best choices. The jump should have a smooth face on it with enough lift to give you the effects of compression and rebound. For practicing these techniques, you don’t want a jump with ruts or bumps in it. Make sure you look ahead at the takeoff part of the jump early so you’ll be ready for it.

Once you have found a good practice jump, you’ll want to do the jump over and over again while concentrating on the proper techniques. Don’t try to do the jump as fast as you can or anything like that.

Slow down a little and be aware of all the proper techniques. After you get used to doing the jump the correct way, try approaching the jump a little faster so you have to slow down as you hit it. This way you will have the throttle off and have to rely on your body movements more.
Video Clip

Next, you can practice approaching the jump from a shorter and shorter distance. This way you will have to accelerate through the compression and rebound part of the jump in order to get the jumping distance you need. In this case, you will have to control the throttle more in order to keep the front wheel high enough, without getting it too high.
Video Clip

As I mentioned earlier, these are the basic jumping techniques. While this may sound like a simple basic technique -- It is a basic technique but it is not simple -- It is an important jumping foundation to build from. Remember that the steeper the jump face is, and the faster you hit it, the more precise you have to execute this technique.

Also by approaching fast and slowing down as you hit the jump, and by approaching it from a short distance and using a lot of throttle to nail the landing, you have a lot of technique to master before it’s too simple for you. As you practice these jumping methods more and more, your timing and automatic reflex reactions will get better and better. Then, you can advance to bigger jumps and more advanced jumping techniques.

So far, I’ve got you up in the air and off the jump… But what about the landing?! Well as you are taking off from the jump, you should have already made up your mind on how you want the bike to fly through the air (at what angle)… where you want the bike to land… and exactly how you want the bike to land, whether the front wheel lands first or the rear wheel lands first.

There is a little adjusting you can do while you’re in the air, but most of this is predetermined upon take-off. While you are airborne, your body position should come back to the center of balance. This center of balance position will depend on the angle of your bike (whether the front in low or high and whether the bike is straight or sideways).

The other slight adjustments you have while airborne deals with the centrifugal spinning force of the rear wheel. By locking up the rear brake while airborne, it will drop the front end. The faster the rear wheel is spinning, the more this effect will work. The opposite force of grabbing a hand full of throttle will lift the front end slightly. This is also known as panic revving.

Where you are going to land is 100% predetermined as you takeoff the jump. You cannot lengthen or shorten your landing once you are airborne. There are two ways to land, either with the front wheel first or with the rear wheel first.

The worst way to land is with both wheels at the same time… and if you want to make it even worse, land with the throttle off! This mistake will cause you to land harder, lose time and make the M/C bounce on the landing. And since the throttle is off, there’s a good chance it will bounce sideways.

You should land with the throttle on so the M/C will accelerate forward as you land. This will smooth out the landing, keep the bike straight, and of course, it’s faster.
Video Clip

An exception is if you want to slow down as you land (like for a corner). Then, you can land with the throttle off.
Video Clip

This way, the bike will be accelerating forward as the front-end lands. This will soften the landing and keep you straight.

All together, there are five techniques used for jumping:

1. Getting more height and distance -- This technique causes you to get more height and distance in order to clear obstacles.

2. Slowing down and getting back on the ground fast -- This technique keeps the airtime low and short.

3. Jumping lower, but still getting the distance -- This technique is a big time saver on jumps that are easy to clear.

4. Seat bouncing -- Seat bouncing is used when you have a very short run at a jump and you still need a lot of height and distance.

5. Throwing the bike sideways off the jump -- This technique keeps the bike low, gets you back on the ground fast and can set you up better for a corner.

As you can probably imagine, there just isn’t enough room here to detail each and every technique. If I did, this course would be called the 4 Day Mx Course because it would literally take 4 days just to download it!!! But, I’ve given you a lot more knowledge than a lot of other riders out there possess.

Gary Semics Motocross School & Videos - www.gsmxs.com

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Published on: 2006-03-06 (398 reads)