Tonight, just before dark, I snuck out for a half hour dusk blast on some tight local singletrack on my trusty hardtail. Normally, if I ride single track on it, I put spd pedals on, but since I was racing the darkness, I went with the flats that use for urban riding. It actually felt pretty good to ride as they have quite bitey pins… but mid ride, I tried to sort of launch off a little ledge, BUT the bike didn’t come with me… I stayed on, but fluffed the landing. If I had the spd’s on I’m sure I would have nailed it... but I’m not sure what to do with flats to get the bike to stay with me.
Is there a trick to it?
There is a few different techniques, based on what you are trying to do...
Bunny hop/huck drop
Imagine you are placing your bike on a shelf...and it is really heavy. You are going to put the front wheel up first and the rest of your bike is going to be slid up onto that shelf using the front wheel to take the weight. So, at the point you wish to launch from (eg edge of cliff, gutter, crack in driveway, puddle of shit and semen) raise front wheel like a mono and crouch your weight back. When you get the wheel "onto the shelf" transfer your weight forward onto the front wheel. You should be extending your arms as you spring your body upwards and then follow your body with your feet. The bike should tuck up under you (you may need to push back against the pedals a little to maintain pressure and contact with the bike. This sequence of actions should rock the bike forward onto the front tyre on an imaginary shelf...angle the bike for landing by dropping your hands (while holding the bars!) and rotating you weight forward towards the stem. Angle required will depend on the angle of the landing.
Dirt jump
Similar to the shelf technique, but the jump is there to help. As someone else has mentioned, compress into the jump. Your weight is activating the spring. At the take off you rise up...like the spring. Your arms move in an S shape -push into he ramp, rise up from the ramp, level off in the air and dip the nose to land. You can gain a lite extra height by pulling your body back and up from the lip.
Trail jump
Depending on the size...you can just roll off some and it be sweet. Other times compression is king. Let the jump do the work! The long ramp is there to guide you up into the air, compress into it and rise up at the end.
If youre having trouble staying connected to the pedals remember to push back against them. This also helps with a variety of tricks like whips, but not so much on crank flips and no footers.
There is also a useful thread on this in the DJ threads.
