[Daniel(Canada)]

When I jump, I can hit the 1st a set relatively smoothly, but then all my speed dies, and I can never make the 2nd jump. What's the trick to carring speed? My only bike is a Bighit. Is is possible to dirtjump effiently at all with this bike, or is that the reason I slow down so much? Also, people tell me to pump into the landing. What exactly is meant by this? Thanks for the help.

Daniel

 

[shootr]

There are probably a number of diff. reasons that you don't carry your speed, but the "pump" is definetly one of them.

If you tend to land far down on the tranny, you will probably be very tense, and that tension (inl your body), causes the energy to be transfered almost directly downwards, in to the ground, (and it's reaction is soaked up by the susp.), this occurs, because you are "reaching" and trying to stick the landing with your legs..

to pump your landings you have to concentrate on landing fully on the tranny, and actually keeping your knees bent on the landing, this makes the landing softer, transfering less energy down...when you have actually touched down, you begin bending your knees slowly so that you sink lower while travelling down the tranny and across the flat, then you begin straightening your legs compressing the bike as you enter the transition of the next jump, this will propell you up..

this is akin to pumping your legs when you are on a swing, like when you were younger and wanted to go high, you would transfer the energy forward instead of downwards, causing you to have more speed across the bottom, letting you go higher than you were at the begining of your osscillation..
I hope that helps.

 

[axel]

shootr said it pretty good, the only other thing is that you want to nose into the tranny of the landing, so both wheels land at the same time.and a much too simplified definition of pumping is "pushing your bike through the tranny."

 

[monkeyboy424]

WHAT THEY SAID UP THERE ^
I

 

[SVEN]

the Big Hit shouldn't be a problem. It wasn't designed for DJ but it will do the job. Just follow all of the above tips and practice. Try not to overshoot as well, but take advantage of the full tranny with both wheels landing at the same time. With practice, you'll have more speed going into the second jump then you know what to do with.

 

[200xRyder]

Pump...pedal...Pump....Pedal

Get that down pat.

Rob

 

[serbdog]

Stay off them!

 

[shifty S]

what i do is i keep pedaling after i land, and into the lip of the second

 

[Sideways]

Don't bother trying to learn the pump on a squishy.
You can do it, it's just hard to feel it out.

Grab a cheap BMX and find yourself a miniramp or halfpipe.
Go back and forth all day long.
You will become master of the pump.

Take your newskills to the trails and wear a happy face all day long.