Jumping is a cumulative skill, you have to build upon your experience. First, you should become totally comfortable doing 20-30' doubles. Then, you can start increasing your jump distance about 10' at a time. It is a good idea to jump tabletops first, to get used to the height and distance. It will build your confidence for equal sized doubles. Eventually, you will become used to doing 60' doubles with no fear at all. The double jump that you see me doing in the photo is about 60' or so. I have a 50T rear sprocket, and jump it in third. I clear most doubles under 60' in second, and use third up to 90-100'.
When I go to a track and it has big doubles I haven't done before, I look them over closely and watch to see if anyone else is doing them. If a few guys are, I know it is possible, so then I determine how much speed and aggressiveness will be required. Then I just hit it hard and try to overjump it a bit. If I overjump, I back off to land it just right. Some guys like to follow someone else over a new jump.
Sometimes I will be riding around a track, and I will come up to a new double. If it is small to medium size, I will just gas it right over. The highly technical or big air doubles require more careful analysis, and sometimes a large dose of courage.
The more abrupt the takeoff ramp, the more difficult and technical the double will be. These ramps tend to throw you higher vs longer, the faster you hit them. They can also kick the rear end up if you are not on the gas. Also, if a ramp has a lip, or kicker, at the top, it is important to be on the gas hard to keep from nose diving or endoing.
A shallow ramp is the opposite. The faster you hit it, the further you will fly, while not gaining a lot more height.
The easiest double is one with a tall, steep face, but with a gradual transition at the approach. You will get good height and distance, and it will practically throw you over the double with little effort.
A well designed double is forgiving and it will allow a landing zone of 10-20'. This will accomodate different speeds and jumping skills. But for any double or tabletop, there is a sweet spot landing, where it will feel like cloud nine. That is your target.
Big jumps are both a physical and a mental skill. First you have to have the basic jumping skills, then you need the courage, confidence and ability to calmly overcome your fears.
Since you are in the Mojave, we could meet sometime at LACR, and I could teach you some of the jumps there.
Scott F
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Originally posted by Chris in the Mojave:
Scott F and anybody else....
When you go to a new track, how do you go about finding speeds for the jumps?
I've only experiance with one double and I'm getting ready to try some other small doubles. Is the face angle such that more speed (within reason) just puts you higher? Is there really a pretty wide range of speed that will work on a well constructed double?
It seems like mostly it's a mental challange.
How did you go about learning?
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Scott F
'00 YZ426F
'99 YZ400F sold
'98 YZ400F sold
I'm 39 and I'm tring to AVOID broken bones!
