How To Actually Look Good Jumping!

Today, we're talking about style. I always thought I had pretty good style. No, not that kind of style, mountain bike style. The thing about style is, though, it is super subjective. You could ask 10 different riders who they think is the most stylish person, and they'd all give you a different answer, right? Yes, I think it's me. Wasn't the person I had in mind. No, you reckon it's you? No, probably someone else, actually. I reckon we're going to find out. Anyway, we're going to show you guys three of our Favorite stylish movers, or at least we think they're pretty stylish, and we're going to show you guys how to do it. And by the end, you're going to be able to link them all together and be the most stylish rider in your group. Anyway, let's go! Right then, James, before we work on style, which I know you've been looking forward to, you need all the help you can get, it's really, really important to be riding within ourselves. So we don't want to be riding right on the edge of our ability, so. Depending on the type of trail that you guys are comfortable with, you always want to downscale that. If you're riding reds or blacks, scale it back to a blue, or vice versa, you're riding blues and reds, maybe scale it back to a green first. What have you got for me today? It's about building confidence, I think, so we're going to start on this blue double barrel. It's blue plus, it's flowline, it's got a few jumps in it, but they're all rollable. It's a good place to learn your trade. You're not having to take any risks and then you can take it to the bigger stuff like you say. Yes, perfect place for me to give you a few pointers, mate, and prove that style. Let's go. Before we can begin to maneuver our bike in the air, creating some of that important style, we first need to understand how to control and increase the amount of airtime we're getting. This is a term known as boosting. Look at that, maximum airtime. This is where we convert that forward momentum and the speed that we're carrying through the trail into upwards momentum, giving us more airtime and importantly, making our jumps look that little bit cooler. There's a few different ways you can get more height on a jump, but I think the easiest way is to learn how to pull back going up a lip. Now, for me, how I like to learn this is actually trying to hit a jump slower and slower each time. When you get them good, you can actually hit a jump much faster and go up rather than forward. Now we understand what boosting is, it's time to put our money where our mouth is. We have this really, really nice stepped up table right here. We're going to have a bit of a boost off. Put a beer on it, highest person. Yes, let's do it. All right then. As you approach the jump, begin to preload your bike. This is where we push force through the face of the jump and compress our suspension as we enter the transition. Think of it like loading a spring. This not only gives you extra pop, but it also creates more control as you leave the lip. Now, carrying a little bit more speed can help, but don't confuse speed with technique. The real magic happens in the timing. As you reach the lip, pull back on the bars and focus on going up, A lot of riders make the mistake of trying to jump further when actually the most stylish riders simply get more height. Quick vocabulary check for you guys. What on earth is a transition, a flat top, and of course, a lip? Well, they all have to do with this jump right here, the face of the jump. The start of the jump is referred to as the transition. This is the very first arc of the jump as it starts to curve upwards. We then have the flat top. This is the middle point of the jump, so it generally tends to be quite flat. It allows the bike to settle down as we weight it. Then finally, we have the lip right here. This is the very top of the jump. This is the key point, so this is where we want to be pulling back on our bars to give us that upwards momentum instead of the forwards. Anyway, back to the boost off, let's go. All right, Ferg, I think we start this competition because looking like you owe me a beer so far. Are you a beer? Wait, you watch this. Watch this. You're about to get beaten by a lycra-clad XC bandit. I think he's going to owe me a pint because I've been flipping up here and Ferg's been doing these little bow-legged little things, so come on. I reckon that might be a beer on you, mate. What, you owe me? No, no, no. You owe me. You just went as fast as you could and did exactly what you said not to do and went to flat. I don't recall seeing that. I literally landed perfectly at the top of the transition, first putting in 90 pedal strokes, was landing about down here. I don't know what you're talking about. Up, not long, yes? Height, boost. All right, go on. Let's go for another then. Can we watch the VAR? Watch that back, please. See who's higher. Okay, me and Fergal are giving each other a hard time, but we're all good mates, so we can do this. But this is that moment where the student becomes the master. I think it's happening. He's hit 33 now and it's just like, I'm on the up. Right, come on then. Let's see it. Look, he's too flat. He's too flat. What are we going down here for? It's up, brother. Talk about pedaling. He's quite good. He is quite good. He's landing on the landing. What I will say is that the style on it is pretty gross. There's a lot of wind there. Oh, really? Yes. When you're a slender build like me, I was scared off the mountain. Once you're in the air and you've pulled back, it's now time to flatten the bike off and stay relaxed. Keep your arms and legs bent. Bent arms and legs are like suspension. They give you options and allow you to make adjustments in the air. Then, spot your landing. Look where you want to go and aim to land evenly with both wheels. Landing front wheel first or rear wheel first can upset the bike and put unnecessary load through it. A smooth, balanced landing feels Feels better, is faster, and of course, looks much more stylish. Results are in, we've had our boost off and unfortunately I am going to have to concede to the young whipper. Yes! You did pit me and it was more stylish as well so I'll give you that one. Yeah I had to be a bit of a... I can rub it in because I think this will be the only win I get all day, so I have to give them a hard time because I'm not going to win many. It was pretty cool. That's the thing, boosting is a really cool skill to have. You can do it on any jump you want. One of the key takeaways with boosting is it can be used whether you're going too fast or too slow out on the trail. When you're riding multiple different jumps, you can use it to control your speed and still always make those all-important landings as well, which does bring us on nicely. To our next skills, like sort of style point, which is the whip and the scrub. One of my favourites, and again, we're going to use these techniques out on the trails. Yeah, I think I need a bit of work on this one. We'll see. Let's go. Time for our next piece of style and this one is by far my favorite. It is, of course, the whip and the scrub. Yes, this is the one I'm going to struggle the most with because I've got years of trying to emulate the Nino Schurter XC whip. You can't do a proper whip on an XC bike, really. I think this is one of the most pointless. Yes, and it is part of every single stylish rider's trick book, isn't it? Yes, like a big old whip. Nothing better, nothing better. Anyway, before we get into it, we first need to throw our bikes away because we need to understand what we're doing on the transition and on the takeoff, and then we need to understand what we're wanting to do with the bikes. Let's have a look at it. Right. A whip is the most stylish thing you can do on a mountain bike, and it is my personal favorite. It derives from motocross, and it is the art of throwing the bike out sideways off the side of a lip. You mountain bikers, downhill riders especially, love pretending you're on a motocross bike, don't you? Probably put a Coke can in there, get the noise. All you do is send me the videos of whips all day. It is the coolest thing you can do. I'll give you that. Come on. There's nothing better than a good whip. Anyway, today, I'm going to teach you, and more importantly, you guys at home, how you can start to begin your journey to those sideways movements. Contrary to popular belief, the best whips in the game are not done once we leave the takeoff, they are in fact done using the transition of the lip to help us get our bikes out sideways. This involves carving of the bike, but before we get into all of that, I'm going to leave James to explain the leaning. I'm going to do one of my whips the way I'd usually do them with how I'd normally lean, and then first I'm going to break down The correct technique and where it might be going wrong. Like with any skill, we want to break this down into its component parts and then we're going to build it back up. The first of which with a whip is the lean. Now we can practice this nice and stationary, we can be standing off our bike like so, hands on the bars and what we're going to do is we're going to practice leaning the bike and leaning ourselves as well. You will have one way which you feel more comfortable. This is usually dictated by which foot forward you are. If you're right foot forward, you're generally going to feel better leaning to the left. If you're left foot forward, you're going to feel better leaning to the right. Now, when we come to hitting a jump for the first time, what I want you guys to do is practice. If you're right foot forward like I am, you're going to come into the right-hand side of a lip, and you're going to lean slightly, and you're going to jump from the right-hand side of the lip, and you're going to aim for the left Right hand side of the landing. The reason for this is what this is going to do is it's going to practice us transferring across and it's actually going to force the bike to go slightly sideways whilst our body is facing forwards. And this is going to give us that same feeling we would feel when we're doing a whip, but with way less consequence. We're not worrying about breaking traction or any of the other bits we're having to add. That's the first point of contact. I'm going to go give you guys a demo right now. I'm going to take James as a lovely volunteer and we're going to practice that lean and transfer motion of the whip. Initiate the lean of your whip at the start of the transition. As you hit the flat bottom, look ahead at the transition and you want to begin your lean at the base of the jump and then continue it all the way through to the lip, looking and spotting your landing. I feel like I've got the lean a little bit and I have started to carve in as well. With that S, you want to start from one side, go to the other side and almost come back. The best way to explain a carve is that we're making the transition or the face of the jump as long as possible. What this does is it reduces the kick of the lip. If you imagine, the longer the lip, the more time you have in that transition. It's going to make it way less kicky, which is going to help us when it comes to throwing the bike out sideways. It also helps us when it comes to carrying more speed. We're going to stay lower by having a less kicky lip. Nice. Nice entry. Here we go. That was a prime example. You're right. You rushed the carve. You did a little bit too aggressive and you ended up getting a bit stalled out, didn't you? You were like, oh, and he landed. The one before was better. Make it a bit smoother. As you come out of this corner, try to set up as far left as you can and then just start the carve nice and early. It does mean you are doing a bit more cornering, but I think the longer you can make that transition, you just need to make it a little bit longer. I whipped it a bit too much then. Go on then. I'm trying to get too big. Take two. That's it. Yes. You need to go a little bit faster, mate. Yes, I know. You're going at that. You had nice speed and if you were hitting that jump straight, it would have been perfect. Because you're doing more of a carve, imagine you're actually adding extra track. Go a little bit quicker, same thing, and I think you'll be onto a winner. Then we can work on you getting your turn bars. I'm not very good at pedaling, you see. Not very good at pedaling? No. I saw you giving it everything on there. That's the best bit. That's your forte, isn't it? Yes, nice. I felt a bit more force that one. Yes, that's pretty cool there. I tried to sling it, but it felt like I was having to manufacture the whip a bit more with my legs rather than being in the carve or the lean, whereas the one before was more carving and leaning, whereas that one I like. Throw it out a little bit. Throw it out, but it felt like a little bit less natural. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I think just... Again, like I've said before, it's the smoother the whip, the cooler. It needs to look lazy. It needs to look casual. I think the next bit we're going to work on, which is going to help make it a little bit smoother, is turning your bars through. Now, there are two types of whips. I know Brendan Fairclough coined the table whip where you keep your bars nice and straight. We see Jackson Goldstone emulating that a lot. I personally prefer the Moto Whip, obviously, being MX fanboy over here. This is where you turn the bars through and then the bike comes fully sideways through. This is kind of the biggest whip you can do. You see some of the chaos sea graves of the man by world throwing some pretty huge whips, don't you, with that? I need them Shakira hips for this. Yes, exactly. You do need the hips, don't lie. Yes. It's crucially exactly the same thing. Yes. Yes. The only difference is as you go off the lip, Yes. Yes. instead of keeping your bars nice and straight, Yes. you're just going to start that lean. This style of whip forms the key components of a scrub. A scrub is essentially a whip but for speed. By allowing the momentum of the bike to go out sideways, you can keep the bike lower, allowing you to go faster through jumps and transitions. This involves the same technique as the whip whilst also pressing down off the lip. The idea is to absorb as much of the jump as possible and transfer that energy out sideways with the bike. Perfect your whips and then you can work on the scrub. Don't go too big too soon because if you go across and you don't give yourself enough time, you're going to have a huge- I could pop a 180 if we want, but I won't get it back. No, let's focus on the whip first. Anyway, right, up you go. Nice big whip. Okay, I actually think I made a lot of progress on that. I think the only thing I have to do now is just practice it on different jumps, steep ones, mellow ones, but I'm happy they're less the little exy bum whips now, the more. In my head. He's almost turning into a real mountain biker. One day. I have to admit, you did make loads of progress and they were looking much better by the end. I'll still say mine looked better. One all, I reckon. One all, yes, for sure. Just for the playbook, but yes, like you said, I think it is a really complex skill and breaking it down into those different parts is really key to understanding your whip and I think You are moving the bike in the air. It's a really, really good skill, again, for when you're riding multiple different trails. You can use it to kind of keep the bike low to the ground. But you can also, I think once you understand how to keep a whip controlled, you've pretty much dialed being in the air, I think. Yeah, it's a very complex skill and something that feels not very natural. But I find I use them not that well to, like you say, control speed. It's like almost a way of slowing yourself down in the air. Yeah, for sure, and I also think that Like you were saying, the more experience, the more different kinds of jumps, different types of lips you can hit, the better you can understand that idea of making a lip longer by using that S bend method. I think that is the key to take away. Practice that S, practice that carve, and you will get those whips. Those whips will start to come out, but it's really key to use the lip. What is next then? I don't even want to say. It's your favorite maneuver. Can you guess it? Oh, it might be. Anyway, we'll find out what that random, whatever that is in a bit. Oh, right. I think this is the spot for our next challenge. Now, challenge of skill. I must admit, we actually tried this at another jump before, but I just wasn't feeling very confident on it. I think that's important if you're trying new things to feel confident trying because I kept messing up. You don't want to have a big crash trying these, but I think what we're going to try now is the table. Your favorite. My favorite. My favorite. It's got a big history in BMXs and I grew up riding BMX. Basically, a table is when you try and lay the bike over as flat as possible. People like Chase Hawk and Corey Walsh do them well. We're going to give a few a go and then I think we'll break it down, but they're like, the main thing people try these is getting your knee over the top tube. So if you're right foot forward, you go to the left. and vice versa, but I think this is a good jump for it. Yes, and this is one of those ones, for me, I've spent years trying to do this. I can do some kind of weird table whip thing which one of my best friends at home, shout out to Charlie Sharp, He has ripped me since I was 11 years old for not being able to do a table. He was like, I can't believe you're a professional and you can't do it. Shout out to him. Today, I'm going to learn. You're going to teach me. I think they're a bit harder clipped in as well because you can't turn your foot as much. I'll see what we're working with and then we'll try and break it down. The goal is to lay it as flat that you could lay a dinner table. You could lay your dinner on it. Turn the bar as well and that's the one. Harder on a mountain bike than a BMX because you can't fold it quite as much. Try and get them clicked. To everyone at home, what is clicked? For us oldies over here. Clicked is a bit like in gymnastics when you get something fully to proper extension. Same with BMX or MTB. When it's fully clicked, it's maxed out. It's full extension. You can't go any further. You keep telling me you can brush your front tire off your shoulder. Some people in BMX, when they get really good, they turn it over so much the tire actually scrubs the shoulder. All right, go on then, show us how it's done. I'm going to do a terrible one now probably. Let's have a look. Good luck. Every single day when we're at work, he tells me at least twice a day how clipped his tables are and how stylish James is on a bike. I'll be totally honest with you guys, after a bit of a session with Ferg on this, I'd say that wasn't my best work. Like we talked about a bit earlier in the video, Finding a jump that you're confident on to try these things is brilliant. I just wasn't feeling that confident on this. You had to come into it quite fast. Actually, for me to do a good table, by my standards, I like to do the boost like we talked about earlier in the video because when you reach that point where you flatten out, that's a really good point to try and fold it over. This one was just a little bit faster for me, but I started to get a little bit at the end. Now, onto the technique. This one's similar to a whip. You want to carve up the lip a little bit because that helps you start to fold it over. Now, a bit of a tip actually is if you've got a hip jump that jumps to the left or the right, it's actually a really good place to learn them because you will end up turning a little bit in the air. When I get down to the technique, what I like to do is try and push this bar down, the one that's going to be up to the sky, and I push that one away from me. That one goes away, this one gets pushed down. Then that's the point where you want to try and use this knee over the top tube to push it down a bit further. I think a lot of people have a tendency to bow their legs a bit and just use all their arms. If you can use your legs as well to push it over, it's a really good way of doing them. It's also a little bit easier if you're not clipped in so you can turn your feet a little bit more. It's a good one you can practice on the ground, practice the movement. I sometimes just like trying to do them in a little bunny hop like that and just practice folding the bike over. Try and pick a jump that you feel confident boosting on. Then when you hit that That sort of bit where you level out, that's a really good place to try and fold them down. As much as I love good competition, I need your help. My tables are terrible. That first attempt was terrifying. I actually think you started to get them a bit better when you start to carve up the lip a little bit. It is a little bit like a whip. Your back end will come out. Also, when you loosen your grip, I think early on you're quite stiff. If you can start to rotate this bit of your grip around, you're not limited to how much movement you can get. Also, one last thing is just with your legs, I think you're trying to do it all in your arms. If you can use those legs to manipulate the movement, helps you get them a bit flatter. That's the easiest bit, isn't it? I'm so bad with my knees. I keep my knees out because I like to have that stability, and I understand why people want to do it because essentially what you're doing is you're then still giving that ability, your weight's still on the other side, so you're not as committed, but dropping that knee in is what makes it so cool. It's the same with a whip. You can keep your knees in, it just makes it way cooler. I think it's a thing, like, if you've been clipped in your whole life as well, It's not very natural to move your feet around and lean your knees in, whereas flat pedal riders, Don's actually really good at the table because he rides flat. turn your foot that little bit, just makes that motion of trying to push your knee over a little bit easier. I'm not saying I'm by any means an expert at these. I love doing them, but- That is very contradictory to what you tell me in the office. I like badgering Ferg about them, but there are people who can really lay these over. Cade Edwards does an unreal table. When you start to lean them a bit, they're just a really nice feeling trick. That's enough, I think. If it feels good to you, It makes you feel good, doesn't it? Yes. Like you said, I think it's one of those tricks certainly that you're going to start small. You're going to start with a turn bar. Yeah, I remember. I have nothing against a little turn bar. I love a turn bar. I think it's super steezy, but I do have rules about it. It can be the steziest trick and also the worst, the knees, as we mentioned. Don't bow them. Yes, keep them in. I think that that is Kind of the starter point for a table, isn't it? Do a turn bar, practice getting comfortable on that. Then you can start using the knees. Right. Should we try a few more? Try a few more. I'm going to try and dial this in, but I have a feeling you might be on two beers and I might be stuck on one. You're looking good though. Thanks, mate. Let's try a few more. Up we go. That's the most stylish one. The wind. It's a good way to finish up. There you guys have it, that is our three ways to ride more stylish. One of the biggest takeaways is, of course, that you need to practice. You need to hit as many different jumps as you can. Practice with a mate. I think riding with other people starts subjective, but pushes you on a bit. You get to watch other people. Also, if you've got a camera, just film something and watch it back because it's a good way. If you've got a mate who can give you pointers, it's great. But if you watch yourself back, you can also learn a lot from that. Plus you get a few Insta-bangers. That's always great, boost the following count a bit. Yeah, and obviously one of the things that I love is because it is so subjective, you can kind of learn from each other's styles. You can learn ways of people doing it. Like one of the things for me, like seeing how you table, it's very patient, whereas I think I always rush it. And especially on the boost, I mean, we'll agree to disagree on that one. And obviously like It's still unsteady ground. I want to get a measuring tape for that one. That's the first time I've been called patient though, but I'm going to go have another go at that because I mess it up a bit. Thank you very much for watching, guys. That was really fun. What do you think is the most stylish maneuver, whip, scrub, table? Let us know in the comments down below. Also, who is the most stylish rider? Let us know down in those comments. Of course, don't forget to like and subscribe. Hopefully, if James and I can work out our style, we'll catch you guys in the next one. Ciao. Oh, he's left me hanging. Too busy.