First time on mx track

[rob3273]

Hello everyone, Wednesday was practice night for the race Saturday at our local track. I got up the nerve and went down there for my first time after riding for about 2 months. MAN !!!!!!! was I nervous, LOL. Once I got out there though, I was amazed at how good I actually felt. My questions are? There are a couple of small doubles (upramp about 3-4 feet high and 12-15 feet gap) and a step up jump (upramp 5-6 feet high and 10-12 gap) I cleared all of these just fine but sometimes when I hit them I was landing nose up SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME LOL. My first thought was that I was on the gas too long but after that, I made sure I was hitting the jumps the same way everytime and I was, just sometimes I would hit fine and others I would be nose up. Is it because of the short upramp? body position? do you tackle a short upramp different then say like, a nice tall tabletop, because the tabletop I hit good all night. Thanks for the help. What a rush when you're in the air LOL. There is a 35 foot double that I didn't even attempt.

Rob

 

[High Lord Gomer]

The peaky power of a 125 can make it fly very differently if you hit a jump in the power as opposed to a little too low in the RPMs.

Shorter ramps usually kick the back end more and leave more people with the front down, not up.

My guess is that you're hitting them right near where the power comes on strong and sometimes it's pulling hard (and launching nose high) and sometimes it's lugging a little and flying more level / nose down.

I would suggest hitting them with the engine wound out a little more, maybe even a gear lower, and with your body farther forward to compensate for the addtional drive / power. When you hit jumps at a higher RPM like that, make sure you are still accelerating, not trying to maintain a constant speed at a high RPM. Pulling (accelerating) gives a much more predictable launch than merely maintaining speed. If you aren't accelerating, the bike will behave very differently depending on whether you are slightly accelerating or slightly coasting as you hit a jump.

So...aren't those first doubles the most fun thing ever?!? :aj: