How to make Jumps

Invite all your friends over for a jump building party and give them all shovels! Seriously.....

don't use wood...it won't last. use dirt, and you'll need lots of it.
how big were you planning on making the jumps?

Where are you at in IL. I have a tractor but no land.... I have lots of ridin buddies and they all have shovels... HEHEHE..
Batavia IL
Zig

I was kiddin brother... Take it slow... and easy...
Zig

well if you're new to jumping, then i'd try to find a small hill somewhere on the property to work off of? if you have a hill on the property, then get some dirt and build it up on the hill. make it as big as you want, just make sure the transition is smooth-you don't want to abruptly change directions from going runway to jumpface.

if the hill is big enough, you might try a ski jump. find the halfway point of the hill, and build the jump there so that you are jumping down the hill, not up. make sure that you have enough hill to land on though, because if you jump to high, you could flatland it and bottom out.

another way to build a jump on a hill is to make a step-up, but you need a pretty big hill and more dirt if available. make the jump at the very bottom so that you are jumping up the hill and will land at or somewhere near the top.

if you don't have a hill at all, then you will need a whole lot of dirt. it will also be difficult if you are only using shovels. but if you want to try:
i'd suggest a take off two or three feet high (though you may have to build it up to 4 feet for when you pack it down). maybe somewhere from 40 degrees to 50 degrees. again, transition is important. start the bottom of the landing maybe 7 or 8 feet away from the take-off and build it up until it is about 4 feet from the take off. height of the landing should be maybe two feet high four feet away from the takeoff and gradually slope it down 7 or 8 feet.

you may also wish to make the landing farther and farther away as you begin to hit the jump harder and harder. you are also going to hold the throttle steadily and maybe blip it at the lip of the jump to prevent nose diving.

this way requires alot of dirt though.

Since your starting out you want smooth transitioning ramps that don't throw you up abruptly. The landing area should be slightly down hill and I would not put any double type mounds on the jump. An easy ramp slope would be 2X your bike length and about 15 degrees. 15 does not sound like much but 30 is what some pro jump builders say should be the limit. A 25 degree seems like a 45 degree when you first start jumping them. Learning the basics of jumping takes basic jumps and then you do them repeatedly, say 30 X in about an hour. I have 11 jumps in my supercross track in the back yard and they all started out with shallow ramps and the steepest is now 27 degrees and it pitches you up pretty good. You can always progress but you cannot back out of a jump once your in the air and panicing.
Go to my gallery and look at the pictures there.

You can use some type of filler also. This will enable you to use less dirt for the larger jumps. I would use large stones and chopped wood when I used to make mine. Stack the wood (ensure it won't push over when you hit it with your bike) and pack dirt in and around until completely covered. I've heard of people using telephone poles as whoops, crushed cars as tabletops, etc.

old volkswagen beetles make great whoop sections!