How to start Jumping

[billy1972]

I am a 34 year old who has decided to take up the sport of motocross. I purchased a great bike and took it to the local track. For some reason I just could not get the nerve to go after a jump at 3 gear. I need help in learning to jump. Any help would be great. I know jumping will open fun doors for me.

Florida

 

[Okiewan]

Type: Jumping in the search function.. unless of course you think you are the first to ever ask about it ;)

Click here: http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/search.php?searchid=461646

 

[FruDaddy]

I am a 34 year old who has decided to take up the sport of motocross. I purchased a great bike and took it to the local track. For some reason I just could not get the nerve to go after a jump at 3 gear. I need help in learning to jump. Any help would be great. I know jumping will open fun doors for me.

Florida

Come ride with me. We can work it out together. Although, I am jumping in the middle of third, I haven't cleared more than 32ft yet. Start small and get the feel for it, take your time and go begger when you are ready. Talk to people at the track, find out what they are doing. Perhaps you can even follow someone over a couple of jumps to help judge speed.
Oh, and don't fear that search feature, there's a lot of good stuff there.

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

Where are you in Florida? FruDaddy are you in FL? I live in the Tampa area and just started riding last fall (I'm 32). I've been able to clear some 45 foot doubles and 65 foot tables. What little I know of riding was taught to me at riding class at Bartow, Dade City and Sunshine. A quick summary...
1. Accelarate smoothly ahead of the jump.
2. Hold the throttle steady as you're on the face (no jabbing the throttle last minute or chopping it last minute).
3. Keep your head out over the bars as you go into the air to help level the bike off.
4. Grab a handful of throttle as you hit the ground, this will smooth the landing and straighten the bike out if it's out of position at all.
The more comfortable you get the more you can clear. I just kept holding a little more gas each week until I was hitting some jumps in 4th gear wide open. Still haven't done any big doubles or triples.

 

[FruDaddy]

Actually, I'm in NW GA, but I have friends in Jacksonville and Miami. It takes 5-6 hours for me to get to FL.
I saw that he typed Florida, I wasn't sure if it was a location or his name.

 

[billy1972]

I am in Fort Myers and would like to have any recommendations of where to ride?

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

I am in Fort Myers and would like to have any recommendations of where to ride?

I'm not sure about tracks that far south, but north of you there is Sunshine MX in St. Pete, Sandmountain in Fort Meade, and Bartow MX in Bartow. IMO, Bartow is the best place to learn to jump at of the 3, it has mostly table top jumps that aren't wicked steep and it has some jumps that aren't right out of corners either (giving you plenty of time to get setup and get speed up). That's probably a haul from Fort Myers though. Also, a little further north on 75 is Dade City. They have a Saturday morning class from 9-1 also a good section of table top jumps along the back stretch, good for learning etc.

 

[billy1972]

Thank you for the Bartow lead. A big reason I started riding again was the travel and seeing new tracks. I think I am going to try out croom this weekend.

 

[pochop7]

hey Hajiwasapunk do you ever go riding at croom? I havent ridden in a while bike is just sitting in garage beggin me to and i dont really have anyone to go riding with..if you do let me know if you want to go sometime I live up in Wesley Chapel so its not far for me at all

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

Pochop, me and a friend who just got a bike have been talking about going to Croom soon. I've never been and with my son's race schedule its tough to get an extra ride in, but we've been thinking about doing it soon. How do you like riding there? I here some ppl love it and others say its a quad infested night mare!

 

[crimecleaner]

Hey Haji and Pochop. I'm actually going to Croom this Monday morning. I like to get there early and being a weekday its pretty empty. I like the open sand pit when you first pull in. Got some awesome whoops, great turn practice and a few single jumps.Plus a nice shady area to pull the truck under right next to the pit I try to go once a week. I hear there is another area with better jumps, I'm going to ask the ranger there where it is at when I go. Also tons of trails but I never was into trail riding so I just stay at the pit. Let me know would be nice to meet other riders there on a frequent basis.

 

[Dirt Rival]

2nd Gear

Have you got the feeling of jumping in 2nd gear? :clue: That's probley where you should start out if you don't know how to jump YET. :worship: