tips on riding the right way

[FoxRocks]

Hi everyone,
brand new here, and i see by the other posts this is a good place to be! Although I am surprised there are no stickys with common questions answered. Anyways, here is what i need help with.

1) I am finding that my hands and forearms are really tired after only a few laps on the track, I am trying to keep my elbows out and up.
2) When I take a big jump (big for me) i'm finding that my feet are coming off the pegs, which kinda scares me.
3) I am riding with the ball of my feet on the pegs (spot between the toes and the arch) but I am finding it difficult shifting and braking effectively...to the point where i screw up my next approach because I'm trying to shift or brake.
4) my last question....how the hell do you go from taking singles, to getting the nerve to try the (what looks like a) huge double??? man I have big goals for this riding season, but man it scares the crap outta me for some reason, I'm just wondering if there is a step by step process i should be folowing.

I ride a 99 Cr 125 and mostly on the track, I do not race, just a weekend warrior more then anything. Thanks for any help or insight you can give me, much appreciated.

~FOX~

 

[ellandoh]

1. suspension setup, relax, loosen grip while in the air
2 .keep knees bent on approach, squeeze bike with legs
3. ride where comfortable, unless track is rutted then definitely stay on the balls of feet. spiral fracture sucks
4. jump tables exactly the same size, when landing perfectly doubles are the same. if youre going to case, remember the panic rev.

my first double when getting back into riding was an accident , thought it was a table and at the last minute saw the red flag on the face warning that it was an unrollable double.....................panic revved it on the face :whoa: so to speak and cleared it :)

 

[chevy383cid]

Practic,practic practic!!!! Exercise your forearms-do situps-practice shifting(some riders move the shift lever up a couple of notches) when you leave the lip of a jump hold the bike with your knee's and practice practic!!! I'm sure there are some novice MX er's on here that can really point you in the rite direction!!

 

[FoxRocks]

awesome advice, I like the idea of squeezing with my legs...I will definitly try that next time out. I think the problem with the track I'm riding is there are no small doubles to get use to...or so it seems. I've noticed that other guys if they are not going to make the jump, they rev it...can anyone explain?

Thanks again..

~FOX~

 

[ellandoh]

I've noticed that other guys if they are not going to make the jump, they rev it...can anyone explain?

Thanks again..

~FOX~

think about a small jump and if you were to lock the brakes in the air, upon landing the bike would stop harshly and not feel so good. now landing with your case on the lip is about the same as brakes, gassing it couneracts the bikes tendency to stop dead and throw you over the bars.
also they may be coming to the landing with the nose extremely low, gyroscopics of revving the back tire will fight against the nose from sinking. if theyre nose high ........pull in the clutch and tap the rear brake also

most important thing to know for my own sanity is what to do in an endo situation.If the endo is so extreme that trying to land it would only result in a crash, you may ditch the bike. This would involve stepping over the front of the bike while it is still airborne. There are a couple of ways to go about this. You can try to quickly and push off from the bike by pushing your body upwards off of the handlebars and using the foot pegs to jump over the bars with your feet. This method is the last resort, used only when you have no time left to attempt any other options and are bound to land on your head. Another way to do this is to bring your feet up to the seat or the handlebars and push off of those instead of the foot pegs and this is done when you have more time to react. If you must ditch the bike, you should try to push off from the bike and get as far away from the bike as possible. As you push away from the bike, set up your body position so that you will land on your feet

 

[chevy383cid]

The force of the rear wheel spinning faster pitches the frontend up( hopefully saving you from the dreaded indoe into the next ramp face)

 

[FoxRocks]

what do you mean by "case"?

 

[ellandoh]

http://dirtrider.net/forums3/glossary.php?t=C

definition 2

 

[FoxRocks]

2. When the rider misjudges the distance of a jump and the bottom of the bike hits the ground.

does this mean the actual bottom of the bike hitting the ground? or it bottoms out the suspension??
Can't picture it...I assume it means the bottom of the bike hits the top of the landing on the second part of the double.

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

picture the landing of a jump being like a triangle. The front tire over the lip and the back tire behind leave only the "case" of the bike to hit the apex of the triangle, hence the term casing.

 

[FruDaddy]

Put your bike on a stand, now imagine the stand is the landing of the double.

 

[FoxRocks]

ohhhh ok, i can totally picture that now...not sure why it took me so long..heh. So that would explain why he would rev it at the last minute to get the front end up. I've got another question. When your riding on the track, do you use the clutch to shift, or do you just shift? I find myself not using the clutch most times because I need the gear sooner then it takes me to use the clutch and shift...but I'm not sure if I'm hurting the bike by doing that. Thanks a lot guys, you are all very helpful.

~FOX~

 

[FruDaddy]

I clutch it, but i do it real fast. There's a thread about this somewhere. Less than 2 months old.

 

[FoxRocks]

excellent, well now I know what I'm suppose to do :)

Thanks fellas.

~FOX~

 

[Dirt Rival]

Well i'm kinnda' new to jumping big jumps but you got to be relaxedand when you land use your legs as springs to decrease the impact of your landing.And be thinking about one thing when your jumping PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR FRONT WHEEL I found that one out the hard way. :nod:

 

[Little Dinosaur]

http://www.motocrossactionmag.com/m...2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=2&cat=Riding+Tips

 

[Masterphil]

...warning that it was an unrollable double...

I've been around for awhile, but I've never heard of an "unrollable double". What do you mean?

 

[ellandoh]

I've been around for awhile, but I've never heard of an "unrollable double". What do you mean?

a double set up in a way so that if you cant make it you have to go around it or you are going to crash, the area between the take off and landing ramps is unrideable. therefore you cant roll the jump, maybe a Mi thing but when someone here goes over a jump and gets little to no air we call it "rolling the jump"

 

[CHR!S]

So that would explain why he would rev it at the last minute to get the front end up.

im not an expert, but this is my take on how the panic rev works. think if you secured the wheel to the ground and tried to spin it, it would spin the bike, not the wheel. if you just applied resistance, like in the form of traction, the front end would come up (wheelie). now in the air, there is no traction, but inertia provides enough resistance to move the front wheel up so you dont endo

 

[IndyMX]

ohhhh ok, i can totally picture that now...not sure why it took me so long..heh. So that would explain why he would rev it at the last minute to get the front end up. I've got another question. When your riding on the track, do you use the clutch to shift, or do you just shift? I find myself not using the clutch most times because I need the gear sooner then it takes me to use the clutch and shift...but I'm not sure if I'm hurting the bike by doing that. Thanks a lot guys, you are all very helpful.

~FOX~

I don't clutch. The only times I touch that lever is for starts & stops and in corners where I need to feather it for more power.

 

[Masterphil]

a double set up in a way so that if you cant make it you have to go around it or you are going to crash, the area between the take off and landing ramps is unrideable. therefore you cant roll the jump, maybe a Mi thing but when someone here goes over a jump and gets little to no air we call it "rolling the jump"

We don't have that here. What do the tracks do about the 50's, 65's, 80's, and beginner classes that don't do that jump.

 

[HajiWasAPunk]

There's a couple here like that and they have the track split where you the double is so you can go around it without jumping it(it's flat on half the track, and the double on the other half).

 

[ellandoh]

We don't have that here. What do the tracks do about the 50's, 65's, 80's, and beginner classes that don't do that jump.

they go around, or hit the intermediate or kiddie tracks. at the track these are at i havent seen an 80 that needed to go around though, most of them youngsters are pretty quick or they wouldnt be on this track , here is the track, although it doesnt really show any of the "unrollables" but you can see if a kid could ride it he can most likely double

http://www.ogemawtrails.com/Pictures.shtml

check out the other pages as well :cool:
actually page 4 shows landing ramp of an unrollable and page 7 shows the guy doing a fender kiss , he is on another

edit: corrected link