Jeff, great tutorial videos! I encounter a lot of rocky step ups that if it is more than 6 or 8” are really difficult to get over. Practicing on flat ground is less difficult because, well flat. When the run up is up hill, what is a technique to get up 8” to 12” or higher rocky step ups at low speed. Always stuck with front wheel up and back down, bashing or almost bashing the chain ring. Is it pedal position, weight and body position, strength, or all of the above? I’ll search your existing videos if you already have one on this. Thank you in advance!
I just rode today and missed out on a bunch of fun features because I can’t do drops without landing on my face. This tutorial was exactly what I needed. Now I’m going to smash my face thinking I can do it because I watched you make it look easy lol.
I was the same for ages, when getting into mtb I had two quick injuries which left me scared to do some little drops so I built a couple of trails in the local woods, one with lots of drops and one fast and flowy with a couple of drops, now the one's I was scared of are like nothing.
Gotta keep in mind how your suspension is set up. Is it set up soft/squashy or stiff, that will determine as to why you nose dive on dropping in, if you're not familiar with jumping with suspension set to a soft/squashy setting where there is no spring back in your suspension like there is when the suspension is set to a stiffer setting which you need to better execute those kind of maneuvers!
Thanks for sharing the video! You already landed that drop but I hope this helps! BTW, I the KING of sound effects when crashing, my first ever video Keepin it Real had a blooper section that opened with a loud "DOH!!"
Found your channel last night and nobody on the internet explains things as incredibly precise and with the right terminology as you do. There are literally thousands of how to videos that are very cringy when listening to them explain technique. You break it down in a way noobies and even intermediate riders would actually benifit from watching. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much Troy, I've been riding a really long time and I LOVE helping people out. The full time TH-camrs have more time to spend making videos so mine tend to get burried. Glad you found me!
Cheers everyone. I just wanted to mention, don’t underestimate how serious an endo can be even at slower speed. I did just that three weeks ago and spent three days in the hospital. Had surgery to pull two sticks out of my elbow, busted my helmet in the process and ended up with a huge black eye and now am dealing with a pinched nerve in my spine that travels down my arm. I’ll live. Already ready to hit the trail. No pun!
I remember when I was at high school, you and Chase were pretty my heroes. I loved everything you made in the NWD and tried to imitate it with out success. Back on 2005 , there weren't these resources; hope the new generations appreciate from who the advice come from. I would have chopped one finger for a piece of advice like this back on my time.
Thanks Jeff.. I'm a 47 yr old who has no business trying to learn how to ride a bike aggressively.. But I never have been known for my desicion making..
Mike - you inspire me. I'm a few years ahead of you (4) and I also have poor decision making and no business at all to go after this stuff! However, I hate to be outdone by my 10yr old... Cheers from Oz - Dave
After watching many drop videos this is the first one that illuminated the concept of unweighting the body. It’s like a light bulb going off. I’ve been trying drops for a while after being told to do the manual on a drop without the full concept and I was hitting them well only 50% off the time without knowing why. Can’t wait to try this.
Drops are something I would like to be able to do but I definitely have a mental block when I approach them. My senior citizen body doesn’t heal very quickly these days so I really don’t want to hurt myself. Your video and narrative is spot on and I am going to work on my technique as per your instructions. I would encourage you to do more instructional lessons like this to helps us less accomplished riders improve. Although there are many years between us you and I we are about the same size and i have never seen tall guys do what you do. Gives me hope! Thanks so much!
Gloria Stargirl just buck to flat as much as possible and remember that bigger drops are the same as a small ledge except your in the air for longer, there’s not more ch to it if you can easily do a .5m ledge
Build a small drop in your backyard and start practicing on that. That way you'll be less likely to injure yourself and less scare to try. You'll learn quickly
Really good advice. I'm a pretty new rider and have mostly spend my first year by myself riding the struggle bus through the chunky technical trails in my area. I recently found a new trail that has some great features...jumps, burms, and a pretty great flowy stretch with both. I'm not awesome at bunny-hopping, but what I did find carried me through some of those jumps was to do a sort of "bunny hop" as I hit em. I think this was helping me do the same thing that you're describing in more technical terms. By doing so, I was unweighted as I hit the jump and landed in a good neutral position. It felt good and I think I could get more air by just going faster, so I just need to ride this trail more and crank it up each time, but yeah, the take-away seems to be that you need to be in a good "attack" position as you leave the ground so the bike can move underneath you without shooting you over the bars.
Lee McCormack describes a similar technique. He says approach in a low, attack position. The lower the better. Essentially the same thing, meaning your arms and legs are bent. Then as the front wheel leaves the drop, he says to "push the bars forward". He says do not lean back... though I kinda think of it as leaning back. You're still shifting your hips back, but he says in the air to stay in the middle of the bike, and match the angle of your landing. All while looking ahead... not at the lip of the drop, and not at the landing spot. I've still been afraid to try bigger drops, even though the technique doesn't really change. About 3 feet is the biggest I've done.
I agree with all that except spotting the landing, that could confuse people I think? As far as not leaning back, I think that's a good description, a lot of people would lean back and change thier balance point, staying centered and moving the bike around is a better bet for a controled flight.
That’s one thing I need to learn this year, thanx for the awesome tip! Seams like Pinkbike’s Friday’s fails are full of people not weighting and compressing properly before a jump or drop.
Just a quick extra tip: you can practice drops in sidewalks and small bumps in the City, you don't actually have to start training off road on the trails, practice a little bit in city obstacles and im sure it will get you pretty prepared for the trails. That's how I learned my Basic MTB skills.
Never thought of looking at it this way, thanks Jeff! The first time I hit those progression drops at Creek it was hold on and hope for the best. Watching this will make me pay more attention to the loading and unloading aspect. Cheers and great video content!
There is a section that I wish some more TH-camrs would elaborate on. In just a second or two of this video, you do a drop to flat technique where you're actually pushing your back tire down first to land. Aside from trials drops, I don't see many tutorials on drops to flat for people to learn from. Would be awesome to see more of those on TH-cam because drops to flat are everywhere! And, the back tire first is a much softer landing than trying to match the landing of a flat.
It won't be a softer landing if you get pulled forward by the bars that are still descending, nor by a back wheel that folds. Spreading the force over two wheels (and suspension as well) is a good idea. The trials-type rear wheel landing is something very different, where the force is spread out over time.
Paul Billings go lookup Fabian barel's video on drops. When he does it to a flat, he drops his back wheel first. As does Jeff in this video when he drops to flat. This is why I mentioned it. Check out 7:02 on this video.
Appreciate the pointer. I know I typically land rear wheel first when going slow on bigger drops because I'm less confident in my timing (and mistakes hurt more). I didn't realize that's actually what's recommended. I now see the "effective suspension" is far greater, so that makes sense. However, I've definitely seen people launched forward OTB when landing rear first, but perhaps their positioning was badly off.
Wow the push up jack technique was a revelation for me and to my brain lol. The whole body compression and pause in this movement was allowing me to now pop my bike up evenly in my living room every time. Great tip!
The slow mo video analysis is pretty awesome. My buddy was able to do something similar with his cell phone. Helps a ton when working on skills like this to check the tape
Great vid. Really great explanation. I love pushup example. And at the end, I finally clearly got the point about the rear wheel to hang up. Not ready for all this yet just getting back into riding. I just turned 60 and you are never too old. When you go six feet under your ride is over.
This is exactly what I needed. I just bought my second bike 8 months into riding . A gravel bike. But worried about breaking carbon wheels so I searched " wheelie". Too many pot holes on my commute. At 280 lbs I should still be able to lift and ride over certain obstacles. Can't wait to comment again with pleasing results once I figure this out. Thank you for the informative video
Great explanation! I"ve been working on my drop skills, and I have been unable to pinpoint what I'm doing wrong. I think I now know. I am not pre-loading my legs enough. Thanks for the tips!
Wow hats off to you for showing others how to do those maneuvers! I showed my 3 year old who LOVES to bike and he laughed and said, "fail." LOL!! I hope one day he'll be learning this type of stuff. As for me, I'll stick to horses!
It's just after midnight and saw a notification pop up on my screen about your new video. I'm dead tired, but I still managed to keep my eyes open. Thanks a lot for sharing this very useful info!
100% useful, thanks for posting. I've been riding a long time, and am comfortable with small to midsize drops, but it's always good to check back on these how to's from the pros to see if I've let any bad habits creep back in. Thanks Jeff!
Thanks for the breakdown, Jeff. Couple of follow up questions: 1) do you feel like preloading a full suspension bike before a drop is a better move than doing a mini manual like your would do on a hard tail or a rigid bike? 2) you didn’t discuss the landing, which is kind of important. I you can discuss tips on touching down while maintaining the most control, and again break it up between a full suspension bike and a hardtail, and also dropping to flat vs dropping into a slope. Maybe that’s worth a whole separate video. When I went from hardtail to full suspension definitely feel like my technique changed. For example, I don’t feel the need to land to the rear tire nearly as much on a full suspension. But maybe I’m setting myself up for a faceplant :)
THis probably should be another video but quick overview, suspension bikes usually require a little more lifting of the front end since the shock is compressing, I definitely preload the bike, that was the pumping I talked about and on a hard tail I usually land less "nosed in" since I'm relying on my legs for suspension.
Thx @trailboss. I've been riding for years but I'm always ready to learn more. Love the comparison of a push up and slapping the hands. You nailed it. Thx @ trailboss
Cool drop tips Jeff! And thanks for the 'never bunny hop again' video. I ride to work daily on my MTB & since watching that video & practicing the 'punch', now I can go to work quicker by 'punching' over 2' & 3' height steps & hopping over kerbs as a shortcut to my office. This beats waiting along the traffic light like other riders & kinda makes me feel like an 'urban trail boss'. Keep up the good work man!
Grabbed this vid to send my brother in law. Perfect Jeff! It's going to help him out for sure. Love that you're rockin a Dale's buddy. Keep up the great content buddy
Thank you for taking this tutorial into the next level of body movement. Can you expand on how to match the landing, what are the body movements to manage your landing?
Good explanation. I noticed that your videos of you doing the drop, your body is almost parallel to the ground, where the other videos I didn't see that as much. Dialing drops in is where it's at! Great video Jeff.
Awsome explination. Even though I have been doing 3-4ft drops over the years without nose heavy crash I never really paid attention to unweighing my back wheel.
Istvan It is possible on any bike. If you lower your seat, it will be much easier to move on the bike. XC racers do it with high seat, but it is more difficult.
It’s absolutely possible on any bike but your legs are your shock absorbers so when your post is high you don’t have as much travel. You gotta land real smooth if you’re gonna go big.
Great video, very helpful! Coming from a roadie and just XC riding background, my skills when it comes to getting airborne on the mountain bike are not super great and it's definitely my weakest trait. This video helps a lot. Luckily, I'm in Central Florida and Santos has some great features built in the Vortex area to work on these fundamentals.
also if you are trying to get this down, do it a bunch of times off a curb and try and keep the front wheel off the ground until the back wheel hits the ground and they hit at the same time
Jeff buddy! Awesome subject matter, but please find a "smoother" slowmo function. It's really difficult to see the body motions you describe when the video is so choppy. Regardless, keep up the good work! Cheers!
Need a higher frame rate for that. On the submitted videos, they were probably 30 fps, so nothing he could do. Most cameras don't shoot higher than 60 fps, though I think the more recent GoPro's go up to 120 fps on 1080p. The Sony RX100 V does up to 960 fps! But 120 fps should be plenty for showing MTB moves.
Jeff Lenosky that's what I figured. I'm no expert of course, and Im not sure which software you use but consider playing with the time scale of each clip, and then just play it while narrating . As opposed to tracking it back and forth. I k ow it's a ton of work, just trying to make a good channel better! 😊 (As pointed out the supplied low frame rate/low res files make this issue even worse)
Jeff Lenosky what Imissed with that last comment is: play with the time in the forward direction till you are happy, then copy that clip and play it in reverse, assuming your software can handle that.👍
Form does look good. But, the take-off had a 2nd tier that his technique didn't account for. The rider needed to either carry a little more speed to unweight his rear wheel on the 2nd tier, or he needed to hold his manual longer ... through the 2nd tier. (I think)
BIG TIP: do not to touch/ drag your brakes, especially the back brake while leaving the takeoff or when you land. if you drag your back brake on the takeoff you instantly pivot your nose down, when you land you need as much of your energy to be transferred in a direction parallel to the ground when you brake much of this energy is transferred perpendicular to the ground leading to a loss in control
100% true statement, thank you! Dragging brakes is a big problem and a bad habit to develop. Hardest part is convincing yourself not to touch the brakes...and trusting yourself with ability to lend safely.
I'm unable to manual my bike but I think finally I might find the key to manual my bike. Unweight is the key. All the videos I have seen so far focused on putting the rider weight backwards but they didn't say anything about bending knees. I will put this into practice.
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss no problem it's like a awesome refresher course ! I haven't really thought about how to do things until recently because you just ride and muscle memory kicks in. But daughter is starting to want to learn how to manual , bunny hop ECT so we've been doing slow race drills and moving forward and back shifting body weight stuff. I'm glad these videos exist because I can't find a way to play the old monkey see monkey do vhs 😂wait it's probably on the other trail guys channel🤔
I have watched many videos on riding drops and every one talks about preloading and does a poor job on explaining. Its like they think we all understand what it is. Not me though. Your push-up example finally made it click. Thanks.
I didn't read all 400 comments, so I'm sure this has been noted before.... Guy #3 was actually OK until he hit his rear tire with his butt. He's not unweighted, but has enough speed to probably make it without the front dropping too much. Locking up the rear wheel with his butt after the front wheel was clear is why his crash was so violent.
Great video thanks. ive been trying to work out what I did wrong once, maybe preloaded to late, so still had wait on rear even though front was off the ground. will continue to watch your channel
Love this video! When you used the push-ups example/analogy, a little light bulb exploded in my mind, and now I think I can tackle the toughest Red Bull challenge on planet Earth! (j/k) Seriously, though, I really get drops now. (Time to head outside and conquer the Fear Factor!)
Thanks for the tips! I'm fairly confident with drops but I haven't considered cases when the back wheel stalls / snags at the lip while a lot of weight rests on the rear axle. I normally use the manual technique for ( slow or tricky )drops, which presses the back wheel hard into the ground. I'll adjust my technique to ensure lightening the bike at take off.
Thanks Jeff! I’m going to practice…it’s been awhile and I’ve lost some of my mojo especially now that I’m 52 and don’t recover from crashes as quickly anymore…
Could you do a video on how to succesfully pass (survive) going on a donwhill and then finding that the trail ends in kind of a wide U. A dog chased me pretty badly on a downhill, I gained speed and found this second half on a wide U at the end of the downhill. I was propelled up in the air, landing on the front wheel and going over the bars, much like the 3rd failure showcase in this video. The helmet saved my life.
I disagree with the guy at 3:10, there was no hang up with his rear wheel from the terrain, he hit the rear tire with his butt and basically hits the rear brake that way. That's why his front went straight down, because he had it, good speed, good posture.
I burped my rear (tubeless, 2.1”) tire on my stumpjumper. It seams the tire must have a stretch spot. The tire has a wobble that I can’t correct. Tire has been removed, cleaned and re-installed. Still has a big wobble. Advice?
It seems to me (correct me if wrong) that even with a hardtail I find weighting/deweighting is mostly in the legs and bending the elbows only really helps to lower straight down. Even the "pulling of the bars" is mostly in the hips. Legs lift and raise weight and arms help to center weight and balance . This takes strain off the shoulders and reduces arm pump.
![เขามัทรี - เอ็กซ์ ศุภกฤต - จอนนี่มิวสิค [ Official MV ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AS9ufKuQIVs/mqdefault.jpg)
What other moves would you like to see? Share some videos!
Jeff, great tutorial videos! I encounter a lot of rocky step ups that if it is more than 6 or 8” are really difficult to get over. Practicing on flat ground is less difficult because, well flat. When the run up is up hill, what is a technique to get up 8” to 12” or higher rocky step ups at low speed. Always stuck with front wheel up and back down, bashing or almost bashing the chain ring. Is it pedal position, weight and body position, strength, or all of the above? I’ll search your existing videos if you already have one on this. Thank you in advance!
I think it may be basics AND advances of turning....Really!!)
The most important and a little underrated thing in mtb. Thank you, Jeff!
Check out the how to on my channel for “the punch” called Why you never need to bunnyhop again.
I personally would like to see how to nose pivot through switchbacks. I can straight line ok but adding a pivot has me stumped
That's definitely a good one, I'll put that on the list!
I just rode today and missed out on a bunch of fun features because I can’t do drops without landing on my face. This tutorial was exactly what I needed. Now I’m going to smash my face thinking I can do it because I watched you make it look easy lol.
Rory Johnson lots of flat ground practice and then work up from there. Progression is the key.
I was the same for ages, when getting into mtb I had two quick injuries which left me scared to do some little drops so I built a couple of trails in the local woods, one with lots of drops and one fast and flowy with a couple of drops, now the one's I was scared of are like nothing.
Baby Steps man 🙈🙉🙊
Gotta keep in mind how your suspension is set up. Is it set up soft/squashy or stiff, that will determine as to why you nose dive on dropping in, if you're not familiar with jumping with suspension set to a soft/squashy setting where there is no spring back in your suspension like there is when the suspension is set to a stiffer setting which you need to better execute those kind of maneuvers!
Just stop following these tipps and roll with more speed. These techniques are very advanced
Glad you enjoyed my sound effects.
Thanks for sharing the video! You already landed that drop but I hope this helps! BTW, I the KING of sound effects when crashing, my first ever video Keepin it Real had a blooper section that opened with a loud "DOH!!"
Found your channel last night and nobody on the internet explains things as incredibly precise and with the right terminology as you do. There are literally thousands of how to videos that are very cringy when listening to them explain technique. You break it down in a way noobies and even intermediate riders would actually benifit from watching. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much Troy, I've been riding a really long time and I LOVE helping people out. The full time TH-camrs have more time to spend making videos so mine tend to get burried. Glad you found me!
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss me too, been racing dirt bikes for over 3 decades but mtn bike technique is a little different
This is excellent detail for a 61 year dummy that wants to drop! Thanks for this great video! Unweighting the back tire is rarely ever mentioned.
Cheers everyone. I just wanted to mention, don’t underestimate how serious an endo can be even at slower speed. I did just that three weeks ago and spent three days in the hospital. Had surgery to pull two sticks out of my elbow, busted my helmet in the process and ended up with a huge black eye and now am dealing with a pinched nerve in my spine that travels down my arm. I’ll live. Already ready to hit the trail. No pun!
I remember when I was at high school, you and Chase were pretty my heroes. I loved everything you made in the NWD and tried to imitate it with out success. Back on 2005 , there weren't these resources; hope the new generations appreciate from who the advice come from. I would have chopped one finger for a piece of advice like this back on my time.
Thanks Jeff.. I'm a 47 yr old who has no business trying to learn how to ride a bike aggressively.. But I never have been known for my desicion making..
Mike - you inspire me. I'm a few years ahead of you (4) and I also have poor decision making and no business at all to go after this stuff! However, I hate to be outdone by my 10yr old... Cheers from Oz - Dave
“49er” here. I feel like I need to know how to do more technical stuff in order to justify the cost of a $2500 bike. So yeah...
After watching many drop videos this is the first one that illuminated the concept of unweighting the body. It’s like a light bulb going off. I’ve been trying drops for a while after being told to do the manual on a drop without the full concept and I was hitting them well only 50% off the time without knowing why. Can’t wait to try this.
Drops are something I would like to be able to do but I definitely have a mental block when I approach them. My senior citizen body doesn’t heal very quickly these days so I really don’t want to hurt myself. Your video and narrative is spot on and I am going to work on my technique as per your instructions. I would encourage you to do more instructional lessons like this to helps us less accomplished riders improve. Although there are many years between us you and I we are about the same size and i have never seen tall guys do what you do. Gives me hope! Thanks so much!
Gloria Stargirl just buck to flat as much as possible and remember that bigger drops are the same as a small ledge except your in the air for longer, there’s not more ch to it if you can easily do a .5m ledge
Build a small drop in your backyard and start practicing on that. That way you'll be less likely to injure yourself and less scare to try. You'll learn quickly
Really good advice. I'm a pretty new rider and have mostly spend my first year by myself riding the struggle bus through the chunky technical trails in my area. I recently found a new trail that has some great features...jumps, burms, and a pretty great flowy stretch with both. I'm not awesome at bunny-hopping, but what I did find carried me through some of those jumps was to do a sort of "bunny hop" as I hit em. I think this was helping me do the same thing that you're describing in more technical terms. By doing so, I was unweighted as I hit the jump and landed in a good neutral position. It felt good and I think I could get more air by just going faster, so I just need to ride this trail more and crank it up each time, but yeah, the take-away seems to be that you need to be in a good "attack" position as you leave the ground so the bike can move underneath you without shooting you over the bars.
cool! Subscribe or check out my channel for some other how to's maybe you'll find them interesting.
That push up with the clap technique just blew my mind, now I have a great mental idea on how to do this better. Thanks!
This was helpful. It's not a manual, it's not a bunnyhop, it's kinda a combination, pulling up on the bars and unweighting the legs.
What a great and clear explanation. This guy has helped 620,000+ people as of today.
Lee McCormack describes a similar technique. He says approach in a low, attack position. The lower the better. Essentially the same thing, meaning your arms and legs are bent. Then as the front wheel leaves the drop, he says to "push the bars forward". He says do not lean back... though I kinda think of it as leaning back. You're still shifting your hips back, but he says in the air to stay in the middle of the bike, and match the angle of your landing. All while looking ahead... not at the lip of the drop, and not at the landing spot.
I've still been afraid to try bigger drops, even though the technique doesn't really change. About 3 feet is the biggest I've done.
I agree with all that except spotting the landing, that could confuse people I think? As far as not leaning back, I think that's a good description, a lot of people would lean back and change thier balance point, staying centered and moving the bike around is a better bet for a controled flight.
Excellent advice. As a 48 year old getting back into mtbing after a long long brake this has refreshed my memory 😊. Massive thanks 😁
stupidstuffist glad you liked it!!
I remember when I was a kid I was watching all the New World Disorder, you were my favorite rider
Koro Sensei am I still? 😬
Yes ;)
Glad to see people aren’t afraid to ask for tips and tricks. Awesome video!
Dirt Digging Davis thanks! Me too. This was a fun video to make.
You’ve saved me some expensive dental work!
Thanks!
$$$$$$$$
Really liked the push-up example, it looks also useful for learning how to start a manual.
deslomator thanks. Usually you tell someone to preload and it just doesn’t make sense. Hopefully that helps.
That’s one thing I need to learn this year, thanx for the awesome tip! Seams like Pinkbike’s Friday’s fails are full of people not weighting and compressing properly before a jump or drop.
When the nose dives and the rear wheel bucks hard... yeah those always make me cringe!
Late to the party, but I wanted to say this is a fantastic video! I think you hit all the key points!
Skills With Phil thanks Phil!!!
Phill we miss you
wow...for the first time ever someone finally explains this technique adiquettely enough to go out and practice. cant wait thanks alot man
tselengphala Thanks!
Just a quick extra tip: you can practice drops in sidewalks and small bumps in the City, you don't actually have to start training off road on the trails, practice a little bit in city obstacles and im sure it will get you pretty prepared for the trails.
That's how I learned my Basic MTB skills.
Good info on drops. Compress arms and legs and spring up to un-weight body over bike and manual to not get hung up. Some good examples also.
Never thought of looking at it this way, thanks Jeff! The first time I hit those progression drops at Creek it was hold on and hope for the best. Watching this will make me pay more attention to the loading and unloading aspect. Cheers and great video content!
There is a section that I wish some more TH-camrs would elaborate on. In just a second or two of this video, you do a drop to flat technique where you're actually pushing your back tire down first to land. Aside from trials drops, I don't see many tutorials on drops to flat for people to learn from. Would be awesome to see more of those on TH-cam because drops to flat are everywhere! And, the back tire first is a much softer landing than trying to match the landing of a flat.
It won't be a softer landing if you get pulled forward by the bars that are still descending, nor by a back wheel that folds. Spreading the force over two wheels (and suspension as well) is a good idea. The trials-type rear wheel landing is something very different, where the force is spread out over time.
This is a great idea and worth touching on. It's on the list!
Paul Billings go lookup Fabian barel's video on drops. When he does it to a flat, he drops his back wheel first. As does Jeff in this video when he drops to flat. This is why I mentioned it. Check out 7:02 on this video.
Yes, please. Had to do a low speed drop just the other day, it wasn't exactly elegant, and I don't think my back wheel appreciated it either.
Appreciate the pointer. I know I typically land rear wheel first when going slow on bigger drops because I'm less confident in my timing (and mistakes hurt more). I didn't realize that's actually what's recommended. I now see the "effective suspension" is far greater, so that makes sense. However, I've definitely seen people launched forward OTB when landing rear first, but perhaps their positioning was badly off.
Wow the push up jack technique was a revelation for me and to my brain lol. The whole body compression and pause in this movement was allowing me to now pop my bike up evenly in my living room every time. Great tip!
The analogy with push up's was really good to learn.
Yes thanks
The slow mo video analysis is pretty awesome. My buddy was able to do something similar with his cell phone. Helps a ton when working on skills like this to check the tape
Great vid. Really great explanation. I love pushup example. And at the end, I finally clearly got the point about the rear wheel to hang up. Not ready for all this yet just getting back into riding. I just turned 60 and you are never too old. When you go six feet under your ride is over.
This is exactly what I needed. I just bought my second bike 8 months into riding . A gravel bike. But worried about breaking carbon wheels so I searched " wheelie". Too many pot holes on my commute. At 280 lbs I should still be able to lift and ride over certain obstacles. Can't wait to comment again with pleasing results once I figure this out. Thank you for the informative video
Great lesson, haven’t tried a big drop yet, but now at least I know the steps.
Thanks for sharing this excellent howto ! Brilliant idea to show different fails at the beginning as an example of hownot to....
Great explanation! I"ve been working on my drop skills, and I have been unable to pinpoint what I'm doing wrong. I think I now know. I am not pre-loading my legs enough. Thanks for the tips!
Wow hats off to you for showing others how to do those maneuvers! I showed my 3 year old who LOVES to bike and he laughed and said, "fail." LOL!! I hope one day he'll be learning this type of stuff. As for me, I'll stick to horses!
Perfect explanation Jeff. I was just trying to teach my son this and everything I was trying to say, you said so much better.
It's just after midnight and saw a notification pop up on my screen about your new video. I'm dead tired, but I still managed to keep my eyes open. Thanks a lot for sharing this very useful info!
Thanks for watching, I posted it by accident!! I wanted to schedule it but it went up. I hope it's useful
I gotta practice this in some Brooklyn park before I hit the trails! I hope I won't crash! :)
One of the better instructional videos I've seen. Can't wait to put the tips to use.
100% useful, thanks for posting. I've been riding a long time, and am comfortable with small to midsize drops, but it's always good to check back on these how to's from the pros to see if I've let any bad habits creep back in. Thanks Jeff!
Thanks Ryan, this was fun to make, post something up if there's anythng you wanna improve.
Thanks for the breakdown, Jeff. Couple of follow up questions: 1) do you feel like preloading a full suspension bike before a drop is a better move than doing a mini manual like your would do on a hard tail or a rigid bike? 2) you didn’t discuss the landing, which is kind of important. I you can discuss tips on touching down while maintaining the most control, and again break it up between a full suspension bike and a hardtail, and also dropping to flat vs dropping into a slope. Maybe that’s worth a whole separate video. When I went from hardtail to full suspension definitely feel like my technique changed. For example, I don’t feel the need to land to the rear tire nearly as much on a full suspension. But maybe I’m setting myself up for a faceplant :)
THis probably should be another video but quick overview, suspension bikes usually require a little more lifting of the front end since the shock is compressing, I definitely preload the bike, that was the pumping I talked about and on a hard tail I usually land less "nosed in" since I'm relying on my legs for suspension.
Thx @trailboss. I've been riding for years but I'm always ready to learn more. Love the comparison of a push up and slapping the hands. You nailed it. Thx @ trailboss
We just put in a Drop Zone at Griffin Bike Park in Indiana. I will now be referring people to this video. Thanks Jeff!
Jeff Lenosky This is a great video! The way you describe and explain the different sequences is just awesome. Great job and thanks for sharing.
Cool drop tips Jeff! And thanks for the 'never bunny hop again' video. I ride to work daily on my MTB & since watching that video & practicing the 'punch', now I can go to work quicker by 'punching' over 2' & 3' height steps & hopping over kerbs as a shortcut to my office. This beats waiting along the traffic light like other riders & kinda makes me feel like an 'urban trail boss'. Keep up the good work man!
Your analysis is floored
Grabbed this vid to send my brother in law. Perfect Jeff! It's going to help him out for sure. Love that you're rockin a Dale's buddy. Keep up the great content buddy
Thank you for taking this tutorial into the next level of body movement. Can you expand on how to match the landing, what are the body movements to manage your landing?
Always love these videos! Such a great attitude and awesome instruction! Thanks Jeff
Good explanation. I noticed that your videos of you doing the drop, your body is almost parallel to the ground, where the other videos I didn't see that as much. Dialing drops in is where it's at! Great video Jeff.
Great video Jeff! I especially love the push-up analogy /mental visual, it will definitely make a difference. Thanks!🚵✌
Awsome explination. Even though I have been doing 3-4ft drops over the years without nose heavy crash I never really paid attention to unweighing my back wheel.
Marty M try it out. I honestly believe it makes mine more consistent and a lot more fool proof since you can float over inconsistencies.
Is it possible to do these drops with a hardtail 29er without drop post? (I don't have a full suspension bike...)
Istvan It is possible on any bike. If you lower your seat, it will be much easier to move on the bike. XC racers do it with high seat, but it is more difficult.
It’s absolutely possible on any bike but your legs are your shock absorbers so when your post is high you don’t have as much travel. You gotta land real smooth if you’re gonna go big.
Me neither and I never pre-load, I just push my bike forward, I've done up to 9 foot high drops that way.
My american bunny hops are abysmal, but practicing bunny hops has really helped me with drops. My local trail has several mandatory 3’ + drops.
Nice tips Jeff I found this more informative than a lot of vids!
The push up example makes so much sense!
Amazing video! Thanks to all the guys that send the videos. It was a very helpful video in general !
The pushup analogy was spot on, thanks
Great video, very helpful! Coming from a roadie and just XC riding background, my skills when it comes to getting airborne on the mountain bike are not super great and it's definitely my weakest trait. This video helps a lot. Luckily, I'm in Central Florida and Santos has some great features built in the Vortex area to work on these fundamentals.
Haha where was this video a month ago?! Well now I have plenty of time to watch all your videos and catch up on the older ones.
also if you are trying to get this down, do it a bunch of times off a curb and try and keep the front wheel off the ground until the back wheel hits the ground and they hit at the same time
Jeff buddy! Awesome subject matter, but please find a "smoother" slowmo function. It's really difficult to see the body motions you describe when the video is so choppy. Regardless, keep up the good work! Cheers!
ADVGabe I did a screen record and kept moving it forward and backward like the do for NFL plays. Maybe my execution was off.
Need a higher frame rate for that. On the submitted videos, they were probably 30 fps, so nothing he could do. Most cameras don't shoot higher than 60 fps, though I think the more recent GoPro's go up to 120 fps on 1080p. The Sony RX100 V does up to 960 fps! But 120 fps should be plenty for showing MTB moves.
Jeff Lenosky that's what I figured. I'm no expert of course, and Im not sure which software you use but consider playing with the time scale of each clip, and then just play it while narrating . As opposed to tracking it back and forth. I k ow it's a ton of work, just trying to make a good channel better! 😊 (As pointed out the supplied low frame rate/low res files make this issue even worse)
Jeff Lenosky what Imissed with that last comment is: play with the time in the forward direction till you are happy, then copy that clip and play it in reverse, assuming your software can handle that.👍
Huntstyle it will make it look better with the higher frame rate, but even Premiere elements can play with the time scale of clips.
I could be wrong, but it looks like the last guys arse hits his rear wheel. I think that's the problem. His technique and speed looks pretty good.
Shannon Elvey totally agree but talking to the guys that submitted it they said no!
Form does look good. But, the take-off had a 2nd tier that his technique didn't account for. The rider needed to either carry a little more speed to unweight his rear wheel on the 2nd tier, or he needed to hold his manual longer ... through the 2nd tier. (I think)
BIG TIP: do not to touch/ drag your brakes, especially the back brake while leaving the takeoff or when you land. if you drag your back brake on the takeoff you instantly pivot your nose down, when you land you need as much of your energy to be transferred in a direction parallel to the ground when you brake much of this energy is transferred perpendicular to the ground leading to a loss in control
Brian Richards awesome point. Thanks for adding that.
100% true statement, thank you!
Dragging brakes is a big problem and a bad habit to develop.
Hardest part is convincing yourself not to touch the brakes...and trusting yourself with ability to lend safely.
@@pan0rama546 yeah just like dirt bikes need to thrust all the way out of the take off
How in the world would anyone touch the back brake on drops😱 certain death Lol
That 180 bar in NWD4 is still keeping me awake at night.
Thanks!!!
I'm unable to manual my bike but I think finally I might find the key to manual my bike. Unweight is the key. All the videos I have seen so far focused on putting the rider weight backwards but they didn't say anything about bending knees. I will put this into practice.
This is a great video good work ! It's nice seeing multiple techniques for the different types of drops and how to drop or not to drop.
Thomas Fenlon thanks Thomas!
@@JeffLenoskyTrailBoss no problem it's like a awesome refresher course ! I haven't really thought about how to do things until recently because you just ride and muscle memory kicks in. But daughter is starting to want to learn how to manual , bunny hop ECT so we've been doing slow race drills and moving forward and back shifting body weight stuff. I'm glad these videos exist because I can't find a way to play the old monkey see monkey do vhs 😂wait it's probably on the other trail guys channel🤔
Haven't done a drop yet, but knowing this will save my life now lol, thanks.
nate8930 good!!!
Great advice Jeff. Its something I need to practice and you have given me some useful pointers
Bob Stevens thanks!
Cool!!!There should be more of this video!! Very informative, Thank you for your time and dedication 🤙🏼
I have watched many videos on riding drops and every one talks about preloading and does a poor job on explaining. Its like they think we all understand what it is. Not me though. Your push-up example finally made it click. Thanks.
I didn't read all 400 comments, so I'm sure this has been noted before.... Guy #3 was actually OK until he hit his rear tire with his butt. He's not unweighted, but has enough speed to probably make it without the front dropping too much. Locking up the rear wheel with his butt after the front wheel was clear is why his crash was so violent.
Great video thanks. ive been trying to work out what I did wrong once, maybe preloaded to late, so still had wait on rear even though front was off the ground. will continue to watch your channel
Thank you!!
Thanks for the tips!
PS. You can get smoother slow-mo's on your explanation clips if you shoot with 60fps or more.
Love this video! When you used the push-ups example/analogy, a little light bulb exploded in my mind, and now I think I can tackle the toughest Red Bull challenge on planet Earth! (j/k) Seriously, though, I really get drops now. (Time to head outside and conquer the Fear Factor!)
That's great, glad it helped!
Very nice job on this video Jeff. The tips are great! I'll be sure to work things like this into my riding. Thank you!
Thanks Gene!
Thank you for a great tutorial! Make more please
Life changing! Can't wait to try this!
Kenny T let me know how it goes!
Great video, I think some people can do this naturally and some never get it 👍🏻
Manualing is such an important skill but manualing and unweighting is super important too and helps you from crashing on weird drops.
Thanks for the tips! I'm fairly confident with drops but I haven't considered cases when the back wheel stalls / snags at the lip while a lot of weight rests on the rear axle. I normally use the manual technique for ( slow or tricky )drops, which presses the back wheel hard into the ground. I'll adjust my technique to ensure lightening the bike at take off.
Explained the pump like a boss.
Thanks for the great tips in doing the drop!
Best mtb channel , big Lenosky !!!
boulder head 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
That artificial turf really pulls the room together, man!
Jeff, clapping push ups without bending your elbows is totally possible. I do them all the time, it's great training for explosive shoulder movements.
good stuff. i reckon youd be better pre-hopping / bunny hopping the drop and landing on the downslope in that second example
What about a video for vertical drops , aiming you bike down of a drop ?? Cheers
Thanks Jeff! I’m going to practice…it’s been awhile and I’ve lost some of my mojo especially now that I’m 52 and don’t recover from crashes as quickly anymore…
Work Jeff really make sense I'll keep watching
cellphonenut thank you!
3:11 i would also add he was riding his back break he needed to just send it
Could you do a video on how to succesfully pass (survive) going on a donwhill and then finding that the trail ends in kind of a wide U. A dog chased me pretty badly on a downhill, I gained speed and found this second half on a wide U at the end of the downhill. I was propelled up in the air, landing on the front wheel and going over the bars, much like the 3rd failure showcase in this video. The helmet saved my life.
AlexNMArts whoa! That sounds terrible
Maybe a skid would help
Nice, Cheers Jeff.
Would like to see a pure trials progression video, what skills to learn and in what order.
Thanks for the tips. Definitely helps me
Gotta love Dale's Pale Ale!
My favotite
I disagree with the guy at 3:10, there was no hang up with his rear wheel from the terrain, he hit the rear tire with his butt and basically hits the rear brake that way. That's why his front went straight down, because he had it, good speed, good posture.
I disagree too but I think he didn't use his knees, and used his arms forward not down and up, too late, and left his arms straight and didn't pull.
Excellent video and explanation to help up and coming riders. Thanks for effort to improve the sport.
The push up sequence is hilarious, dude.
lol, thanks!
I burped my rear (tubeless, 2.1”) tire on my stumpjumper. It seams the tire must have a stretch spot. The tire has a wobble that I can’t correct. Tire has been removed, cleaned and re-installed. Still has a big wobble. Advice?
It seems to me (correct me if wrong) that even with a hardtail I find weighting/deweighting is mostly in the legs and bending the elbows only really helps to lower straight down. Even the "pulling of the bars" is mostly in the hips. Legs lift and raise weight and arms help to center weight and balance . This takes strain off the shoulders and reduces arm pump.
Great tip. I'll use this as I progress.
I hope the weather cooperates and I can try to put these tips to use tomorrow morning!