Next to cornering, getting better at jumping your bike is one of the most sought after skills for a lot of riders.

Even if you don’t have any plans to send huge jumps at the Bike Park, most of us would like to be able to clear a small double with some confidence and – dare I say – style.

The real problem is riding a jump with a lip. While most riders can ride off a straight sender, when you add a lip into the equation things get sketchy real fast.

The reason is that you have to rely less on speed and more on technique. But what is the right technique to apply?

Get that wrong and it can result in some pretty bad crashes – trust me, I know from experience.

This is something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and something I had to learn the hard way. But once I figured out the “secret”, I went from being inconsistent on relatively small jumps to being able to confidently hit 40+ foot doubles and big wooden kickers.

Plus, this tip has helpd a lot of other riders improve their jumping as well so it can probably help you too.

IMO, most teaching methods focus on the wrong thing. They focus on the symptoms of good jumping – like the stomp or extending the arms and legs – instead of the cause.

The cause is driving your hips (or “belt buckle”) into the lip of the jump. When you get that right, the stomp, the extension, and the pop all happen naturally.

You don’t have to force them – and you definitely don’t have to overthink them. Trying to focus on 2-3 things going into a jump is an exercise in futility amyways.

By focusing on one thing (the cause), all of the other things (the symptoms) happen naturally without you having to think about them.

The best part, though, is that you already know how to do this. If I told you to do a broad jump, you’d naturally throw your hips forward to make it happen. 

The trick is just learning how to apply that same movement pattern while you’re on the bike.

In the video (which I shot in repsonse to a rider’s questions aboutr their jump technique), I break it all down and show a few simple off-bike drills that will make this feel natural. 

If you’ve been trying to figure out how to get more pop and consistency off lips, this one’s worth watching:

Learning how to drive your hips into the jump instead of just leaning back or trying to “stomp and extend” is a total game changer.

Until next time…

Ride Strong,

James Wilson
MTB Strength Training Systems