Do I have to face dirt bike jumps?

If you ever want to ride on a motocross track you are going to
have to learn to beat the dirt bike jumps. At first they are a
very daunting affair, and riding at them with any pace seems
almost suicidal but to get anywhere in dirt bike racing you
need to face them and you need to beat them otherwise you won’t
get anywhere and you won’t have any success. When you first
start dirt bike racing you’ll be lucky to get a couple or feet
of air and stay upright when you land, but this will all change
when you have a little experience and a little knowledge behind
you. The only real trick to being any good over dirt bike jumps
is to practice and keep practicing.

The best way to beat dirt bike jumps.

It’s true that there are no quick fixes to beat dirt bike jumps
and the real key to success is to practice and keep practicing.
However, there are some basic guidelines that will increase you
chance of success and it is these guidelines you should be
practicing.

Firstly, you posture should be that of a standing up position
but crouched slightly and gripping the bike with your legs; if
you don’t grip with your legs you and the bike are likely to
become separated and this will ensure that you can land
relatively comfortably in a sitting position. It also stops the
bike from kicking out sideways if you hit a bump on the way up
the ramp.

As you approach the ramp you should know pretty much exactly
where you want to be on the up ramp; finding the line on the
ramp and keeping an even throttle all the way up. Again, this
will mean less chance of the bike jumping if you hit a bump or
a rock.

If you want to land with your bike upright and you on the seat,
then when you’ve got air you need to be looking where you’re
going to land and amend your bike position accordingly so if
you’re landing on the flat lift your handle bars before you hit
the ground; this way your back wheel will make contact first and
will take most of the pressure of the landing. If, however, you
are landing on the down slope then you need your bike to be at
the same angle as the slope. To alter your bike’s position, you
can either rev while in the air which will drop the rear of your
bike or you can let up on the clutch and apply the rear brakes
giving the opposite effect.

The second before you land get straight onto your clutch, the
revs will help your rear suspension take the blow and will give
you good acceleration on landing. One of the hardest things
about dirt bike jumps is having the confidence to pull it off.
If you’re confident then you’ll stand more chance of doing
everything as well as you can so practice and practice hard;
don’t get too carried away at first though, just take it at
your own pace.

Dirt Bikes HQ, http://www.dirtbikeshq.com/
for lots of information about dirt biking.