Dirt Bike Jumps

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 practise and keep practising.
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 practise and keep practising. However, there are some basic guidelines that will increase you chance of success and it is these guidelines you should be practising.
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 practise and practise hard; don’t get too carried away at first though, just take it at your own pace.