Preface:

You’ll notice small changes in body positioning dramatically influence trajectory and whether the bike lands front, rear, or both wheels first. The ability to feel and control such subtle variations in body mechanics and timing is exactly why jumping is a skill that’s easy to attempt but very difficult to master.

Front or Rear Wheel Landing.

As with the first video on jumping vs. scrubbing, there are no extraneous bike or body movements demonstrated in the air because the primary goal is to take off of the jump such that you are relaxed in the air and the bike takes the trajectory YOU want and expect.

Pay close attention to the first freeze-frame comparing a front wheel first to a rear wheel first landing. Specifically, note the angle of the arms (red lines) as compared to the angle of the legs (white lines):

• Front wheel landing is achieved by driving more force through the bike as it moves up the lip by straightening the knees as the lip pushes against the bike. In turn, this requires us to bend our arms to compensate for the bike’s increasing angle to the ground. More force into the lip translates to more force FROM the lip, which then causes the bike to start rotating forwards during its trajectory through the air. Additionally, the body’s center of mass (your hips) are placed slightly farther rearwards as a result of the bike’s angle and those of the arms and legs.

• By contrast, when landing rear wheel first, you can see that the opposite is done: the knees bend to absorb the force of the lip in a controlled way, while the arms extend to allow that absorption to happen, in essence pivoting the bike slightly forward at the last bit of the takeoff. This results in less force pushing into the rear wheel at takeoff, and less forward pivot in the air, leading to a rear wheel first landing.

• Knowing how arm and leg angles at takeoff affect trajectory and rotation in the air, you can see in the second freeze-frame that landing with both wheels will simply be a middle-ground between the first two styles.

As you can see, the difference between landing on the front or rear wheel comes down to a matter of a few degrees of difference in arm and leg angles between the two methods! In fact, to a casual observer or even a rider who hasn’t given this much thought, it may seem inexplicable why someone might land one way on the first try and another way on the next try. That’s why repetition and thoughtful, diligent practice is key: it helps you start noticing what your body is doing and what the results are.

As always, practicing on a less steep and smaller lip is a great way to eliminate fear from affecting your technique. The very same principles can apply to a 45 degree lip as they do to the 62 degree lip in this video. Furthermore, while the technique is demonstrated on a full suspension bike with big travel, the only difference when riding a hardtail is that your legs replace any rear suspension, and so even more feel and control is required.