Need advice with sucking-up jumps/lips! Options

[FREAKAH]

Have been racing for a year now and have been doing ok and getting faster little by little, and my bike skills are progressing, again little by little. I'm glad that there is a new thread about jumping, which I am working on, but I'm always having trouble sucking up some jumps/lips. I want to learn to catch air but not that way. Even when i try to manual i end up catching some air. That so far has been my biggest hurdle.
 So, what is the best technique to suck up and absorb jumps/lips?
 I think my main problem is that I'm not absorbing enough with my legs. I think I'm doing ok with the front but I still could use some help. 
So as far as coming up on the face of the jump, do I pull up at the base, middle or right befor the lip?

Thanks in advance!

[justride]

If you are jumping you want to tuck a bit like a bunny hop type of technique, then as you hit the top of the lip explode up, again like a bunny hop. Then use your arms and legs to stabilize the bike in the air and look at the spot you want to land. The harder you explode up, the more air you get.

For manualing I absorb the lip with my arms and push out with my legs. I don't absorb with my legs so much as push the rear of the bike down the backside of the lip so that I ride it down and I then use my arms to hold the front up. I also be sure to lean back over the rear axle a bit to get to the balance point.

Once you get even better you can try to pull manual. That is basically pulling into a manual before you hit the lip of a jump and absorbing it with your legs and holding the front tire off the ground until you get to the backside. I haven't perfected this yet myself.

This post has been edited by justride: Mar 23 2012, 01:59 PM

[mannequinforce]

One of the best ways to not get air is to pull the face for me at least. When I am doing pump laps or warming up I get about 3-5 feet out and start to pull the front with my shoulders and lean back. You never really get into the manual position because your front tire will clear the lip and put you down nice and smooth. Remember to absorb the lip with your hips and legs and just work on getting that nice and smooth. Also, it's a great way to work up to pull manualing.

[Stileman]

gotta utilize your shocks(arms and legs) properly. Get those working properly and it will help alot. Rytytm sections are ususally the best place to work on your shocks. Start at medium pace and increase speed after there. Try to feel the jumps with you arms and legs. Know when the bike pushes up into your body(up the lip) and when it goes away(down the backsides). I find at slower speeds it is easier to feel the jumps better. when you get the feel for it then speed up. Try to keep both wheels on the ground using your shocks.

You could try hitting up one of our camps this summer. pumping by using your shocks is the first thing we work on.

[CowhieDesigns]

As far as a pump manual, like what a beginning rider would do, the previous posts cover it.

To eliminate the jump or "bobble air" you get when attempting to suck up a lip, there are two ways on two different size jumps.

Bigger jumps with a longer transition than your bike:
The most common mistake is letting the front tire ride up the lip and off of the lip. This creates a false "jump"...or air as you have been doing.
The easiest way to eliminate this is to be patient and pull the front end up over the lip when both tires are on the face. The trick is to make sure your front tire does not ride up the lip and off. You are fighting gravity and angle when trying to pull up too early and end up either bonking or a false jump.

For smaller jumps that are shorter than the wheel base of your bike:
A pull manual before the front tire hits the face is the way to go. This eliminates the pivot angle of two wheels going over an obstacle. One wheel (rear) will roll easily over an obstacle.

Hope this helps. Yutch